1. Worlds Apart: The Americas and Oceania
Chapter 20
Worlds Apart: The Americas and Oceania

2. Previous Timeline for context
Olmec Society – 100 B.C.E.
Teotihuacan society B.C.E. – 750 C.E.
Maya Society – 1100 C.E.
Overview of societies

3. Toltec & Aztec Empires, 950-1520 C.E.
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4. The Toltecs Teotihuacan society collapses eighth century C.E.
Toltecs migrate from northwest Mexico, settle at Tula (near modern Mexico city)
Maintained connection with Gulf coast societies, including the Maya
The Toltec empire collapsed around 1175 C.E. because of internal civil strife and external nomadic incursions.

5. The Mexica (Aztec) One of several groups of nomadic migrants,
mid-thirteenth century C.E.
Tradition of kidnapping women, seizing cultivated lands
Settled ca C.E. in Tenochtitlan (later becomes Mexico City)
Dredged soil from lake bottom to create fertile plots of land
Chinampas, up to seven crops per year

7. The Mexica/Aztec Empire
Mexica develop tributary empire by fifteenth century
They created a triple
alliance with Texcoco
and Tlacopan to create
Aztec empire

8. Mexica/Aztec Society
Rigidly hierarchical structure with highest honors to military elite
All males were potential warriors; successful warriors became ruling elite
Women - emphasis on child-bearing
Especially future soldiers
Mothers of warriors especially lauded

9. Mexica/Aztec Society Priests Also counted among elite
Presided over ritual ceremonies and agricultural calendars crucial to continuation of the world
Read omens, advised rulers, occasionally became rulers

10. Mexica/Aztec Society Bulk of Mexica population were commoners
Communal groups: calpulli
Originally kin-based
Management of communal lands
Work obligation on aristocratic lands
Slave class
Debtors
Children sold into slavery
Criminals

11. Mexica/Aztec Gods Tezcatlipoca (“the Smoking Mirror”)
Powerful god of life and death
Patron god of warriors
Quetzalcóatl (“the Feathered Serpent”)
Arts, crafts, agriculture

12. Mexica/Aztec Gods Tezcatlipoca (“the Smoking Mirror”)
Powerful god of life and death
Patron god of warriors
Quetzalcóatl (“the Feathered Serpent”)
Arts, crafts, agriculture
Huitzilopochtli
Fourteenth-century popularity, patron of Mexica
Emphasis on blood sacrifices

13. Ritual Bloodletting
More emphasis on human sacrifice than predecessor cultures
Ritual sacrifice necessary for the world’s survival
Sacrificial victims had tips of fingers torn off before death, ritual wounds
Victims: Mexica criminals, captured enemy soldiers

14. Mexica/Aztec Human Sacrifice

15. The Inca Empire, C.E.

16. The Inca Empire From valley of Cuzco
Settlement around Lake Titicaca mid-thirteenth century
Ruler Pachacuti (r ) expands territory
Modern Peru, parts of Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina
Population 11.5 million

17. Pre-Columbian Inca Civilization

18. Inca Administration and Quipu
Incas ruled by holding hostages, colonization
No writing; used system of cords and knots called quipu
Mnemonic aid
Quipu video

19. Inca Roads Massive road-building system
Two north-south roads, approximately 10,000 miles
Mountain route
Coastal route
Paved, shaded, wide roads
Courier and messenger services
Limited long-distance trade, held by government monopoly

20. Inca Society and Religion
Social elites dominated by infallible king
Claimed descent from the sun
Worship of ancestors
Remains preserved in mummified form
Regularly consulted
Sacrifices offered
Paraded on festive occasions

21. Aristocrats, Priests, and Peasants
Aristocrats receive special privileges
Earlobe spools as adornment
Priestly class ascetic, celibate
Peasants organized into community groups called ayllu
Land, tools held communally
Mandatory work details on land of aristocrats
Public works

22. Inca Religion Inti sun god Viracocha creator god
Temples as pilgrimage sites
Peasant sacrifices usually produce and animals (not humans)

23. Assignment
Create a comparison chart between the social structures of the Mexica/Aztec and the Incas
This is due tomorrow