2. Civilizations of the 15th Century The Americas

3. The Aztec Empire 1. Mexica Tribe from No. Mexico Settled on island= Lake Texcoco -1325 Built power through alliances/conquest/massive city Claimed descent from prestigious Toltecs

4. Tenochtitlan 2. Aztec Capital Large city ~200,000 Island in middle of lake Canals,causeways,markets,floating gardens

5. Conquest state 3. Tribute Required from conquered subjects Were market goods, luxury items and human slaves

6. Tlacaelel and Huitzilopochtli 4. Ideology of human sacrifice Common in Mesoamerica Tlacaelel prominent official who promoted idea (1398-1480) H~ god who needed human blood to rebuild strength to defeat forces of darkness Massive ritual sacrifices impressed enemies

9. The Inca Empire 1. Empire 2,500 miles and 10,000,000 subjects Small marginal group who came to rule a large empire Used previous precedents to justify rule Much larger geographically than Aztec

10. Governing 2. Developed an invasive state bureaucracy Resettled large numbers of conquered people Encouraged use of single language (Quechua) Gender parallelism (not equality) - each had own tasks and each set of tasks were valued

11. Mita 3. Work tax known as mita Not human tribute for sacrifice Some women taken and raised as elites to be married to officials