AP World HistoryChapter 11

The Americas on the Eve of Invasion

The Toltec Heritage

• Rule extended to Yucatan• Commercial influence to

American Southwest• Possibly Mississippi, Ohio

valleys

Central Mexico and Lake Texcoco

The Aztec Rise to Power

• Toltec collapse, c. 1150– Caused by northern nomads?

• Aztecs move to Mexico valley– Lakes used for fishing, farming, transportation– City States, common language, and state marriages.– Great fighters and were hired as mercenaries, allies– Tenochtitlan founded in 1325 by Aztecs.– Aztecs practiced human sacrifice.

The Aztec Social Contract

• Transformation to hierarchical society

• Service of gods pre-eminent– Sacrifice increased– Source of political power

• Moctezuma II– Head of state and religion

Religion and the Ideology of Conquest

Spiritual and natural world seamless• Hundreds of deities• Three groups

– Fertility, agriculture, water• Creator gods

– Warfare, sacrifice– e.g. Huitzilopochtli

• Aztec tribal god– Identified with sun god– Sacrifice

• Motivated by religion or terror?

Cyclical view of history, Dynastic Cycle

Huitzilopochtli

Quetzalcoatl

Feeding the People: The Economy of the Empire

• Agriculture– Chinampas, man-made floating

islands– High yield– Farming organized by clans

• Markets– Daily market at Tlatelolco – Controlled by pochteca, merchant

class– Regulated by state

Chinampas

Daily market at Tlatelolco

Widening Social Gulf

• Calpulli– Transformed from clans to groupings by residence– Distribute land, labor– Maintain temples, schools– Basis of military organization

• Noble class develops from some calpulli– Military virtues give them status– Serf-like workers on their lands

• Social gaps widen– Imperial family at head of pipiltin

• Calpulli of merchants

Montezuma II

Overcoming Technological Constraints

• Women have various roles– Can own property– No public roles

• Elite polygamy• Most monogamous

Tenochtitlan

The Inca Rise to PowerCuzco area

Quechua-speaking clans (ayllus) HuariControl regions by 1438, under

Pachacuti

Topac YupanquiSon of PachacutiConquered ChimorRule extended to Ecuador, Chile

Huayna CapacFurthers conquests of Topac Yupanqui1527, death

Inca Cultural Achievements

Metallurgy• Knotted strings (quipu)

– Accounting

• Monumental architecture

Comparing Incas and Aztecs

Similarities• Built on earlier empires• Excellent organizers• Intensive agriculture under state

control• Redistributive economy• Kinship transformed to hierarchy• Ethnic groups allowed to survive

Differences• Aztecs have better developed trade,

markets

A. How Many People? Larger densities in Mesoamerica, Andes

B. Differing Cultural PatternsCaribbean islandsSome similar to Polynesian societies

c. 1500200 languages in North AmericaMississipian mounds abandonedAnasazi descendants along Rio Grande

C. American Indian Diversity in World ContextTwo great imperial systems by 1500Mesoamerica and the AndesTechnologically behind Europeans

World Population, c. 1500