Weekly Schedule and Objectives: Empires of the Americas
Topic: Empires of the Americas, 1300-1550
| Due Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| Dec 15 |
Read & examine this week's module Textbook: Chapter 18 Read All Documents Watch: All Videos |
Image: Aztec Serpent
Summary:
The Inca Empire
The Incas created an extensive empire in the Andes of south America. They called their kingdom Tawantinsuyo (The Land of the Four Quarters) and ruled from their magnificent capital at Cusco. Like other indigenous cultures, the Inca borrowed and built upon the achievements of the great civilizations that had gone before them, including the Wari, Tiwanaku, and Chimu. The Inca derived their subsistence from exploiting many different ecological niches of the Andes and practiced centuries-old religious rituals. From art and architecture to strategies of governance, the Incas carried on the cultural traditions of earlier societies. The Incas, however, attained a level of political consolidation previously unknown in the Andes and even greater than that of the Aztecs or the emerging monarchies of Western Europe in the fifteenth century. On the eve of the Spanish arrival, the Inca dominions extended 2,500 miles from the present-day boundary of Ecuador and Colombia in the north, southeast to Bolivia, as far as northern Argentina and central Chile in the south, and eastward beyond the slopes of the Andes, a territorial expanse larger than the contemporary Ottoman Empire or Ming Empire in China. Scholars believe that as many as twelve million people lived under Inca domination.
The Aztec Empire
The sophisticated cultures of Mesoamerica looked down on neighbors they regarded as backwards, particularly despised were northern tribes they called Chichimecas. These semi-nomadic people who, according to their rivals, lived like "dogs" in the central plateaus of northern Mexico began to migrate into central Mexico in the 1200s. One such group was the Mexica, who entered the Valley of Mexico in search of a new place to settle. They left their original homeland of Aztlan, somewhere in the northwest, and spent several years wandering around the Valley of Mexico serving as mercenaries in various local conflicts. After finding themselves persecuted and battered by local groups, they settled on an island in Lake Texcoco and from these inauspicious beginnings they would become the most powerful state in Mesoamerica by the early sixteenth century. Mexica society was very complex and they absorbed and adapted various traditions from the cultures that had risen and fallen in Mesoamerica. We can trace traditions extending all the way back to the Olmecs, Maya, Teotihuacanos, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, and the Toltecs. The Mexica were aware that they were the heirs of a long line of societies and they were proud to have created a cosmopolitan empire that embraced and reflected all of this previous knowledge. However, their empire came at a cost: the violent nature of their empire created tremendous pressure and resentment among their subjects, and they waited for an opportunity to throw off the yoke of Mexica domination.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this week's module, students will be able to:
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Examine the complex society and traditions of the Mexica (Aztec) Empire
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Examine the rise of the Inca empire and their culture and society