precol empires

8/18/2019 Precol Empires

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Imagining a world withoutColumbus

Focus on 3 Americanempires: Maya, Inca,and Aztec

•Great age ofempires (1420s1!20s": rise andexpansion of the Inca

empire (Andes) andthe Mexica/AztecEmpire (Mesoamerica)


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$%&E ('orte Chico

ciilization)*++ ,CE $ +++ ,CE


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-he Inca Empire: .01$.200• "ising from obscurit! in &eru3s Cusco

4alle! during the .0th centur!

(&achacuti (.01$.5.)6 a ro!al Incad!nast! con7uered its rials to createthe largest pre$Columbian empire in theAmericas

• 8ua!na Capac 9s death in .22 createsa ciil war between his successors panish con7uistadors tae adantage


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Cusco: center of theworld

Corincancha

Saksaywaman


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#n$ironment and%ociety

&ne of 'eys of Inca society as importance of contro) o$ermu)tip)e en$ironments* +ertica) nature of Andean

topograpy

Camelids like

llamas and

alpacas were

"wealth on the

hoof" for the

Inca


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histor!=8ow !ou tell histor!

from ob>ects=

Quipu, late 15th-early 17th c. Centroall!i, #eyme$am$a, %er


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Mesoamerica


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-he Ma!as 2+$?++


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-he Ma!a

• ,uilt great cities @p!ramids

• Extensie trade

networ• Cit!$states warred with

each other

• Accomplished calendar6astronom!6 writing andmathematics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t5FALvtMQghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t5FALvtMQg


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#imestone

lintel relieffrom axchilBn6Mexico (1th

c)

(,ritish

Museum)


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Me/ica orAztec #mpire(132!1!21"

• .02: the Mexica found their capital of Mexico$-enochtitln

• .5: Itzcoatl founds Mexica empire(//&achacuti founds Inca empire in .01)

• .2+$.2+: reign of Mexica emperorMoctezuma

• .2.: Capture of -enochtitln (//siege Cusco

.20*$.205)


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Drigins of theMexica

• ,orturini Codex


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Codex Maglibechia6 .*th cent= "eligious document

depicting deities6 indigenousrites6 costumes etc=

CodexMendozadepictingfoundingof

-enochtitl

n

Codex Dsuna $set of 5 separatedocuments6.2*2=6 indigenousleaders claim non$pa!ment forarious goods and for arious

serices performed b! theirpeople6 including buildingconstruction and domestic help=


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Men and the Aztec world

Eagle arrior (left) and Faguararrior (right) brandishing

;Aztec swords=< -he weaponshad obsidian blades attachedto them maing them er!dangerous= Dbsidian is strongenough6 and can be madesharp enough to cut surgicalsteel= Glorentine Codex6 4ol= 6Golia .#

Faguar arrior6 fromthe CodexMagliabechiano=

d


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omen andthe Aztec

world

An Aztec woman feeds9teopochotlH owerseeds to her husband

(Glorentine Codex6,oo ..

Mexica noblewomen6

Glorentine Codex ,oo .+

Enclosing a woman deadin childbirth6 GlorentineCodex ,oo *

Cleaning sacred places6 Codex -elleriano


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4iolence and ealth

Mosaic mas'ofuetza)coat)Mexica/Mixtec6.2th$.*thcentur! AK

F)orentine ode/, page III, F, 3$

arriorso)dingprisoners*

Mendoza

ode/


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Aztec empire

• ,uilt an empire throughwarfare @ trade

• "eligion re7uired human

sacriLce to appease theirgods= Integrated godsfrom con7uered regions=

• Achieements in art6

science6 and language• ,uilt magniLcent capital of -enochtitlan


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"&his 'reat city of &enochtitl(n is $ilt on the salt lake... &he

city itself is as $i' as Se)ille or C*rdo$a...&here are, in all

districts of this 'reat city, many temples or hoses for their

idols. &hey are all )ery $eatifl $ildin's. . . . +mon'stthese temples there is one, the principal one, whose 'reat

sie and ma'nificence no human tongue could describe,for it is so lar'e that within the precincts, which are

srronded $y )ery hi'h wall, a town of some fi)e hndredinha$itants cold easily $e $ilt. +ll rond inside this wall

there are )ery ele'ant !arters with )ery lar'e rooms and

corridors where their priests li)e. &here are as many as forty

towers, all of which are so hi'h that in the case of the lar'est

there are fifty steps leadin' p to the main part of it and themost important of these towers is hi'her than that of the

cathedral of Se)ille

ernan Cortes on &enochtitlan, Second #etter to Charles /, 150

0K


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0Kreconstructionhttps://www=!outube=com/watc

hN+,'EOMIf##%

-he .2

'uremberg Map of

-enochtitl

an

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BNEZMIfLLUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BNEZMIfLLUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BNEZMIfLLUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BNEZMIfLLUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BNEZMIfLLUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BNEZMIfLLUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BNEZMIfLLUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BNEZMIfLLU


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-emplo Ma!or

toda!

%MMA"


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%MMA"• At the time of European inasion6 Mexico and &eru were each

dominated b! a single ethnic groupPthe Aztecs and the IncasPthat had aggressiel! extended its political and economic

power oer a large geographic area=

• Each empire belieed that the foundation of its capitalP -enochtitlan and CuzcoPwas supernaturall! ordained= -hesecenters were considered the axis mundi: the place where the

s! and the earth >oined=• -he Aztec and Inca imperial goernments controlled areas

extending for thousands of miles in each direction= Eachcapital demanded the delier! of tribute ia long$distancetrade that brought exotic materials to the heart of the empire6

demonstrating its wealth and dominance oer its frontiers=• ,oth empires faced contestation to their right to rule6 which

helped pae the wa! for the panish con7uest=


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or ap n onnus co aus


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or ap n onnus co ausRermanusS Cosmographia, Claudius

Ptolemaeus6 .1

• hat namescan !oulocate on themap

• hat placesare ;blanspaces< inthe Europeanworldiew of

the timesh!

-his world map shows the state of European cartographic nowledgeof the world prior to Columbus3 .? o!age= It reects the

) t)


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ezaua)coyot) (;Gasting Co!oteT)

.+ U.5• &hilosopher6 warrior6 architect6poet and ruler of the cit!$state of

-excoco

• Classical 'ahuatl language• Glower songs (xochicuicame) : two

collections from the second half of thesixteenth centur!= Although

transcribed as the! were sung at thattime6 the! clearl! contain man! songsand parts of songs that are much older=

CANTOS DENEZAHUALCÓOTLhttp!""###$%outube$com"#atch&'()'U

*s+,S-ashttps!""###$%outube$com"#atch&'(#+i./0+ZH01

ocial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvU8sGQSjashttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvU8sGQSjashttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvU8sGQSjashttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvU8sGQSjashttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvU8sGQSjashttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvU8sGQSjas


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ocialorganization :

Calpulli• KiVerent families6often related throughinship6 formed acalpulli= Mostimportant social andorganizational unit ofAztec empire=

• -he diVerent calpulliswere bound togetherthrough worspecialization andoccupation=

Geather artisansof AmantlanWGlorentine Codex,oo IX

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