Question

*Urgent* Compare the methods of empire-building and administration in the Aztec and Inca Empires.

Writing an essay D:

Answer 1

GOOGLE

Answer 2

Trust me, I did. lol. I didn't really find anything. That's why I came here. haha.

Answer 3

Look up the building methods of the aztecs. take some time and read about them. Then do the same for the incas.

Then repeat for the administration

Answer 4

Andean America, like mesoamerica, has a long, complex history. Urban communities developed there towards the end of the second millennium B.C. and were followed by the emergence of states and, eventually, empires like Tawantinsuvu. The Incan Empire was only the last in a series of empires and, similar to the Aztecs, drew upon a cultural heritage that had been developed by earlier societies. The nature of government, religion, social organization, and technology that characterized Andean peoples differed from that of Mesoamerica.

The Incan Empire had its capital in the city of Cuzco. In the thirteenth century Cuzco was a small Ouechua speaking town; but, by the time Spanish explorers arrived, it had grown into a city that controlled the largest pre-Columbian state in the Americas.

The Incan army and state bureaucracy managed an empire that covered 36 degrees of latitude along the Andes. It encompassed both the Pacific coast and the highlands, and in contrast to the Aztec Empire, the Inca frequently reorganized the people they defeated and chose new officials to manage affairs. These reorganizations included the movement of entire populations from their original homeland to new regions.

The state also undertook a number of government projects to develop the empire. These projects used labor drawn from conquered populations in the form of a special tax called the mita. The mita was a labor tax on male citizens of the empire, which required them to serve an work projects for a specific period of time each year. Entire cities were sometimes built to house the work forces who were fed by the state during their mita tenure. Bridges, temples, agricultural developments, roads, and government buildings were all built through this system of taxation.

The empire was linked by a vast road network which ran and the coast, with smaller roads linking small towns and communities to the main thoroughfares. The construction of roads was a tradition which had begun before the Inca. Along the roads were way stations, maintained by towns and villages for the state, where official travelers and messengers could find lodging and food. Over the road traveled mita laborers, llama caravans carrying goods for state warehouses, and the imperial armies. Since wheeled vehicles were unknown in the Andes, the roads sometimes made steep, stepped ascents and descents along mountain ridges and through valleys. The road system linked modern Ecuador with the northwest of Argentina. The roads centered on Cuzco and ran out to the four provinces of the empire.

From Cuzco a corps of Inca bureaucrats managed the empire and kept tally of its population and wealth. One third of the lands of subject communities was the property of the ruler (called the Inca) and his family. The crops produced by these lands were stored in large warehouses that can still be seen standing along the flanks of valleys. From these warehouses, food to feed the mita laborers and wool to clothe the empire were drawn. Each family in the empire was theoretically due a yearly ration of wool from the state. The foodstuffs collected in the warehouses also fed the empire's bureaucrats and artisans and provided communities with food during periods of famine.

Metalsmiths, textile workers, potters and other artisans in Cuzco were frequently state employees and were housed, fed, and clothed by the state. Craftsmen and women manufactured a variety of goods for the state. Bronze tools and gold and silver objects were manufactured in great numbers. The practice of metalworking was widespread throughout Andean America. Gold and silver objects have been found in very old sites, frequently in the burials of the elite. Copper and later bronze were used to manufacture tools, weapons, and decorative objects.

Another major industry was textile production. Cotton and wool textiles were woven in great numbers throughout Tawantinsusyu, and fine textiles were valued ' more than gold. Elaborately woven clothing indicated social status within society. Textiles were equally important in death as fine burial shrouds clothed the dead. Like metalworking, textile-working had a long history in the Andes. Textile.working predated even the manufacture of pottery in this region.

Pottery vessels for daily use, for storage, and for use on special occasions were also manufactured. Inca storage vessels were standardized, and regional copies of the Imperial style were made in areas far from Cuzco. Many ceramic objects were made on an almost industrial scale and included eating and drinking vessels that were used in enormous.numbers by mita laborers. The mass manufacture of pottery rather than its manufacture at the household level had been a facet of Andean life for centuries.

Inca, government officials, either members of the ruling families of Cuzco or, at lesser levels, the native elite of other provinces, preformed judicial and administrative functions throughout the empire. Government population and economic census data was kept in Cuzco and was recorded with quipu. Like other aspects of Andean government, quipu had its roots in the civilizations that preceded the Inca empire. Quipu utilized a series of knots on strings to record numeric information. The color of the string helped distinguish the subject of the quipu.

Similar to the Aztec empire, the Inca empire had rapidly expanded, conquering its territories in only a few generations. The expansion of the empire had religious and economic motivations. The imperial capital received enormous wealth in the form of tribute and goods produced by the lands conquered. The size of the elite was increasing, and to maintain enough inco ! me more lands had to be conquered.

Territorial expansion was further necessary because the lands conquered by one ruler remained his, even after death. His descendants controlled the wealth of his lands in the name of the deceased ruler's mummy which continued to be kept in its palace. These mummies were the focus of the religious cult of the state and were held in great reverence. Treated as if alive, they even went on visits and held banquets. Because all of the property of an Inca ruler remained in his name, his successor was required to conquer more territory to provide wealth for his own family. Expansion was natural. It was justified by the Incas' belief in their divine right to conquer the Andes.

THE CONQUEST

The arrival of the Spanish in the New World changed the development of both Andean America and Mesoamerica. The Aztec and the Inca, built on native traditions of militarism and conquest, were supplanted by an even larger, militarized empire. Like the Native American empires, religion (Catholicism) and economic gain fueled Spain's expansion. The history of Mesoamerica and Andean America after the collision of European and American styles of civilization becomes one of accommodation and adjustment. This process continues today among the indigenous inhabitants of all the Americas.