Back a few thousands of years ago, there were 3 well known groups that settled down in Mesoamerica and Central America called the Inca, Maya, and Aztec. All three groups had their own rules and ways of living that were priorities for most that lived in the cities. Although some traits about the three groups are similar, there are also some differences too. Starting with the Maya, they settled in Mesoamerica in 2000 B. C when they were still in the preclassic time period. The capital of the Mayan civilization, Tikal located in Guatemala, was one of the first places to be named and lived in with the Mayas.
The Aztecs also settled in Mesoamerica around 1325 A. D and lived more in Mexico than anywhere else. They got led to Mexico by the man they thought of as part god, Hernan Cortez. The capital of the Aztec civilization was Tenochtitlan named after one of the most famous gods known today in the Aztec culture. Lastly the Inca were one out of the three that settled in places like Peru and Bolivia down in South America in 1438 A. D. They had a capital as well just like the other two groups called Cuzco. Therefore stating, all three of the groups have different and similar location, time period and capital traits.
Religion is a big part of many communities today and has been for thousands upon thousands of years. Religions in the Maya, Inca and Aztec cultures are quite different from the cultures and religions you would see here in the modern day. All of the groups had human sacrifices and believed in many different gods, which is also known as polytheism. The Mayan, thought that it was all about the blood so they would throw people down wells, priests would draw their own blood and when they would throw people down the well if you survived your considered “sacred.
The Aztecs are very different from the Maya when it comes to the quantity of people sacrificed and what it’s about. They believed it’s all about the killing and not the blood so in some sacrifices over 20,000 people were killed. The Inca didn’t really have much believe on whether it was about blood or killing. They thought that the children were the most pure, so most of the time children were the ones to get sacrificed because it was a supreme honor to the Inca. They thought that they were the suns children and that the Sapa Inca, also know as the king, was part god.
In conclusion, with religion, the three groups have many similarities and differences. Government, and rulers were a big part of each society. Rulers could make powerful decisions and had the highest power over anyone else in the town. The Maya developed a hierarchical government ruled by kings and priests. They lived in independent city-states consisting of rural communities and large urban ceremonial centers. There were no standing armies, but warfare played an important role in religion, power and prestige.
The Aztec government was similar to a monarchy where an Emperor or King was the primary ruler. They called their ruler the Huey Tlatoani. The Huey Tlatoani was the ultimate power in the land. They felt that he was appointed by the gods and had the divine right to rule. Similar to the Maya the Aztec has their own ruler/rulers that made powerful decisions. Lastly, The Inca government was called the Tawantinsuyu. It was a monarchy ruled by a single leader called the Sapa Inca. Sapa Inca – The emperor or king of the Inca Empire was called the Sapa Inca, which means “sole ruler”.
He was the most powerful person in the land and everyone else reported to him/her. In conclusion all of them have some sort of ruler or king, but they are called different things and the rulers have different rights, eaning how powerful they are. The Maya, aztecs and Inca didn’t have modern day cell phones or TVs like we do today so they had to make their own Archaeologists have determined that the Maya used stone tools fabricated from chert and obsidian. They have overlooked the wide use of specialized tools, fabricated from black jadeite.
These jadeite tools were the principal tools used by Maya technicians: sculptors, stonecutters, wood carvers, and other artisans. The Aztecs had no iron or bronze with which to make their tools and weapons. Therefore, the ancient Aztec people had to develop a means for creating effective tools and eapons without the benefit of these metals. For this reason, many Aztec tools were made with obsidian and chert. Then lastly, the Inca had Quipus A quipu, a system of knotted ropes used to keep records.
They require extensive training to be able to understand them. Quipus included many variables, using color, knot placement, and knot type as important indicators of various things. Therefore, all of them had their own types of technology, but one thing that they all had in common is they all had to make it by hand and didn’t have any source of electrical working. These civilizations ended in disease and warfare. The Maya From the late eighth through the end of the ninth century, something unknown happened to shake the Maya civilization to its foundations.
One by one, the Classic cities in the southern lowlands were abandoned, and by A. D. 900, Mayan civilization in that region had collapsed. Invaders led by the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes overthrew the Aztecs by force and captured Tenochtitlan in 1521, bringing an end to Mesoamerica’s last great native civilization. Then sadly, Fall of The Inca Civilization. With the arrival from Spain in 1532 by Francisco Pizarro and his entourage of mercenaries or onquistadors, the Inca empire was seriously threatened for the first time.
Cities collapsed, thousands upon thousand of people were killed, and then came the end of the Mayan,Aztec, and Inca civilizations. All of the groups also made amazing contributions. The Mayans were one of the first civilizations to develop an advanced writing system. Instead of letters, they used hieroglyphics, and they had hundreds of symbols (or glyphs) they used Mayan Calendar The Mayans made many contributions to our world today. One of these contributions is the Mayan Calendar. The Aztecs, made a contribution that we in odern day society still use today.
Antispasmodic medicine- medicine to prevent muscle spasms, and relax muscles, may have helped in surgeries. An example of this is the Passion flower, which still grows in Mexico today. It is used as an herbal remedy, believed to help with insomnia, epilepsy, and high blood pressure. To wrap it all up the Inca made roads, bridges, and the courier system were several contributions the Inca made to current society. The Incas took over the roads of earlier civilizations and developed more than 10,000 miles (16,000 km) of new all-weather highways.
Since Pre-Columbian Peruvians did not have the wheel, the roads were developed for foot and llama caravans. The Andean road, since it crossed mountainous terrain, was narrower; it varied between 15 and 24 ft. Its length was 2,350 miles and it had no less than 100 bridges, either of wood or stone, or fiber-cable suspension; four bridges alone crossed the chasms of the Apurimac River. Distance markers were used every 42/2 miles and rest stations were placed alongside the road every 12-18 miles. As a result, there are probably hundreds of similarities and differences of the three groups.
