Latin America 1300-1492

Aztecs• The Aztecs came to the valley

of Mexico in the 1200s and established their capital, Tenochtitlan, in 1325. They built an empire that extended throughout southern Mexico.

• Dredging of Lake Texcoco to build city

• · Royalty - Emperor, his wives, members of the royal family. The emperor was selected from among the extended royal family and ruled the Aztec Empire.

• · Nobility included high priests, top military officers, and government leaders. Nobility advised the emperor and carried out his orders.

• Warriors - common soldiers who succeeded in taking prisoners during battle. If they distinguished themselves in battle, warriors could rise to the status of nobility.

• Commoners and slaves composed the lower classes and had little political power. Commoners included farmers, laborers, servants, vendors, artisans, and merchants. Though it was probably rare, commoners could rise to noble status through the priesthood or the military. Slaves included non-Aztec Indians who were captured in war and were sometimes destined for human sacrifice. Other slaves were Aztec citizens enslaved as punishment for a crime or as payment for a debt.

• Wars with Tlaxcala

Omens

• Arrival of Quetzalcoatl• fire falling from the sky • fire consuming the temple of Huitzilopochtli, • a lightning bolt destroying the straw temple of Xiuhtecuhtli, • the appearance of streaking fire across the oceans, • the “boiling,” and later flooding, of a lake nearby Tenochtitlan, • a woman weeping in the middle of the night for them to flee while

they could • a two headed man running through the streets • Montezuma saw images of fighting men in a mirror on his bird's

head

Inca

• C. 1230 Inca move in as one of many groups around lake Titicaca.

• Potato and use of Alpaca and Llama as pack animals

• By 1438 Pashacuti controls most of coastal South America

Summary Questions

1) What was the Myth of Quetzalcoatl?

2) In Aztec Feudalism what is the difference between Royalty and Nobility?

3) What pack animals were used by the Inca?