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 * The Incas and Aztecs were two of the largest native empires in the Americas. While they were culturally similar, their economic exchanges were very different:

Inca economy: **the formation of a highly specialized and > stratified society and an imperial administration ** **the expansion of a trading network as well as a tribute system ** **the development and maintenance of a sophisticated > agricultural economy, carefully adjusted to the land ** **and ** **the cultivation of an intellectual and religious outlook > that held society to be an integral part of the cosmos. ** ===**Aztec Home Pages **=== > [|Aztec Community] > [|Aztec Culture] > [|Aztec Languages] > [|Aztec Game Patolli] > [|Aztec Graphics] > [|Aztec Poems] > [|Azteca Web Page] > [|Aztecs / Nahuatl / Tenochtitlán] > [|El Mundo Azteca] > [|Images from Mixtec Nuttall Codex] > and other Codex images  > [|Indigenous Mexican Images] > [|Mixtec Codices] > high quality images load very slowly  > > [|Mundo Azteca] > [|Nahuatl Language of the Aztecs] > [|Sun Stone] > [|Tehuatzin ti Mexicatl - We Are Mexica] **===**Other Aztec Pages **=== > from mexicochannel.net  > [|Aztec Calendar] > [|Aztec Calendar: The Pointer] > [|Mysteries of the Fifth Sun] > [|Aztec Images] > [|Sun Stone] > and explanation of symbols > click on symbol, it takes you to explanation of that symbol  ** > **Snake - Coatl ****Lizard - Cuetzpallin ****House - Calli ****Wind - Ehecatl ****Crocodile - Cipactli ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Flower - Xochitl ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Rain - Quiahuitl ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Flint - Tecpatl ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Movement - Ollin ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Vulture - Cozcacuauhtli ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Eagle - Cuauhtle ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Jaguar - Ocelotl ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Cane - Acatl ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Herb - Malinalli ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Monkey - Ozomatli ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Hairless Dog - Itzquintli ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Water - Atl ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Rabbit - Tochtli ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Deer - Mazatl ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Skull - Miquiztli > > **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;"> ===**<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Aztec Gods **=== **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Religion was extremely important in Aztec life. They worshipped hundreds of gods and goddesses, each of whom ruled one or more human activities or aspects of nature. The people had many agricultural gods because their culture was based heavily on farming; also they included natural elements and ancestor-heroes. These gods included: **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;"> **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">The following is a list of Aztec Emperors: **|| **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">__NAME__ ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">__TRANSLATION__ ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">__DATES SERVED__ ** || > || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">TENOCH ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">TUNA DE PIEDRA ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">1325-1375 ** || > || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">ACAMAPICHTLI ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">MANOJO DE CANAS ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">1376-1396 ** || > || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">HUITZILIHUITL ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">PLUMA DE COLIBRI ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">1397-1417 ** || > || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">CHIMALPOPOCA ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">ESCUDO HUMEANTE ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">1418-1427 ** || > || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">ITZCOATL ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">SERPIENTE DE OBSIDIANA ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">1428-1440 ** || > || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">MOCTEZUMA ILHUICAMINA ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">EL FLECHADOR DEL CIELO ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">1441-1469 ** || > || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">AXAYACATL ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">CARA DE AGUA ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">1470-1481 ** || > || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">TIZOC ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">PIERNA ENFERMA ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">1482-1486 ** || > || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">AHUITZOTL ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">PERRO DE AGUA ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">1487-1502 ** || > || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">MOCTEZUMA XOCOYOTZIN ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">EL SENOR VALEROSO ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">1503-1520 ** || > || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">CUITALAHUAC ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">EXCREMENTO SECO ** || **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">1520-1521 ** || > > (He who descends like an eagle.) > 1520-1521 ** ===**<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Aztec Books, Documents, and Writing **=== **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">[| Return to Indigenous Peoples' Literature] ** **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Compiled by: Glenn Welker > > **<span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">[|Copyright © 1993-2008] ** > > This page last updated 02/11/2008 11:22:10 > > This site has been accessed 10,000,000 times since February 8, 1996 ** enerate large classes of merchants and artisans
 * Did not g
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">The Aztecs/Mexicas were the native American people who dominated northern México at the time of the Spanish conquest led by Hernan CORTES in the early 16th century. According to their own legends, they originated from a place called Aztlan, somewhere in north or northwest Mexico. At that time the Aztecs (who referred to themselves as the Mexica or Tenochca) were a small, nomadic, Nahuatl-speaking aggregation of tribal peoples living on the margins of civilized Mesoamerica. Sometime in the 12th century they embarked on a period of wandering and in the 13th century settled in the central basin of México. Continually dislodged by the small city-states that fought one another in shifting alliances, the Aztecs finally found refuge on small islands in Lake Texcoco where, in 1325, they founded the town of TENOCHTITLAN (modern-day Mexico City). The term Aztec, originally associated with the migrant Mexica, is today a collective term, applied to all the peoples linked by trade, custom, religion, and language to these founders. **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Fearless warriors and pragmatic builders, the Aztecs created an empire during the 15th century that was surpassed in size in the Americas only by that of the Incas in Peru. As early texts and modern archaeology continue to reveal, beyond their conquests and many of their religious practices, there were many positive achievements: **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">The yearly round of rites and ceremonies in the cities of Tenochtitlan and neighboring Tetzcoco, and their symbolic art and architecture, gave expression to an ancient awareness of the interdependence of nature and humanity. **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">The Aztecs remain the most extensively documented of all Amerindian civilizations at the time of European contact in the 16th century. Spanish friars, soldiers, and historians and scholars of Indian or mixed descent left invaluable records of all aspects of life. These ethnohistoric sources, linked to modern archaeological inquiries and studies of ethnologists, linguists, historians, and art historians, portray the formation and flourishing of a complex imperial state. **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">[|Aztec Creation Story]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">[|Ancient Mexico : Aztec World]
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Clockwise, the days of the Aztec Calendar are as follows: **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Twenty Days of the Aztec Month **
 * CENTEOTL, the corn god.**
 * COATLICUE - She of the Serpent Skirt.**
 * EHECATL, the god of wind.**
 * HUEHUETEOTL, "the old, old deity," was one of the names of the cult of fire, among the oldest in Mesoamerica. The maintenance of fires in the temples was a principal priestly duty, and the renewal of fire was identified with the renewal of time itself.**
 * HUITZILOPOCHTLI, (the war/sun god and special guardian of Tenochtitlan) the deified ancestral warrior-hero, was the Mexica-Aztec patron par excellence. His temple (next to that of Tlaloc) on the Main Pyramid was the focus of fearsome sacrifices of prisoners captured by Aztec warriors. Victims' heads were strung as trophies on a great rack, the Tzompantli, erected in the precinct below.**
 * MICTLANTECUHTLE, god of the dead.**
 * OMETECUHLTI and his wife OMECIHUATL created all life in the world.**
 * QUETZALCOATL, (the god of civilization and learning) "quetzal (feather) serpent," had dozens of associations. It was the name of a deity, a royal title, the name of a legendary priest-ruler, a title of high priestly office. But its most fundamental significance as a natural force is symbolized by the sculpture of a coiled plumed serpent rising from a base whose underside is carved with the symbols of the earth deity and Tlaloc. The image of the serpent rising from the earth and bearing water on its tail is explained in the Nahuatl language by a description of Quetzalcoatl in terms of the rise of a powerful thunderstorm sweeping down, with wind raising dust before bringing rain.**
 * TEZCATLIPOCA, (god of Night and Sorcery) "Smoking Mirror" (obsidian), characterized as the most powerful, supreme deity, was associated with the notion of destiny. His cult was particularly identified with royalty, for Tezcatlipoca was the object of the lengthy and reverent prayers in rites of kingship.**
 * TLALOC, the rain deity, belonged to another most memorable and universal cult of ancient Mexico. The name may be Aztec, but the idea of a storm god especially identified with mountaintop shrines and life-giving rain was certainly as old as Teotihuacan. The primary temple of this major deity was located atop Mt. Tlaloc, where human victims were sacrificed to fertilize water-rocks within the sacred enclosure. In Tenochtitlan another Tlaloc temple shared the platform atop the dual Main Pyramid, a symbolic mountain.**
 * TONATIUH, the sun, was perceived as a primary source of life whose special devotees were the warriors. The warriors were charged with the mission to provide the sun with sacrificial victims. A special altar to the sun was used for sacrifices in coronation rites, a fact that signifies the importance of the deity. The east-west path of the sun determined the principal ritual axis in the design of Aztec cities.**
 * TONANTZIN, "honored grandmother," was among the many names of the female earth-deity.**
 * TEZCATLIPOCA, an all-powerful god; Tonatiuh, the sun god.**
 * XILONEN, "young maize ear," and Chicomecoatl, "seven serpent," were principal deities of maize representing the chief staple of Mesoamerican peoples.**
 * XIPE TOTEC, the god of springtime and regrowth.**
 * XIUHTECUHTLE the fire god.**
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">CUAUHTEMOC
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">{koo-ow-tay'-mawk} **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Cuauhtemoc, c.1495-1525, became ruler of the AZTECS in 1521, during the siege of TENOCHTITLAN, and led the final desperate resistance of that city against the Spanish conquistadors. After weeks of street fighting, he surrendered to Hernan CORTES. This act marked the end of the Aztec empire and the beginning of Spanish dominion in Mexico. **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Cuauhtemoc was first treated kindly by the Spanish, then imprisoned and tortured, and finally hanged during Cortes's march to Honduras, on a charge of plotting treachery. A tomb below the church at his birthplace, Ixcateopan in Guerrero, is said to contain his remains, but not all scholars accept this attribution. **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">[|Aztec Bibliography] **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Berdan, Frances F., and Anawalt, Patricia, eds., The Codex Mendoza, 4 vols. (1992) **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Berdan, Frances. Aztecs of Central Mexico: An Imperial Society. Holt, 1982. Ethnographic reconstruction of preconquest Aztec culture. **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Carrasco, David, ed., To Change Place: Aztec Ceremonial Landscapes (1991) **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Caso, Alfonso. The Aztecs, People of the Sun. Oklahoma, 1978. Trans. Lowell Dunham. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958. Contends that Aztecs were primarily religious people and lived accordingly. **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Castillo, Bernal Diaz, The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico, trans. by A. P. Maudsley (1956) **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Chimalpain's " Diferentes Historias Originales de los Reinos de Culhuacan y México y de Otras Provincias " **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Clendinnen, Inga. Aztecs: An Interpretation. Cambridge, 1991. Describes the lives of "ordinary" Aztecs. **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Cortes, Hernan, Letters from Mexico, trans. by A. R. Pagden (1971) **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Cortez, Hernando ' "Cartas de Relación " (a series of five letters written by the conqueror to king Charles V, published in Spanish by Porrúa Hermanos and in English by Norton & Co. as translated by J. Bayard Morris) **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Davies, Nigel. The Aztecs: A History. Oklahoma, 1980; 1986. Political history spanning 400-year empire before Spanish conquest. **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">del Castillo, Berná Diaz. Discovery and Conquest of Mexico. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Cudahy, 1956. **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Duran, Diego 's "Book of the Gods and Rites and the Ancient Calendar " (translated by Doris Heyden and Fernando Horcasitas in a 1971 edition by the Univ. of Oklahoma Press) **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Hassig, Ross. Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control. Oklahoma, 1988. An examination of the Aztec Empire in terms of its own goals and objectives. **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Karen, Ruth. Feathered Serpent: The Rise and Fall of the Aztecs. Four Winds, 1979. The origins of the civilization, brutal cultural organization, and military conquest by Spaniards. **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Leó, Miguel. The Aztec Image of Self and Society. Ed. J. Jorge Klow de Alva. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1992. **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Leon-Portilla, Miguel. Aztec Image of Self and Society. Utah, 1992. "An Introduction to Nahua Culture" (subtitle). **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Leon-Portilla, Miguel, ed. The Broken Spears: An Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. Beacon, 1962. Translations of a selection of indigenous accounts of the conquest. **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Leon-Portilla, Miguel's "Aztec Thought and Culture " (Univ. Oklahoma Press, 1963; several printings), A classic analysis of the Aztec mind, a translation of the author's 1956 Spanish original: "La FilosofíaNahuatl " (UNAM, Mexico City). **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo. Aztecs. Rizzoli, 1989. Draws on both archaeological and ethnohistorical evidence.The Mighty Aztecs. National Geographic, 1981. Illustrated overview of their short-lived glories. **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Moctezuma, Eduardo Matos. The Great Temple of the Aztecs. Trans. Doris Heyden. New York: Thames and Hudson, Ltd., 1988. **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Soustelle, Jacques's "La Vida Cotidiana de los Aztecas en Vísperas de la Conquista " (1956, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico City, many printings), a translation from the original French work published in 1955. **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Tezozomoc, Fernando Alvarado 's "Crónica Mexicayotl " (1975, UNAM, Mexico City). **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Townsend, Richard F., The Aztecs (1992) **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,Times New Roman,Times,serif;">Weaver, Muriel Porter. The Aztecs, Maya, and Their Predecessors Archeology of Mesoamerica. New York: Seminar Press, 1972. **
 * On a local level Incas traded handcrafted goods among themselves
 * Essential government controlled long distance trade
 * Inca state did not permit individuals to become independent merchants
 * In an absence of market economy a large class of professional skilled artisans did not emerge
 * Fine goods were reserved for the ruling priestly and the aristocrats
 * Peasants worked the land and gave over a portion of their produce to the state
 * Besides supporting ruling classes, revenue also used for famine relief
 * Peasants also provided heavy labor for public works
 * Cloth was the most valuable trade object and among the most difficult to produce

Aztec economy:
 * The Aztec empire spread its wealth because of the tribute system
 * Merchants took goods to distant lands and exchanged them for local products
 * They assembled tributes for all land that they conquered
 * Tenochtitlan was a wealthy economic center
 * Cocoa beans were the equivalent to a currency
 * The market had separate sections for merchants dealing in gold, silver, slaves, henequen and cotton cloth shoes, animal skins turkeys dogs wild game maize beans peppers cacao and fruits

Comparisons: Aztecs: Incas //Validated by: Armando Covarrubias -Pretty good information, maybe include some of the societies with whom both traded? -What did the Inca replace a currecny system with? -Why were merchants considered imporant in the Aztec society but not in the Incan?
 * Open land geography allows aztecs to trade with others and expand their empire
 * Aztecs had an established currency systems with the precious cacao beans
 * Gave merchants more freedom and a higher rank in society
 * Empire was secluded in the mountians causing them to have little or no interaction with nearby societies.
 * one of many to have a thriving economy without a currency system
 * Did not consider merchants as an important class in society

Validated by: Amy Gilson -Good information; pretty easy to read -Nice pictures -Don't forget links

Validated by: Sean RIley, Ciara Miller -Good information -Need links -Why were merchants important in Aztec empire and not in Inca empire?// none //Optional:// comment for page history

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