...The Inca Empire founded around 1200 A.D. was an imperial society with a complex development of cosmologies. This Dynasty allowed for growth of population, resources and power through a newly founded concept of political economies. Prior to this new idealism of exploitation and control Tribal societies were solely based on subsistence living. Where the Inca population was divided into a ranking system by ascribed status; individuals in tribal societies gained small amounts of symbolic power threw achieved status. Another substantial difference between the two types of societies is the taxation system of the Inca empire verses the egalitarian foundations on which tribal societies are built. Control was obtained by the Inca Dynasty through manipulation of the societies cosmology. Therefore, by comparing the cosmologies of Imperial societies with those of tribal societies we are able to analise the extent to which social structure influences cultural transformation. Incas Political economy differed from the earlier tribal economy of subsistence, this allowed for power gain. Political economy refers to ‘a cultural pattern in which a central authority intervines in the production and distribution of goods.’ The central authority in any Imperial society is an elite minority believed to be within the lineal dissenience of the Gods. This is the concept of the divine kingship which can be seen in the Inca Empire. Unlike the subsistence economy of a tribal society, where production...
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...Incas created a government of laws. Incas first emperor is Pachacuti. Pachacuti expanded the cult of ancestor worship to rise his power. The Incas called their empire Tahuantinsuyu, and their empire was from South America to Santiago. Their empire was the largest in the world at the time. The Incas controlled over one hundred million people. The empire reached its southernmost extent in central Chile. The next emperor in line is Capac Yupanqui and he was the most influential ruler. The Spanish installed Manco Inca Yupanqui as a puppet king. The fourth in line is Mayta Capac, that’s when the Inca began their land holdings. Viracocha Inca was the eighth emperor in line. Dead emperors maintained a living presence. Incas achieved many goals. Manco Capac led the tribe to settle in Cuzco, and Capac is the one who found Cusco. Viracocha and Capac began permanent conquest at that...
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...environment of the Inca Empire; high elevation, low temperature, low precipitation, steep mountains and poor vegetation. All of these characteristics influenced how the Incas lived in every way: what they ate, how they managed food and living conditions, and ways of surviving. The Incas developed methods and systems like the Chaquis system, which helped with communication, and system of warehouses and granaries to evenly distribute food throughout the empire. The Inca Empire was located at very high altitude on the Andes Mountains. As a result of this high altitude, the level of oxygen and the temperature was very low. Vegetation was scarce and the trees very short because of the cold and the low level of oxygen. At the level of Tierra Templada, which included many small trees and shrubs, the temperature was cold. There was also very little rain in the Inca Empire; less than 2 inches of rain a year; the land was as almost as dry as any desert. The mountains were very steep and hard to climb up and down. The only crop they could plant on these conditions was the potato. The potato was a very important staple food for the Incas. Along with the potatoes, the Incas ate cuy, which was guinea pig meat. Since the mountains were very steep, there wasn’t much flat land to grow potatoes. So, the Incas created a method of terrace farming where they would make large steps to grow food on. The Incas also built roads out of stone to be able to walk down the mountains with ease. The Incas used to roads...
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...The Maya, Aztec, and Inca were three civilizations that lived in Latin America during the middle ages. It is hard to overlook the fact that they had remarkable similarities, but also some differences.(castletown) Their class structures were similar, and they all valued religion. However, when it came to the roles and expectations of men and women, there are differences between the three races. Each civilization has similarities and differences socially, culturally, economically, politically, militarism, and diplomatically(castletown). In the Mayan civilization, kings, priests, and hereditary nobility were at the top of the social pyramid. Merchants were also relatively high status. However, the majority of people were peasants or slaves. The...
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...separated by long distances, such as the trade between Native Americans throughout the United States. One group, the Inca, were very influential and their ideas have been passed down for generations and to other tribes in the Americas. The Incas in turn, helped advance many newer, less ancient, tribes and their discoveries formed the basis for new discoveries in the future. The Inca were a very advanced society, but were exposed to other civilizations such as, the Pueblos, who set the example...
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...Molly Ammerman Cultural Anthropology 207 Dr. Carrico Essay #3 The Inca Empire Before and After The Spanish Conquest The Inca Empire developed in the 1400’s in the city of Cuzco, Peru. They thrived up through the 1500’s, until the Spanish conquered the land. Originally, the Spanish conquest was not harmful, but eventually the Incas lost more and more power until they finally collapsed. You could say the Spaniard’s got lucky, finding the civilization at a time when they were weak from various battles within their own people. The Inca’s political and social structure was, in fact, not that different from that of the Spaniards, however, they were able to manipulate and play the Inca’s trust in order to gain power and take over their land. The Incas were considered to be a class-stratified, state-based society with a tributary mode of production, that is, until the Spaniards arrived. The Inca Empire prior to the Spanish conquest was a thriving, organized, and productive civilization. They ran on a state-based society, which included hierarchal class-stratification. Along with that, they picked up a tributary mode of production, meaning that lower classes (commoners/peasants) are in charge of producing goods by farming and agriculture for the higher classes to eventually take from them. The state typically owns the plot of land that the commoners are staying and producing goods on, who do not have much or any power at all. The state uses this force of labor to gain wealth...
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...Periodo 6 El maya, inca y azteca son algunas de las más grandes civilizaciones de la historia. Aunque los tres de ellos tienen muchas similitudes, tienen muchas diferencias también. A diferencia de las culturas europeas, se sabe poco sobre las antiguas culturas de las Américas. Sin embargo, lo que sí se sabe es fascinante. Estas culturas tenían ciudades complejas, pirámides grandes, cultivos cosechados, negociados con los vecinos, los ejércitos formados, y mucho más. A pesar de que estas culturas precolombinas eran brillantes y contribuyeron en gran medida a las culturas y civilizaciones modernas, eran muy diferentes. En primer lugar, los mayas se remonta a alrededor de 2600 aC, mientras que las civilizaciones inca y azteca son mucho más jóvenes, remonta a 1200 dC y 1325 dC. La civilización maya incluye hoy en día México, Guatemala, El Salvador, Belice y Honduras. La civilización inca se encuentra en las montañas de los Andes en lo que hoy es Perú. Los aztecas vivían en lo que hoy es la Ciudad de México. La Azteca, Maya e Inca todas cultivadas pero tenía diferentes técnicas. Los Aztecas construyeron jardines flotantes, mientras que los mayas quemaban bosques para plantar jardines y el Inca cultivó zonas en terrazas. Las culturas mayas y aztecas tenían un extenso sistema de escritura, pero los incas nunca hicieron uno. Los mayas influenciados matemáticas de hoy y los mayas y aztecas contribuido mucho a la escritura moderna y calendarios. Por otro lado, los incas contribuido mucho...
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...ANTH265 Final Exam 12/12/11 PART I: Inca and Maya Cultural Systems To one who is not familiar with the ancient peoples of the Americas, the Maya and the Inca could be misjudged as two similar civilizations. Although links do exist between all the civilizations, the Maya and the Inca are not as parallel as say the Maya and Aztec. The Maya civilization occupied what are now Guatemala, Belize, and the Mexican states of Tabasco, Chiapas and the entire Yucatan Peninsula. The earliest records of the Maya civilization show that they were already growing crops around 1,800 BC with the "golden era" of the Maya civilization occurring between 250 and 900 AD. More than 40 cities, some of which had populations of more than 50,000 existed in this time. The Incas reigned along the west coast of South America with the empire’s center in present day Peru from approximately 1476 to 1534 AD. According to M. Moseley’s book, The Incas and their Ancestors, The Inca’s population is estimated to be over 10 million at the height of the empire; however, these people were not technically Incas, but Inca subjects. Interestingly, the term ‘Inca’ only encompasses a small group of kindred, less than 40,000 individuals who built their great Andean empire by force. The ‘subjects’ were not Incas because the Incas were a closed ethnic body. Nonetheless, the differences between the Inca and Maya go much further than just regional and time differences. Each society’s religion, ideological, and cosmological...
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...The Incas Anthro 101 -- Mandy Busby Written Assignment #1 Tuesday, October 14, 2008 The Inca civilization originated from the Andes Mountains in South America. This civilization was strictly organized when it came to its’ political government. They way their beliefs were, only a descendent of a god could be worthy of having authority over them. The Inca civilization was one that had no system of writing but on the contraire they had an immaculate record keeping system. The whole reason they began this kind of system was to keep inventory of everyone and everything in each region. This civilization was a target for the Spanish imperials; they grew ambitious of the gold and silver deposits that the Inca had settled upon. The Inca were truly a wealthy civilization from an organized government to great resources in their settlement. The downfall may have been that they had discovered something so valuable to the Spanish, which lead to a conquest. The Incas were strictly organized when it came to its’ natives. From the emperor down to the peasants, bloodline was an important thing to them. Emperors were not chosen as either was the government. It was all based on bloodline, the most “pureblooded” Incas not only held the most important positions in government but also in religious and military posts. There was one exception to this, which seemed to contradict their beliefs; nobles of conquered people would become part of the governing aristocracy on top of being...
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...American Empires There are many civilizations existed in the early American world, but the biggest and greatest were the Aztec and Inca civilizations. The Aztecs and Incas had many similarities in their religion and also both civilizations conquered by the Spanish ended in the 1500’s, but the difference were the agriculture and the geography of the areas that they settled in. The religion were very similar in Aztec and Inca. They both believed in essentially the same gods and they also believed in human sacrifice, but the Incans did not think it is necessary to have human sacrifice more than a few times a year. Inca’s religion could say was more peaceful religion where the Aztec was more violent. The reason for human sacrifice was they believed...
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...describe only a tiny morsel of the Incan civilization. The Incas are a civilization that got wiped off the face of the earth and became an enigma. Because I am fascinated by the Incas, I wish they had never disappeared, but then they would be put next to the other ancient civilizations that grew in the 1800’s. How did the Incas come about, what is their history, and most importantly, how did they disappear? According to legend, Wiraqoca Pacayacaciq, the Incan creator, created a race of giants on the island Titicaca, located in Bolivia. After creating this race, he discovered that they were too large for his purpose, so he replaced them with humans, similar to the ones who inhabit the earth now. After turning some...
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...Today, you will learn about the Incas and their world view. As you can see on the board, worldview is the beliefs and values of a region. The Incas believed in three pacha realms. The three realms are the hanan pacha (upper world), kay pacha (surface of the earth), and uku pacha (underworld). One of the main gods is Viracocha. He is the creator of the universe, and the first Incas were considered his children. Also, he created all the other gods. Another god is Inti, the sun god. He had the most direct influence on leaders. Additionally, he had a temple dedicated to him. This temple is called Qorikancha, and it is located in Cuzco. The next god is Illapa which is the god of thunder and lightning. People prayed to him so that there would...
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...The Inca Empire and Latin America are comparable due to their similar location but different time periods in which they were successful. After reading “The Lost City of the Inca,” by Hiram Bingham and the textbook sections on Latin America, it is clear that both had similar class structures with some differences. The ruling and lower classes had an unequal distribution of power and wealth. The absolute power of the ruling class led to tragic conditions including slavery, which resulted in the deaths of thousands, and diminished the rights for the peasants, who never were able to participate in how the government was run or managed. Similarities between the Incan and Latin American class structures included a small population in the elite ruling class which consisted of wealthy landowners and a significantly larger lower class consisting of poor peasants who worked on estates. As a result, these governments were dominated by rich civilians who enacted laws and rules to meet their own wants and needs, without any considerations for the peasants. In both...
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...The Inca religion was fueled by the worship of the sun, a line of divine kings, and sacred landmarks that were link to their past. The Inca religion worshipped several deities with the Sun ruling supreme. Another deity of importance within the Inca religion was Mama-Quilla or Mother Moon. She was the second great deity, the Moon was the wife of the Sun. Inca religion was influenced by local and great traditions. A good deal of Andean people believed that they shared the cosmos with the animate dead, the goods, and the beings of the landscape. They acknowledge these powers through rituals, offerings, and prayer. They believed that human well being depended on the other powers within the cosmos. The skies were considered to be filled with...
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...How and when did the Aztec and Inca empires fall? . The Aztec and Inca names do not necessarily refer to people who inhabited the Americas but they reference the empires themselves. The empires were made up of many groups. The Aztec Empire encompassed the ethnic groups of the Acolhua, the Tepanecs and the Mexicas. The Aztec Empire was ruled by the Mexicas. The Mexicas were warriors. They built their capitol in a city called Tenochtitlan. It was located where central Mexico is today (Chasteen 28). Hernan Cortes was a Spanish leader who had a lot of experience with the indigenous people by the time he came upon the Aztec empire. The Mexica had no clued what the Spanish wanted or their intentions. After the Mexica accepted the Spanish into their land, Cortes took their leader Moctezuma hostage. Next Cortes made allies with long time Mexica enemies (a common tactic by the Europeans) and waged war on the Mexica. The Mexica also suffered from a rapidly spreading sickness which worked to Cortes advantage to decimate the Aztec Empire. The Inca Empire was located in the areas of what today makes up Columbia, Peru and Chile. It was south of the Aztec Empire and its capitol was called Cuzco. It was made up of a federation of four governments. The Chinchay Suyu , Anti Suyu, Kunti Suyu, and Qulla Suyu (Wikipedia). A distant relative of Cortes by the name of Franscisco Pizarro used similar techniques to defeat the Inca Empire. Pizarro took the Incan leader hostage and eventually killed...
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