The Americas
Unit 7- Essay: The Americas
The Aztecs and Inca people had many issues and concerns when they came in contact with the European people. In this essay I will be comparing the issues, and concerns of Aztec and Inca cultures to their contacts with the Europeans. Some of the issues that I will be discussing are from the time period that covered roughly the 1400’s to roughly around the 1500’s. The Aztecs were American Indian people who ruled a mighty empire in Mexico from the 1400’s to 1500’s. In the late fourteenth century, the Inkas were a very small community in the area of Cuzco, a city located at an altitude of 10,000 feet in the mountains of Southern Peru (Pg. 181, Dukier). The lives of the people in these two cultures were forever changed once they came in contact with the Europeans.
In studying about the Aztecs and Incas through our eCore online content, our history textbook by Dukier/Spielvogel , secondary sources Andrea/Overfield, I was really able to get a firm understanding of these two cultures and be able to understand how important their religious beliefs, their work ethic and their cultural aspects, government and social structure operated, just how things were done in their world. Then to have it disrupted by intruders, the Europeans was not easy for them. I could see why they would put up resistance to a lot of these changes.
Sometime during the early twelfth century, the Aztecs left their original habitat and, carrying an image of their patron deity, Huitzilopochtli, began a lengthy migration that climaxed to their arrival in the Valley of Mexico sometime late in the century (pg. 175, Dukier) . Much of the Aztec’s success can be attributed to the cult of their chief god Huitzilopochtili, the god of the sun( eCore online notes). The Aztecs firmly believed that this god had to keep moving to avoid being overtaken by darkness. They also believed that he had to be fed human blood, so they practiced ritual sacrifice, sometimes on a mass
The Aztecs and Inca people had many issues and concerns when they came in contact with the European people. In this essay I will be comparing the issues, and concerns of Aztec and Inca cultures to their contacts with the Europeans. Some of the issues that I will be discussing are from the time period that covered roughly the 1400’s to roughly around the 1500’s. The Aztecs were American Indian people who ruled a mighty empire in Mexico from the 1400’s to 1500’s. In the late fourteenth century, the Inkas were a very small community in the area of Cuzco, a city located at an altitude of 10,000 feet in the mountains of Southern Peru (Pg. 181, Dukier). The lives of the people in these two cultures were forever changed once they came in contact with the Europeans.
In studying about the Aztecs and Incas through our eCore online content, our history textbook by Dukier/Spielvogel , secondary sources Andrea/Overfield, I was really able to get a firm understanding of these two cultures and be able to understand how important their religious beliefs, their work ethic and their cultural aspects, government and social structure operated, just how things were done in their world. Then to have it disrupted by intruders, the Europeans was not easy for them. I could see why they would put up resistance to a lot of these changes.
Sometime during the early twelfth century, the Aztecs left their original habitat and, carrying an image of their patron deity, Huitzilopochtli, began a lengthy migration that climaxed to their arrival in the Valley of Mexico sometime late in the century (pg. 175, Dukier) . Much of the Aztec’s success can be attributed to the cult of their chief god Huitzilopochtili, the god of the sun( eCore online notes). The Aztecs firmly believed that this god had to keep moving to avoid being overtaken by darkness. They also believed that he had to be fed human blood, so they practiced ritual sacrifice, sometimes on a mass
Cited: Andrea, Alfred, and James Overfield. The Human Record. Sixth Edition/ Volume 1: to 1700: Houghton Mifflin, (accessed April 14, 2013) Andrea et al. "The Human Record Sources of Global History." Bernardino de Sabagun, History of the Things of New Spain, Edited by Alfred Andrea, Houghton Mifflin Company "eCore Online material." Vasquerz de Espinosa. "The Human Record Sources of Global History Sixth Edition." General History of the Things of New Spain, Houghton Mifflin, Dukier, William, and Jackson Spielvogel. World History Volume 1: to 1800. (accessed April 14, 2013).