Aztecs VS.

Incas
Michelle Pepping 1A
From the 1300-1500s, the economy of the Aztecs and Incas were very
advanced for their time. Although they had similar foundations for their
economies, the way these societies prospered was quite different. Both the
Aztecs in Mexico and the Incas in Peru relied on agriculture to survive, but
each had their own form of ruling over their empire.
The Aztec and Incan civilizations had similar bases for their
people to live and grow as a community. Their economies were based on
agriculture and they rarely hunted animals. When they did hunt, it was only
for special occasions. Both societies realized that farming provided a better
source of food than hunting did. The Aztecs and Incas grew corn, sweet
potatoes, squash, beans, tomatoes, and avocados. These civilizations also
traded and had flourishing markets. Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec
empire, had many markets where people came for anything and everything
and most farmers and other product sellers came to the largest Aztec market
called Tlatelolco. The Incas were also able to trade and sell their products
through extensive roads they built themselves. The Incas made use of their
mountainous lands by creating bridges that crossed from mountain to
mountain that allowed the Incas to travel to every corner of their empire.
The Aztec and Incan empires had their similarities primarily in the
foundation of their economy.
The Inca Empire was a federalist system with four provinces and a
central government centered on the Sapa Inca. Each province had a governor
who oversaw local officials who supervised agriculturally-productive river
valleys, cities, and mines in each area. In contrast to the Incas, the Aztecs did
not rule directly over their empire, but indirectly through hegemony. It
would conquer a city-state but then reestablish the local ruler, only
interfering with his governing when they did not pay their tribute to the
Aztecs.
While both civilizations were polytheistic, the Incas were in transition
to monotheism centered on worship of the sun Inti coexisting with ancestor
worship. The Aztecs required massive human sacrifices whereas human
sacrifice was practiced on a limited basis for the Incas. Although both the
Aztecs and the Incas followed a calendar, the Aztecs was 365 days and the
Incan calendar consisted of 30 days, each month featuring its own religious
festival.

The Aztec and Incan civilizations had similar foundations yet different
particular characteristics of their economy, culture, and politics. These
empires thrived in what they created and even more than 500 years later, the
Aztecs and Incas never cease to fascinate us.