(TGT) Meso-American Societies, continued Lesson

Meso-American Societies, continued Lesson

Feeding the People: The Economy of the Empire

Feeding the Aztec confederation depended both on traditional agricultural forms and innovations. Conquered peoples lost land and gave food as tribute. In and around the lake, the Aztecs developed a system of irrigated agriculture. They built chinampas, artificial floating islands, that permitted the harvesting of high-yield multiple yearly crops. Aztec peasant production and tribute supplied the basic foods. Clans in each community apportioned land among people, nobles, and temples. There were periodic markets for exchange. The great daily market at Tlatelolco was controlled by a pochteca (merchant class) that specialized in long-distance luxury item trade. The Aztecs had a state-controlled mixed economy: tribute, markets, commodity use, and distribution were highly regulated.

 

Aztec Society in Transition

The society of the expanding Aztec Empire became increasingly hierarchical. Calpulli organization survived, but different social classes appeared. Tribute from subject peoples was not enough to maintain the large Aztec population.

 

Widening Social Gulf

By the sixteenth century, the seven original calpulli had expanded from kinship groups to become residential groupings including neighbors, allies, and dependents. The calpulli performed vital local functions in distributing land and labor and maintaining temples and schools. During wars, they organized military units. Calpulli were governed by councils of family heads, but all families were not equal. During Aztec expansion, a class of pipiltin (nobility) had emerged from privileged families in the most distinguished calpulli. The nobles controlled the military and priesthood. Military virtues infused all society and were linked to the cult of sacrifice; they justified the nobility's predominance. Death in battle ensured eternal life, a reward also going to women dying in childbirth. The social gulf separating nobles from commoners widened. Social distinctions were formalized by giving the pipiltin special clothes and symbols of rank. The imperial family members were the most distinguished of the pipiltin. A new class of workers resembling serfs was created to serve on the nobility's private lands. They held a status above slaves. Other groups, scribes, artisans, and healers, constituted an intermediate social group in the larger cities. Long-distance merchants had their own calpulli, but restrictions blocked their entry into the nobility.

 

Overcoming Technological Constraints

Aztec women had a variety of roles. Peasant women helped in the fields, but their primary work was in the household; skill in weaving was highly esteemed. Elder women trained young girls. Marriages were arranged between lineages, and female virginity was important. Polygamy existed among the nobility; peasants were monogamous. Women inherited and passed on property, but in political and social life they were subordinate to men. Mesoamerican New World technology limited social development, especially for women, when compared with that in other cultures. The absence of milling technology meant that women spent many hours daily in grinding maize by hand for household needs. The total Aztec population may have reached more than 20 million.

 

A Tribute Empire

Each of the Aztec city-states was ruled by a speaker chosen from the nobility. The ruler of Tenochtitlan, the Great Speaker, surpassed all others in wealth and power. He presided over an elaborate court. A prime minister, usually a close relative of the ruler, had tremendous power. There was a governing council, but it lacked real power. During the first 100 years of Aztec expansion, a powerful nobility and emperor had taken over authority formerly held by calpulli. Military virtues became supreme as the state religion, and the desire for more tribute and captives for sacrifice drove the Aztecs to further conquests. The empire was not integrated; defeated local rulers often remained in place as subordinate officials. They were left alone if tribute and labor obligations were met. Revolts against the exactions were ruthlessly suppressed. The Aztec system was successful because it aimed at political domination and not direct control. In the long run, the growing social stresses created by the rise of the pipiltin and the terror and tribute imposed on subjects contributed to the empire's collapse.

 

In-Depth: The "Troubling" Civilizations of the Americas

European concepts of civilization did not match with the practices of American Indians. Judging a civilization different from one's own is always a complex proceeding. While some condemn Aztec sacrifice, others romanticize the Indian past. The arguments about the possible existence of Inca socialism or the nature of Aztec religion are examples. Moral judgment is probably inevitable, but students of history must strive to understand a people's practices in the context of their own time and culture.

 

Twantinsuyu: World of the Incas

During the period following the disintegration of the states of Tihuanaco and Huari (c.550-1000 C.E.) smaller regional states exercised power in the Andes. Some of them were centers of agricultural activity and population density. The considerable warfare among the states resembled the post-Toltec period in Mesoamerica. The state of Chimor (900-1465) emerged as most powerful, controlling most of the north coast of Peru. After 1300, the Incas developed a new civilization.

 

The Inca Rise to Power

In the southern Andean highlands, many groups fought for supremacy. Quechua-speaking ayllus (clans) around Cuzco won control of territory formerly under Huari. By 1438, under Pachacuti, they began campaigns ending with their control of the region. Pachacuti's son, Topac Yupanqui (1471-1493), conquered Chimor and extended Inca rule into Ecuador and Chile. Huayna Capac (1493-1527) consolidated the conquests; by his death, the Inca Empire—Twantinsuyu—stretched from Colombia to Chile, and eastward to Bolivia and Argentina. From 9 to 13 million people were under Inca rule.

 

Conquest and Religion

The Inca had other reasons for expansion besides the desire for economic gain and political power. They adopted from Chimor the practice of "split inheritance": all of a ruler's political power went to the successor, while all wealth and land passed to male descendants for the eternal support of the cult of the dead ruler's mummy. The system created a justification for endless expansion. Inca political and social life was infused with religious meaning. The sun was the highest deity; the ruler (Inca) was the god's representative on earth. The Temple of the Sun at Cuzco was the center of state religion. The sun cult spread throughout the empire, but the worship of local gods continued. Popular belief was based on a profound animism that endowed natural phenomena with spiritual power. Prayers and sacrifices were offered at huacas (holy shrines), which were organized into groupings under the authority of ayllus. The temples were served by priests and women dedicated to preparing the sacrifices and managing important festivals and celebrations.

 

The Techniques of Incas Imperial Rule

The Inca, considered virtually a god, ruled the empire from Cuzco. It also was the site of the major temple. The empire was divided into four provinces, each under a governor. The Incas had a bureaucracy in which most of the nobility served. Curacas (Local rulers) continued in office in return for loyalty. They were exempt from tribute and received labor or produce from their subjects. Their sons were educated in Cuzco. The Quechua language, the use of mitmaq (colonists), and the forced transfer of peoples were important techniques for integrating the empire. A complex system of roads, bridges, and causeways, with tambo (way stations) and storehouses, helped military movement. Conquered peoples supplied land and labor. They served in the military and received rewards from new conquests. The Inca state organized building and irrigation projects beyond the capabilities of subject peoples. In return, tribute and loyalty were required. All local resources were taken and redistributed: there were lands for the people, the state, and religion. Labor on state and religious land was demanded rather than tribute in kind. Women had to weave cloth for the court and religious use. Some women were taken as concubines for the Inca or as temple servants. Each community was controlled by the ayllus and aimed at self-sufficiency. Most men were peasants and herders. Women worked in the household, wove cloth, and aided in agriculture. Since Andean people recognized parallel descent, property passed in both lines. Even though an ideology of complementarity of the sexes was strong, the emphasis on military virtue made men dominant. The idea of gender cooperation was reflected in cosmology. Gods and goddesses were venerated by both sexes, though women had a special feeling for the moon and the fertility goddesses of the earth and corn. The ruler's senior wife was a link to the moon. Still, male power within the empire showed in the selection of women for state and temple purposes. The integration of imperial policy with regional diversity was a political achievement. Reciprocity between the state and local community allowed the empire to function efficiently. Within the system, the Inca nobility had many privileges and were distinguished by dress and custom. There was no distinct merchant class because of the emphasis on self-sufficiency and state management of the economy. The state remained strong until it lost control of its subject peoples and government mechanisms. Royal multiple marriages used to forge alliances eventually created rival claimants for power and civil war.

 

Inca Cultural Achievements

The Inca produced beautiful pottery and cloth. Their metallurgy was among the most advanced in the Americas. They lacked the wheel and a writing system, instead using quipu (knotted strings) for accounts and enumeration. The peak of Inca genius was in statecraft and architecture. They constructed great stone buildings, agricultural terraces, irrigation projects, and road systems.

 

 

Comparing Incas and Aztecs

Both empires were based on the long development of civilizations that preceded them. They excelled in imperial and military organization. The two were based on intensive agriculture organized by the state; goods were redistributed to groups or social classes. The Aztecs and Incas transformed an older kinship system into a hierarchical one in which the nobility predominated. In both, the nobility was the personnel of the state. Although the Incas tried to integrate their empire as a unit, both empires recognized local ethnic groups and political leaders in return for loyalty. The Aztecs and Incas found their military power less effective against nomadic frontier people; their empires were based on conquest and exploitation of sedentary peoples. There were considerable differences between Incas and Aztecs, many of them the result of climate and geography. Trade and markets were more developed among the Aztecs. Other differences were present in metallurgy, writing systems, and social definition and hierarchy. In the context of world civilizations, both can be viewed as variations of similar patterns, with sedentary agriculture as the most important factor.

 

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