4.The+Americas

= Key Terms = ** Toltecs ** – The Toltec culture is an archaeological Mesoamerican culture that dominated a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo in the early post-classic period of Mesoamerican chronology. They are a member of a Nahuatl-speaking people of central and southern Mexico whose empire flourished from the 10th century until it collapsed under invasion by the Aztecs in the 12th century. Tenochtitlan﻿ **–** The Aztecs built their capital city, called Tenochtitlan, in the center of enormous Lake Texcoco ** Aztec ** **–** The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology**.** ** Chinampas ** **–** //Chinampa// is a method of ancient Mesoamerican agriculture which used small, rectangle-shaped areas of fertile arable land to grow crops on the shallow lake beds in the Valley of Mexico. ** Calpulli ** **–** it means large house**;** Calpullis controlled land which was available for calpulli members to cultivate and also operated the Telpochcalli schools for young men of commoner descent. In Aztec culture, as in most other civilizations, the family unit was very important. ** Incas ** **–** The Incas were a distinct people with a distinct language living in a highland center, Cuzco. They were an ancient people, but had been subject to the regional powers during the entire history of South American urban cultures. They began to expand their influence in the twelfth century and in the early sixteenth century, they exercised control over more territory than any other people had done in South American history. The empire consisted of over one million individuals, spanning a territory stretching from Ecuador to northern Chile. **﻿** Temple** of the Sun ** **–** ** Split inheritance ** **–** The Inca practice of **Split Inheritance** was the process in which a ruler's chosen successor obtained all political power and rights **mita**﻿ ** – ** ** quipu ** ** ﻿ -** were recording devices used in the Inca Empire and its predecessor societies in the Andean region. A quipu usually consisted of colored spun and plied thread or strings from llama or alpaca hair. It could also be made of cotton cords. The cords contained numeric and other values encoded by knots in a base ten positional system. Quipus might have just a few or up to 2,000 cords.


 * ESPIRIT CHART ON INCA **

* ||
 * E ||  ||
 * S || * Coastal kingdom of Chimor  emerged as the most powerful and was conquest by the Incas in 1465
 * Pachacuti launched military alliances
 * Sons of conquered chieftains taken to Cuzco for education
 * Conquered people were enlisted in the Inca armies + rewarded with goods from new conquests
 * Some nobles held private estates
 * Incas divided conquered areas into lands for the people and lands for the state and lands for the sun
 * Inca provided wool but household produce cloth
 * Women were taken as concubines for the Inca
 * Women were selected as servant at the temples ||
 * P || * State organization and bureaucratic control over peoples of different cultures and languages
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Chimor spread its control over 600 miles of the coast
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Then Pachacuti was the rules + next was Huayna
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Empire ruled by the Inca (considered almost a god)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Inca ruled from his court at Cuzco -> high priest was a close relative
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Divided into four great provinces (each under a governor) and then divided again
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">State bureaucracy where almost all nobles played a role
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">State claimed all resources
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Inca queen = queen and sister of the sun seen as link to the moon
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Reciprocity + hierarchy continued to characterize
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Nobility were all drawn from the 10 royal ayllus
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 65pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Ica armies were on the march, extending control over territories
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Spoke of decimal units of 10,000, 1000, 100, and small #’s of households to mobilize taxes and labor
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Made extensive use of colonists
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Long distance trade was important
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">State regulation of production and surplus limited trade ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 65pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">R || * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Political and social life = infused with religious meaning
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Sun to be the highest deity and considered the Inca to be the sun’s representative on earth
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Temple of the Sun (Cuzco) = center of the state religion
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Prohibit the worship of local gods
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Viracocha (creator god) favorite of Inca Pachacuti
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Based on a profound animism (many natural phenomena with spiritual power)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Mountains/stones/rivers/caves/tombs/temples = holy shrines -> prayers offered and animals/goods/humans were sacrificed
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Temples served by many priests + women and responsible for the great festivals + celebrations
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Women weave high quality cloth for the court and for religious purposes
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Gods/Goddesses = worshiped by men/women
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Women felt for the moon + goddesses of the earth and corn ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 65pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I || * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Incan Empire incorporated many aspects of previous Andean cultures but fused them together in new ways
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Spread the Quechua language
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Beautiful pottery and cloth were produced in specialized workshops
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Metalworking was the most advanced
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Artisans worked gold + silver
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Sued copper + bronze for weapons/tools
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">No system of writing
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Practical used of the wheel
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Used quipu to record numerical + other information
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Empire was linked together with almost 2500 miles of roads ( rope suspension bridges over mountain gorges/rivers
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Best building were built with large fitted stones without the use of masonry (some buildings were immense) ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 65pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">T || * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Complex system of roads was built w/ bridges and causeways
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Along the roads; way stations or tambos were placed about a day’s walk part to serve as inns, storehouse, and supply centers for Inca armies on the move
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Incas had more then 10,000 tambos ||

**Summary:**
After 1300 C.E The Inca Empire also knows as the Twantinsuyu the new civilization emerged and spread its control over the whole region; with the achievements in architecture and metallurgy the Incans got many elements of the civilization that helped them.


 * ESPIRIT CHART ON AZTECS **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 65pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">E || **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Economic: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Aztec built ingenious system of irrigated agriculture by building chinampas for agriculture (beds of aquatic weeds, mud, and earth.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Yield from chinampa agriculture was high: four corn crops a year were possible
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Communities had periodic markets (variety of goods were exchanged) ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 65pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">S || **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Social: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Group of 10,000 who migrated to the shores of Lake Texcoco (central valley of Mexico)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Central valley had Chichimec and Farmers
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Reputation as tough warriors
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Warrior nobles took lands and tribute from conquered towns
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Extended from the Tarasca frontier to the Maya area
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">People were force to pay tribute, surrender lands + military service
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">People that surrendered paid less
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Tribute payments; food; slave, sacrificial victims = served political and economic ends
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">120,000 mantles of cotton were collected as tribute each year and sent to Tenochtitlan
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Divided into calpulli (clans) form of organization that later expanded and adapted to their imperial position\
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Calpulli = residential groupings, neighbors, allies and dependants
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Calpulli governed by councils of family heads but not all families were equal
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Every person, noble/commoner belonged to a calpulli
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Later overshadowed by the military and administrative nobility of the state
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Nobles controlled priesthood + military leadership
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Banners, cloaks and other insignia marked off the military ranks
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">The imperial family = most distinguished of the pipiltin families
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Had people like serf that served as laborers on lands ( war captives, criminals/people sold themselves into bondage o escape hunger)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Another group were the scribes, artisans, and healers which were important to big cities
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Population was 1.5 million to more than 25 million (historical demographers estimate reached over 20 million) ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 65pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">P || **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Political: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Aztec rise to power and formatted a imperial state (rapidly)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Aztec tribe = used political anarchy to invade the area of agricultural peoples
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Lake dominated by tribes or people organized into city-states
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">State marriages and political maneuvers; competing powers and shifting alliances
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Served as mercenaries -> to allies
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Rule by a king who represented civil power and preventative of the gods on earth
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">The Great Speaker, the ruler of Tenochtitlan was chosen from the nobility
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">The prime minister was close relative of the ruler
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Governing council were rulers in other cities
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Most power was in the hands of the Aztec ruler and his chief advisor ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 65pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I || **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Interactions: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Based on military power and their connection to Toltec culture
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Cacao beans and gold dust used as currency (trade was done as barter
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Tlatelolco (great market) controlled by the special merchant class (porchteca)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Long-distance trade in luxury items (plumes of tropical birds and cacao)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">merchants served also as spies or agents for the Aztec military ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 65pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">R || * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Fanatical followed of theirs gods -> offered human sacrifice
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Human sacrifice expanded into an enormous cult
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">The gods of rain, fire, water, corn, the sky, and the sun -> pasted onto the Aztecs
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">128 major deities
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Some gods were thought to be the patrons of specific cities/groups/occupations
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Gave gods a yearly festivals and ceremonies (feasting + dancing)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Three major themes or cults Tlaloc, Huitzilopochtli and Nexhualcoyotl
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Tlaloc; god of rain and the gods/goddesses of water, maize, and fertility
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec tribal patron became the central figure of the cult
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Nexhualcoyotl; the king of Texcoco, wrote hymns that supported all the gods.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Brought polytheism and monotheism ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 65pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">I || * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Rewrote history to suit their purposes
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">spoke Nahuatl (language of Toltecs)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Aztecs art and poetry are filled with images of flowers, birds, and songs (religious art)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">human hearts and blood (the precious water needed to sustain the gods)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">peasant women helped in the field but household was first (cooking and child rearing)
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">marriages were arranged
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Polygamy excisted but peasant were monogamous ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 65pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">T || <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Lake of Texcoco provided a rich aquatic environment
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Lakes became cultural heartland and population center of Mexico
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Technology limited social development
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; tabstops: list .5in;">Grinding corn by hand on stone boards took long ||

**Summary**
After the collapse of Teotihuacan and the abandonment of the classic Maya cities, the Aztecs appeared; they built their civilization basing on the past civilizations but improved their political and military organizations. They were organized for war and motivated by religious passion. As the empire grew social classes with different functions developed.