Americas


 * 1) Economic
 * 2) **Aztec economy was agricultural and subsistent rather than market and commercial. They collected from the peasents and redistributed the goods amongst its citizen as a way to provide economic sanctity, but still they weren't a prominent civilization that focused on the main criteria to be held commercial.**
 * 3) Tenochtitlan was clearly the largest city-state out of the 50 in Southern Mexico, meaning economically and politically, it could be considered one of the most powerful city State in Mexico.
 * 4) in order to support such a large population, the Aztecs must have been a large agricultural based economy, sufficient enough to provide its people with the many needs to survive and deliver.
 * 5) Even though a portion of the food being harvested was delivered as tribute to the gods, the Aztecs still invented an irrigated agricultural bed of aquatic surfaces that irrigated large intervals of plants and agricultural life.
 * 6) this sort of irrigation system was known as **chinampas**
 * 7) and over 20,000 acres of Chinampas was constructed to support the growing agricultral economy
 * 8) Peasant class people provided the bulk of the work force for the economy.
 * 9) Plus the society had a cyclical calender in which to exchange a variety of goods such as cacao beans and gold dust were used as currency amongst the old Aztecs.
 * 10) Their system was essentially a barter system.
 * 11) the markets were regulated by judges known as the **pochteca** which were also the merchant class that specialized in foreign trade.
 * 12) There was not though, a market economy. Most of the products were sold on cyclical calenders, and therefore was not prominent to be satisfied through marketing alone. Subsistence was the way to go.
 * 13) Plus the state controlled many of the commodities and redistributed the goods in order to promote an equal sense of unity and common goal.
 * 14) The system was designed so that those who surrendered to Aztec rule paid less and those who did not were to pay more.
 * 15) They paid in food, slaves, and sacrifices.
 * 16) Social
 * 17) Aztec society was a mix of Chichimec and lots of other farmers from the north.
 * 18) **calpulli** or an Aztec form of organization.They included kinship ties, residential ties, and allies. social life was based on the calpulli, which served to distribute land, organize labor, and create military alliances during war.
 * 19) Most of the higher calpulli classes were made up of aristocrats, or prominent families who had power and inherited power from start.
 * 20) but even though most nobles were put into that class, some commoners were allowed to move up; social mobility was allowed.
 * 21) nobles controlled most of the clergy class and military prowess was based off of how many captives one was able to capture.
 * 22) ranks were merely attributes to the Aztecs, the symbolized the power of one's clan of class.
 * 23) and most of the higher ranks were given to those that showed warrior excellence rather than intellect and such.
 * 24) Most of the social calpulli were religious and military rather than else ward.
 * 25) And as the empire grew out, the gap between the nobility and the commoners widen even further.
 * 26) distinctions remained through clothing or symbols, as a reminder how spread and distinct the classes must be in order to promote a sense of hierarchy in the Americas. obviously they has some form of structure that permitted them to recognize each other as either higher, lower or equal, a sorta primitive type of classification.
 * 27) But this sort of distinction broke off into a new tradition in which commoners were to behave like serfs and live off land and farm it for food, and at the will of the higher classes.
 * 28) although they may have been higher than slaves, they were still pretty low
 * 29) the next class was artisans and scribes/healers.
 * 30) Merchants formed their own class/calpulli w/ their own gods and internal organization
 * 31) And social distinctions remained intact throughout most of the Aztec's history, with little dispute over the rightful place or unfairness of the social classes.
 * 32) Also the Aztecs were as most civilizations were, patriarchal. women were defined by their gender roles and were to take up cooking and caring for the child. with weaving as one of the most prized skills for a woman.
 * 33) There were arranged marriages, indicating a lack of freedom and polygamy existed.
 * 34) Aztec women could inherit property and had their rights, but socially and politically they still remained very subordinate.
 * 35) Political
 * 36) **Overall the Aztec's system was to gain political dominance, in order to process a large undertaking of tribute and in territorial expansion. Rulers ruled at the top through gods, and people were subjected to the harsh reality of internal subjagation.**
 * 37) The Aztecs also spoke Nahuatl, which helped a lot because the language was spoken by the previous Toltec group as well, which unified the past and the present.
 * 38) The Aztecs were seen as supreme followers of the gods and as powerful warriors, which helped to create a powerful sense of dominating man power to over power/scare foreign competitors, also taking over a large portion of land as tribute.
 * 39) The Aztec society had become a network of blood linked clans under the control of one supreme ruler.
 * 40) This ruler was known as the great speaker, who was the ruler over Tenochtitlan. he had power, wealth, and was considered a living god. he was supposed to be elected, but there wasn't really much a variety to choose from, since the nobles only inherit their powers from already prominnet nobles, and it was usually choosen amongst brothers aof the same clan/noble family.
 * 41) There was a change though in the political structure of the Aztecs. Most of the politics revolved around securing tributes for sacrificial purposes. The expansion on the state and military and political virtues focused on expanding the cult.
 * 42) Interactions
 * 43) **Interactions between the Aztecs occurred primarily for the tributes required by the religious cult in order to garner hearts which nourish the gods.**
 * 44) During the begginings of American civilizations, mainly circa 1150 AD, the toltecs, the previous dominant tribe over the Southern Mexican region had had their lakes and lands taken over by the //Mexica// or the Aztecs, meaning they also adopted most of the Toltec traditions and most likely could emphasized the power they held within the palm of their hands.
 * 45) Also neighboring states also fought against the Aztecs, such as the tarascans who wanted freedom, and tlaxcala who were rival enemies.
 * 46) Religious
 * 47) **Aztec religion was complex, polytheistic, boasting a web of dieties in which needed some sort of nourishment in order to carry out the basic neccesities of life. And part of the on going dilemma between the Aztecs and their gods was to provide hearts and guts as human sacrifice, thus this sort of behavior help promote a warlike civilization spread on becoming tribal and blood lusting warrior supremes.**
 * 48) Temples/shrines/ceremonies usually consisted of human sacrifice and supreme religious identity.
 * 49) Sacrifice had remained a long part of the tradition, in which also helped define the military activity and culture, where captives were to be sacrificed to supply religious piety. And the custom of sacrifice helped unify political power between ruler and nobility.
 * 50) natural gods, of fire or water of nature basically were what the Aztecs worshiped, and these deities provided a large base for a large society. There were upto 128 dieties.
 * 51) Plus each diety was to be feed, celebrated, prayed for, so it wasn't just another religion, it was most likely a fanatical society of people willing to dedicate their lives towards an impending religious network.
 * 52) for example, the god Tlaloc was the god of Rain and part of the whole web of dieties linked in the Aztec society helped to promote a more abstract and political thought that justified the tradtitions to show military dominance and warlike influence.
 * 53) Huitzilopochtli, an Aztec patron became a central figure to the spread of Mesoamerican traditions in which helped create a more "take-over" custom in Aztec society.
 * 54) They identified him as the old sun god.
 * 55) And as a part of their rituals, they believed that for the sun to come up everyday, there needed to be sacrifice as food to "nourish" the god. And the best way to provide the nourishment was through the guts and hearts of captured men through warfare, which again helped promote the warelike society in southern Mexico.
 * 56) But religion wasn't always so polytheistic, it was also awakened through an idea of a force between each and every diety, promoted by **Nezhualcoyotl** who emphasized the impending need for greater popular ideaology.
 * 57) The king of texcoco also thought of some form of afterlife as well in their god's religion, which connects to the idea of every other society in religious belief.
 * 58) poetry, flowers, art became admired by the aztecs as ways to synthesize mythologica points of view in symbolism
 * 59) Intellectual
 * 60) **Intelectual and cultural life was barely existant, it was a work, warrior, worship society.**
 * 61) The aztecs, like the Egpytians rewrote their "recorded" histories inorder to suit their purposes, creating a uniting force and understanding in which there was no gap to sucession and political review
 * 62) Technological
 * 63) **again, the distinction between aztecs were primitive, they barely developed anything related to technological achievements in math aor science, but rather they did develop in areas of agricultural survival.**
 * 64) migrated to Lake Texcoco w/ population of 10k
 * 65) The work load remained heavy, there wasn't a distinctive technological phase in which advanced human labor, as there was in the mediterrrean civilizations. Woman still worked 6 or more hours with hand labor growing maize and other productive agricultural goods.
 * 66) There wasn't any animals or the wheel, causing over 30-40 hours of work a week preparing the food itself.
 * 67) Also the population of the Aztecs went from 1.5 to 25 million, which was greater than could be expected, meaning it would take a lot of people just to feed and work and create a prominent technological era for them.

The Aztecs were a primitive society of warfare, worship, and work, based in the main capital of Tenchtitlan in Texcoco Lake. The city state was one of the largest out there, with over 25 million inhabitants at the climax, but more importantly, the Aztecs were primarily fanatical worshipers, who believed in daily sacrifice in order to "nourish" the gods so they can provide daily energy to the Earth and the Cosmic beings. Their politics were based off of religion, those on top were either warrior elites who made it up there through conquering over other tribes, or they were hailed as divine beings under the gods. Social mobility was plausible if one captured enough captives and distributed them to the religious temples. The Aztecs were really religious, but they were also really large as a population. Their economy was based off of subsistent farming, and a more "fuedal" approach, where commoners were forced to work the land and distribute the goods around. Of course the hierarchy was present, and was divided up into calpullis, which were defined by either kinship, alliances, or networks between traders and social classes. These calpullis were often just another organization that the Aztecs based their social system off of, and the head of each of the 7 divisions were allowed to gain some power, distributing land and power, or organizing militarily. They all though had to be under the control of one main being, and that would be the Great Speaker who had supreme authority over everyone.


 * 1) Economic
 * 2) It was mainly subsistence, where the state would provide the people with goods they aren't able to obtain, but it was required for the household to make what ever they needed.
 * 3) the economy was mainly agricultural, and aren't really past that of a subsistent economy, into a commercial economy.
 * 4) Social
 * 5) Peasents made of the mojority of the working class
 * 6) women worked on the fields, and cared for the household. Weaving as again important aspect of a women's life.
 * 7) There was a gender spiecfic role to be played by each sex, meaning there was again a gender seperation/distinction in the social organization
 * 8) where men were mainly militaristic and that created the inequatliy between the men and women.
 * 9) There was even a gender heirarchy that was the same as the hierarchy between class structures.
 * 10) Also those known as the **yanas** were remoevd to serve as permanent servants and workers for the Incas and noblities. These were servants of the lowest classs.
 * 11) which also serve to epmhasize how large the gap between nobles and peasents were.
 * 12) they wore larger ear spools which defined them and symbolize their power.
 * 13) Political
 * 14) their leader, also known as the Pachacuti (1438-1471) launched a series of military campaigns to control Cuzco and Lake Titicaca
 * 15) military was constant and powerful in order to control such a large territory.
 * 16) The next leader, Huayna Capac (1493-1527) fought off rebellions and stretch the Incan civilization even more eastward and south on the west coast of South America.
 * 17) In order for the Incan royalty to "secure" a place to live in eternity, he must and must gain his own land where he would be mummified.
 * 18) this created even more expansionist opputunities in which the Incas had to increase their territories to remain in solitary fame.
 * 19) it was also known as the "cult of the dead"
 * 20) Incas were divided into 4 provinces which had a govenor and a bueracracy. the organization was based on 10n households which helped to organize taxation structures and easy rule.
 * 21) The incas divided the land into that for the people, the state, and for the sun.
 * 22) **curacas** were those in power, and those in power had priviliges if they return loyalty to the supreme authority.
 * 23) women had the political power to pass down their inheritance to their daughters and men to their sons.
 * 24) They also practiced in marrying for alliances, where they used it for war and to forge power and to uphold power within provinces.
 * 25) interactions
 * 26) The Incas were a fierce group of warriors that conquered over the north coast of Peru in 1465.
 * 27) The language of **Quechua** was spread to the Incan provinces as a means to unify the civilization.
 * 28) for those conquered by the Incas, people were to be put into the Incan army, and were to be rewarded as they performed well in their rank.
 * 29) Religious
 * 30) Kings and nobles believed in mummification and the afterlife in which promoted a more political influence to the royalties and nobles.
 * 31) Like the Aztecs, the Incas believed that the Sun was the greatest deity, and so the **temple of the sun** in Cuzco was built as the center of religion. The cult of sun was spread throughout the empire, but there was also the polytheistic worship of local gods as well as the main god.
 * 32) there were still creator gods and animistic gods as well.
 * 33) People believed that the natural landscape and momunments such as caves or mountains represented holy shrines or **huacas** which took responsibility for the daily chores performed by women and priests through festivals and celebrations.
 * 34) Women were usually connected to the Moon, and the fetility deities.
 * 35) Intellectual
 * 36) They did create temples and burial sites for religious practices in mummification and chasing after an afterlife.
 * 37) Plus they spoke/promoted a common language, called **Quechua** in which had been spread to unify the civilization.
 * 38) The incas worked on pottery, and art, metalworking was also common practice as well.
 * 39) There was no system of writing, but they did use a **quipu** to record numbers. This was used to keep track of censuses and finiancial records.
 * 40) They were maththematically in tuned using decimal number to add and calculate.
 * 41) The Incas were a technologiclaly advanced civilization.
 * 42) Technological
 * 43) One of the main proponents of this demographic shift occurred because of the practice of **split inheritance** where political power was ascertained to successors and those of male descendant.
 * 44) for military purposes, **tambos** or stations between routes was dispatched as a means to serve as inns/storehouses/supply centers for armies and relay points for runners.
 * 45) rather than providing tribute, the Incas had a system called the **mita** which comprised of turns between different provinces to take lead in operating and working on community projects on church/state lands.
 * 46) it was like the state provided wool, but each house much create the cloth
 * 47) They haad extensive road system and architecture while developing agricultural terraces and complex irrgation system
 * 48) stonecutting was majorly accurate as well which served to better use the achitectural promises.

The Incas, located on the west coast of South America, was a more technologically advanced nation, who was more civilized in the sense that military power was prominent but so there the organization of social and political structures. This helped to create a unified sense between religious deity and worship, that was create to also emphasize the religious worship of idols and animistic gods. The Incas were as well based off of religion, in which the sun ruled everything. They practiced military prowess in which exacted expansionist ideals amongst the political elite, in order to gain suffiecient landsake to generate a stratification of an afterlife. The Incas were very in tune with the way politics worked, having provinces, then forth seperated by governor and a bueracracy which generate popularity amongst those in power, but still the social system had a huge gap in power between classes. Those who were peasent remained peasent, although they did inherit possessions from ancestors. But even so, it was hard to ascend social mobility in the Incan civlization as well as any other.

Recently, North Korea sent artillery rounds across the Korean border onto a South Korean island, as a response from frustration due to issues with political boundaries. There are a couple of views in this case, one being America, and the second being China. Of course as America, we support South Korea, offering it joint naval exercises as a result of the recent alarm. We have said that we, with South Korea will perform just consequences if the matter is to be invoked again, and we would not fail to go for a war. This threat was made most recently to “scare” off the North Koreans, but it was also a greater message, to strive for peace. So far China, which has been seen as a leader to the North Koreans have opposing views on the matter. First they believe that America should honor the peace treaty and not enter their space, because “ [they]    oppose any party to take any military acts in our exclusive economic zone without permission .” Therefore America shouldn’t even be practicing for joint naval training. But in response, America and South Korea believe that Chinese officials should be attacking the North Korean officials for their wrongdoings, rather than what they seem to be doing now, which is standing by idly. They want China to “ rebuked the North’s leaders ”, and have them understand the seriousness by which the North Korean’s intentions are. Instead China seems to be attacking America, rather than North Korea. They insist that America should not and should not invade their economic space and cause trouble through military issue, as was seen in the previous “spy plane” capture in China a couple months back. China seems to be more worried about America pushing to far into the space, and not focused enough on the impending horror of another Korean War. And America seems to be focusing it’s attention on intercepting another Korean War to install world peace, rather than focus on itself again. Sure the Chinese offer up “serious talks” but it’s all been only talk talk talk no action. In America’s mind, it seems as though China can only talk talk talk, but in China’s mind, that’s the only way to resolve the unstable North Korean politics. [] []

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 Harris Zhao Mr. Green AP World History 29 11 2010    __ It’s all Incas and Aztecs: Similarities and differences in social and the economic sectors __ The Aztecs, located in Southern Mexico, based on Lake ** Texcoco ** was a warrior civilization that elaborated on the fanaticism in religious function. The Incas, on the other hand were located on the western coast of South America, and were systematically an organized group, whose technological and cultural advancements take greater precedence over their economic sectors. In both Civilizations, women were less dominant, hierarchy was deeply defined, and nobles were made up of those with inherited histories. And the economies were both self-sufficient with more commercial dealings in the Aztec society than in the Incan society. But on a divergent point, the Aztecs had different systems of organization, Incas were more organized, and the economies of both had separate significance in their sectors. When compared, one can see that even though these civilizations remained separated from each other, they were and had been one of the most functional civilizations out there in the Americas. For the Aztecs and Incas, being a warrior meant a lot. War and expansion was not absent from their minds, in fact it was essential to the growth of the nation, and thus came the development in gender hierarchy. Men were also dominant over women, and women were also subordinate to men. For the Aztecs it was required for the women to work long hours on the fields, in order to free up men to act as warriors in battle. For the Incas, women were also required to work both on the fields and domestically. They each had a set of gender roles already set in place. They both wanted their men to fight; the difference though between the two were that, the Aztecs were religiously fervent in their claims to land and sacrificial tributes, while the Incas were dependent on the nobilities’ need for land in order to claim a space ready for the afterlife. These two differences create the divergent point in their social systems as well. Even though they remain largely military and gender was an important factor to one’s economic and social position, the gender hierarchy still remained the same with similar female rights in both societies. For example, the right to inherit was given to both Aztec and Incan women. Women in the Americas had the right to some political power. But in general when one is comparing social system of the general population, structures remained divergent. In the Aztec society, they used ** calpulli **, a form of organization into groups of kinship, alliance, and social ties. And in the Incan Society, they used provinces, in which separated the rich, the poor, the clergy, and the state. These two different and political divisions between the two societies then create a gathered social system as well. In the Aztec society, because of the separation in ** calpulli **, people developed the more feudal system in Europe, where the hierarchy went slaves, then peasants, then clergy, then nobles, and then a supreme ruler under the jurisdiction of the one ruled by the gods. This classification gave the Aztecs a more warrior and free way of life, ruled less by organization but by the strong religious belief and loyalty in the gods and the 128 deities that rule over the people. In the Incan civilization, the ** mita ** were separated into four provinces, and thus created a more stable social structure in which clearly defined roles for different classes. Even though there were the ** yanas **, the extremely unfortunate people who are chosen to be slaves forever, and the ** curacas **, religious/political leaders that indicate a deep separation in hierarchy, the Incas were leaning more towards an organized social system, also dependent on the military and religious loyalties, but bound by political limits. There’s obviously deeply defined organization in between the two society’s social structure and a huge gap between the high class and low class was very prevalent, but also when compared to their economic systems in some respect, there was a sort of convergence. In the Aztec’s economy, there was at least a barter system, and a sense of mercantilism, whereas in the Inca’s economic bindings, there was nothing more than a self-sufficient economy. Maize production was prominent in both, and both were mostly self-sufficient, but because of the Aztec’s more warrior way of life, they started to develop a barter system, and a commercial market linking trade between foreign competitors and within themselves. The Aztecs traded using gold dust, or cacao beans and this would represent their currency. They traded on a cyclical calendar every so often, and they even had a class for merchants, called the ** Pochteca ** who specialized in foreign trade. The Incas on the other hand did not develop a market economy. They were an agricultural society that lived off them selves, taking whatever they needed, such as captives through the means of war. They were more communist and feudal, where there was a lack of freedom from most parts, and a clear conformist partition that required for the Incan people to collect agricultural feed and redistribute them back to each other. Of course the Aztecs were similar in the need for an agricultural system, but they also were a little more advanced through showing a market economy rather than a complex self-sufficient agricultural economy. The similarity though, remains in both of their agricultural systems in which their self-sufficiency is dependent on. For the Aztecs, that they worked on ** chinampas **, wet mud fields used as irrigation system to provide a strong economic backbone for their agricultural economy. This irrigation system seems similar doesn’t it? The Incas had a similar idea as well, and because they both made such significant development in their agricultural sectors, it’s easy to say that both of these civilizations’ economy and well being were based off of agriculture. Both the Aztecs and Incas were civilizations cut off from the rest of Europe. They were isolated, located in deep reaches of jungles and enclosed by oceans and mountains and lakes. This was one of the reasons why agriculture was an important part of civilization. There wasn’t much possibility for a market economy. There just wasn’t enough foreign trade, and population remained a main focus. Keeping the people alive was hard, and agricultural self-sufficiency was the way to go, especially in these underdeveloped political organizations. The Aztecs and Incas focused more on their military brute and religion than anything else, and as a result, their economies and social system developed in similar ways, one being that their economy had been more geared towards self-sufficiency, and their gender roles and hierarchy were essentially the same, warriors, nobles, and priests on top, and everyone else down below. The Aztec and Incas were primarily different people, located in different regions, but in the end, religion and military pride remained the distinctive attributes to both of them, as well as the deeply defined class structure, parallel gender hierarchy, division between lands and systems, agricultural economy, and self sufficient organization.