Culture is a very precious resource that has been taken for granted many times over the course of history. Humanity will never truly understand the value of culture, and as a race, humans have destroyed multiple precious cultures. One of these societies whose culture has been destroyed is the Inca Empire. Like other societies untouched by outside influences, the Inca Empire had blossomed into its own unique culture. They had their own societal order that functioned in a fashion that was equal in efficiency to other cultures that, at the time, considered themselves more advanced. One of these empires that considered themselves superior was the Spanish Empire. The Spanish went through an era of expansionism. One of their main excursions during …show more content…
This help was not required however, and the Spanish intervention and, ultimately, assimilation spoiled the Incan society beyond repair. The Spanish perceived the Inca as primitive, barbaric, and in need of assistance. This could not have been further from the truth. While the Spanish saw the Incan people as primitive and barbaric, in reality the Inca were much more advanced and organized than the Spanish’s initial perceptions. One particular area of society that showed specific characteristics of the Incan Empire’s modernization is the social structure of the Incas as a whole. The Incas showed particular elements of a structured society in their organization of social classes. In addition, the Incan Empire was concerned with women’s rights far before even Europe, and treated women as equals. Finally, the Inca people were advanced in their willingness to submit to authority, whether this authority is a fellow Incan in power or a perceived deity in the complex Incan religious …show more content…
They were a nomadic group that travelled from place to place depending on where they could get food, and were described by the Spanish as moving “like animals ”. The Spanish considered the first group the most savage and barbaric given the fact that they had no lords, kings, or area of permanent residence. They also wore no form of clothing, which Some of these wandering groups of Inca were entirely leaderless, working rather as a unit of equals that made decisions collectively. While the Spanish considered this primitive, it could be argued that this simple way of government was a crude form of democracy, and was much more effective than the Spanish perceived it to be. Other groups of these wandering tribes were family units, and while they had a communal government as well, they submitted to the one family member that was either the eldest or the one considered most capable. These examples of community government were not savage as the Spanish thought, but rather a different form of government from the monarchies of
Inca women autonomy was destroyed by empirical conquest. There was an inherent loss of feminine spirituality with every re-mapping of the empire’s boundaries. They lost their powerful female deities and were repaid with gendered predetermination. Men allowed conquest to detach them from the Inca belief system of balance and equality that pre-dated any need for expansion. Conquest hierarchy was enforced and unquestioned. An all though the Inca political people gained power, they lost social harmony.
The Inca Empire Janos Gyarmati’s Paria la Viexa and an expanding empire: Provincial centers in the political economy of the Inca Empire proved that the Inca’s built an empire unlike any other. From 1440 to 1532 A.D., the Inca Empire dominated the Americas. Known as “the fastest growing and largest territorial empire”(Gyarmati 37) of its time, the Inca Empire left a mark with their complex, perpetual and innovative economic, road, and settlement system. The Inca’s were advanced for their time, however, they lacked a system that would guarantee the survival of their kin. In order to strive, for the long-term, the Inca’s created provincial centers that would ensure their growth and economy for the generations to come.
Two of the biggest and greatest civilization in the Americas were the Aztecs and Incas. These two civilization were both said to be conquered by the Spanish, but it wasn’t just the Spanish who conquered them. These two civilizations both fell from a combination of a weak government, lack of technology, new disease introduced by the invaders, and not being prepared for the invaders. For many centuries the Aztec civilization revolved around a ideological, social, and political system in which expansion was the cornerstone. Expansion was the cornerstone of their whole civilization, because their religion requested that a large number of human sacrifices where to be made to the gods.
The Aztec had a very simple society. Slaves, commoners, and nobility. Even still, the Aztec gave the poor people chances at achieving high society status. This fairness and practice of not judging someone on their financial status was beneficial for the Aztec. Highly qualified people were able to show what they could do and the overall efficiency improved. Even in religion, the Aztec had determined who would continue into the afterlife and what they did on Earth had an impact on what decision would be made. The Inca automatically assumed that all nobility would go to the sky regardless of what they did on Earth.
The Inca quickly became a successful empire, a relative ethnic minority which controlled a diverse region of peoples. Conquered groups were allowed to maintain local chiefs, cultures, religion and language, bound together only through payments and work for the Inca. The mita (forced labor) system facilitated the lives of common laborers and recruited soldiers while vast tracts of roadways allowed for trade between the high and lowlands. The Inca accumulated great wealth, thus significant artistic and architectural achievements were made with textiles, metal working, and the practice of fitting stones together for building without the use of mortar. Many of these walls survive today. Although the Aymara attem...
The original occupants of the Latin American country Peru and surrounding areas were the Incas. These people were organized into local ethnic groups or communities of about four to ten people. The Incas were composed of corporate kinship groups and grouped into hierarchical dual organizations called moieties. Also these ethnic groups were endogamous and leadership amongst them was based on hereditary standards. Therefore political, religious and economic responsibilities were placed upon kuracas or native elites who inherited their status. The most important aspect of Andean life in the Andes amongst these people dealt with agriculture. Incan landscapes were very unique and can at best be described as very rugged terrain stretched out over the Andes mountains...
Once Pizarro arrived the Inca Empire was just ending a civil war between people of the same country. It was a war between two brothers who thought only one should be the ruler, Atahualpa and Huascar. Atahualpa succeeded by killing his brother and becoming emperor. Pizarro had his followers ask the new emperor to give up there Inca religion and accept Christianity and he refused. Pizzarro had Atahualpa captured and imprisoned. Atahualpa offer up most of his gold to be set free, but once Pizarro had his gold he had Atahualpa killed and the Spanish destroyed the Inca civilization and enslaved their people.(Fall of the Incas)
The Incas society was hierachical and highly centralized, with an emperor at the top of the social pyramid, and followed by provincial governors, local rulers. The Incas were also skilled craftsmen. They build impressive cities of stone. They weaved woolen cloth, and making pottery, jewelery, and many other useful and ornamental objects.
Paintings illustrate the Aztec’s style of clothing and the important roles they play as such as those who led the ceremonies wore robes
Within the four quarters, the people were further divided into clans called "Ayllus". Each Ayllus was in itself a small community. Each quarter was ruled by a governor called 'Apu-cuna'. The governor’s primary responsibility was to make sure its land and people were working smoothly. Then came the officials; this included army officers, priests, judges, and others from the noble class. The tax collectors were next; there was once tax collector for each community (ayllu). At the very bottom of the pyramid of power came the laborers or workers. The majority of the Inca population was included in this section. The laborers were the driving force behind the Inca economy and the reason the hierarchical political system was in place. (Heinemann/Raintree ) Crime in the Inca Empire was virtually non-existent. They live in a peaceful society and cooperated with each other. When a crime did occur however, punishment did follow. The Incas did not have prisons. Instead for serious crimes such as murder, stealing and blasphemy offenders were executed by being pushed off a cliff. Less serious crimes were punished by cutting off the hands or
The Incas and Aztecs both had emperors who represented and had great power over the empire. They needed a firm and strong leader to guide and take charge. The Aztecs had a status in society. The nobles were military officers and priests. The commoners were farmers, soldiers, merchants, etc. The slaves were people who they captives from raids in lands. The Incas had a similar structure, where everyone had a part in society. However they believed that their ruler was a descendant of the sun god, Inti. The Incas also established a bureaucracy and had a very efficient economic system. The final reason that the Incas had a more successful civilization than the Aztecs was because of their religion and way of treating people. The Aztecs were crazy about their religion. They worshipped the sun god, Huitzilopochtli. Huitzilopochtli would fight off the evil forces every night and make the sunrise every day. However with every battle, the sun god needs nourishment.The purest form of nourishment, according to the Aztecs, was human blood. Therefore the Aztecs had many rituals to sacrifice humans. They would sacrifice thousands of people every year. When supply ran low the Aztecs would go into war to capture more people. Everyone was sacrificed no matter the age or gender. The Incas however had a deep respect for human lives. Religion was also an important part in their lives however, instead of
The two cultures that I identify myself with Haitian culture and American culture. The American culture is more dominant and I identify myself most with this culture. Although I was born in Haiti and Haitian culture was once my dominant culture, it is now my co-culture. Nonetheless, a combination of these two cultures would be Haitian-American culture.
Again, such feats can not be achieved by uncivilized people; it takes a great deal of dedicated and strong individuals in order to accomplish what they did. For example, the Inca was perhaps the strongest of all Pre Columbian empires; as they managed to claim a great deal of the the west south American coast. In fact, “The expansion of the Inca state was accomplished by a large and well-organized military, and the empire was held together by a remarkable system of roads running north and south both along the coast and in the mountains.”
Incas are known by many people. They had their own way of doing things and ideas about life. The Inca were part of an empire knowns as The Incan Empire. It was the largest empire in pre columbian america. It could have possibly even have been the largest empire in the world in the early 16th century. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was located in what is now known as Peru. At first the Inca incorportated a major part of South America. The Inca had many troubles because they had a major lack of the things that would help them become civilized easier. They had a lack of wheels, animals that could help them work, the lack of a written language, the lack of knowledge for steel, etc. Many say that if they would have
The Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations were the earliest Mesoamerican societies. The Mayan society came first and it had many influences on the other two societies. The societies began as small city-states which as time went on became civilized and stronger. At the time that these societies were around and populated, they were considered to be very advanced compared to other societies and regions in the world during the same time. Today, archeologists still search for remnants of cities from the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations and they still wonder and ask many questions about how these civilizations came to pass and how the people were so advanced at the time.