Compare And Contrast Aztec And Mayan Civilizations

When Spanish ships landed in Mexico in 1519 the tremendous Aztec empire was at the top of its power from their capital Tenochtitlan the Aztecs controlled much of America ruling 15 million people. Aztec Palaces were as big and elaborate as those in Europe and their temples rivaled the Egyptian pyramids but within just 2 years the Aztec empire perished. The center of the Aztec Empire was the Valley of Mexico, where the capital of the Aztec Triple Alliance was built upon raised islets in Lake Texcoco. The exact origins of the Aztec people are uncertain, but they are believed to have begun as a northern tribe of hunter-gatherers whose name came from that of their homeland, Aztlan.

When the Mayans came here the they were located in Mexico which were in Central America. There physicals features was the consisted of rainforest which were pretty rare for Mexico. The cities in the mayan words was more like we're modern day Guatemala, flourished between roughly. Now for the Aztecs they were located in the Tenochtitlan, but today Mexico City. Aztecs cities were mostly plane it was based on the symmetrical layout.

I believe that the Mayan civilization was a stronger and more intelligent civilization than the Inca and Aztec civilizations. I will talk about why the Mayan civilization and its achievements and history and much more. As well as the other two civilizations and why I think the Mayan civilization is sophisticated and civilized and ultimately better. One of the huge things the Mayans had for them was their intelligence.

In 1438 AD the Inca Empire started to flourish throughout South America. Over the next 50 years it spread to places that we now know as Peru, Bolivia, northern Argentina, Chile, and Ecuador. Earlier, contemporary Andean traditions, in particular the Wari civilisation and ancient Tiwanaku civilisation, influenced the Inca religion immensely. But the Inca empire was very short lived as it only lasted from 1438 to 1532 AD, just short of 100 years.

The Aztecs were polytheistic which means they worshiped many gods. There main and most powerful god was Huitzilopochtli. Huitzilopochtli was the god of war, the sun and sacrifice. The sun was one of the most important things in Aztec culture they were called the people of the sun and believed that they needed to strengthen the sun's power through rituals and sacrifices. The priest in Aztec culture were in charge of making sure the gods were happy.

The Mayan, Incan and Aztec are generally considered influential societies, but there is still sound debate on whether or not they should be considered civilizations. Seeing as these Early Americans had much of the same qualities as modern civilization and in fact laid the groundwork upon which we have built our own great civilization, it's fair to say they were worthy of the title civilization. However, not only where these people befitting of the honorific of civilization, their great accomplishments actually validate them to the point of being considered advanced. Religion, architecture, and intellectual achievements, are all tell-tale signs of an advanced civilization, and the Incan, Mayan, and Aztecs were comprised of these and much more.

Poster 1.0: the Aztecs believed that humans needed gods to survive. The gods could reward them, by bringing good crops for harvest, or punish them by sending earthquakes and floods. For these reasons, pleasing and honoring the gods was crucial in Aztec religion. 1.1: They adopted gods from other Mesoamerican groups such as Tlaloc, the rain god, and Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent. However, the most important was Huitzilopochtli, the sun god and god of war.

The Aztecs lived from the 14th to the 16th centuries in Tenochtitlan now known as Mexico City. The legend states that in the 1323 the Aztecs saw a vision of an eagle perched atop a cactus eating a snake. That was a sign to make that land their land and so they did and named it Tenochtitlan. The children had to attend school even slave children. The education taught them warfare,history,religion,citizenship and work skills.

As did most major ancient civilizations, “the life in the great Maya civilization centered around religion, which had an important effect on many other areas of life” (“Mayan Facts.”). The ancient Maya religion is very complex that have “responsible for many great achievements of the Mayan civilization, including the in (famous) Mayan calendar and spectacular pyramids” (“Mayan Facts.”). There are over 150 gods in the ancient Maya religion who are each clearly defined by their characteristics and purposes that influence to the life of the Mayan. In “Maya Civilization”, Joshua J. Mark stated that “the Maya believed deeply in the cyclical nature of life – nothing was ever `born’ and nothing ever `died’ – and this belief inspired their view of

As a civilization in the jungle, the Maya are well known for their architecture, art, monumental sculptures, and calendars. The Mayan religious, ritualistic culture is developed and maintained in conjunction of the native people, as well as a communication and ties to the earth and sky. Understanding the Maya people and their religion is similar to understanding the geographical location of the people, and therefore their life source. There is great importance within the items that surrounded them geographically. Products or resources that sustained them as a community, or maintained their health and wellbeing, also created foundations for their religious belief system.

The Aztecs were an extremely strong empire that quickly became a superpower in their part of the world. Through the society’s self-sufficiency, stoicism, technology, loyalty and religion, the Aztecs dominated. Each member was expected to follow certain responsibilities and tasks (such as all people were required to attend school, military was mandatory for men to attend, etc.) which helped to enhance the state's well being as well as the good of the whole society. This created a strong and self sufficient economy.

The Aztecs were a very religious group who were disciplined and independent. They were powerful warriors that conquered and raided neighbouring cities. The Aztec were educated and formed defense alliances, but this could not help the Aztec’s society as they were all killed off by the Spanish. This conflict and defeat of the Aztecs was unavoidable. It was unavoidable because of the Spanish’s obsession with gold, god, glory.