Welcome to District 9: Mesoamerica. This district is well known for its riches... and it's bloody sacrifices.
This district has no qualms about ripping the beating heart out of their own people, let alone their enemies. You will be trained on the important facts about the three most powerful civilization of District 9. The more you know, the more easily you can outmaneuver these experienced tributes.
Introduction: The Aztec, the Mayan, and Inca Civilizations
The Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas were the one of the first people to start a civilization on America. These tribes started a great civilization in Central, and South America. The Maya civilization was from Central America. The Aztec were from Mexico. The inca were from South America. The Mayans the Aztec, and the Inca civilization had characteristics that were similar and different to each other. These empires controlled the valleys of America for hundreds of years.
The Incas
"Land of the Four Quarters" or Tahuantinsuyu is the name the Inca gave to their empire. It stretched north to south some 2,500 miles along the high mountainous Andean range from Colombia to Chile and reached west to east from the dry coastal desert called Atacama to the steamy Amazonian rain forest. At the height of its existence the Inca Empire was the largest nation on Earth and remains the largest native state to have existed in the western hemisphere. To imagine oneself living in the world of the Inca, one would have to travel back 500 years into a magnificent society made up of more than 10 million subjects. Cuzco, which emerged as the richest city in the New World, was the center of Inca life, the home of its leaders.
Money existed in the form of work—each subject of the empire paid "taxes" by laboring on the myriad roads, crop terraces, irrigation canals, temples, or fortresses. In return, rulers paid their laborers in clothing and food. Silver and gold were abundant, but only used for aesthetics.Perhaps most unique about Inca civilization was its thriving existence at altitude. The Incas ruled the Andean Cordillera, second in height and harshness to the Himalayas. Daily life was spent at altitudes up to 15,000 feet and ritual life extended up to 22,057 feet to Llullaillaco in Chile, the highest Inca sacrificial site known today. They used a technique called terrace farming to raise crops on mountain slopes. Mountain roads and sacrificial platforms were built, which means a great amount of time was spent hauling loads of soil, rocks, and grass up to these inhospitable heights. Even with our advanced mountaineering clothing and equipment of today, it is hard for us to acclimatize and cope with the cold and dehydration experienced at the high altitudes frequented by the Inca. This ability of the sandal-clad Inca to thrive at extremely high elevations continues to perplex scientists today.
The Inca King was called the Sapa Inca and believed he was descended from the gods. Inca kings and nobles amassed stupendous riches which accompanied them, in death, in their tombs. But it was their great wealth that ultimately undid the Inca, for the Spaniards, upon reaching the New World, learned of the abundance of gold in Inca society and soon set out to conquer it—at all costs. The plundering of Inca riches continues today with the pillaging of sacred sites and blasting of burial tombs by grave robbers in search of precious Inca gold.
Technological Advancements: Quipu
The Quipu is a record keeping system of knotted cords used by the Incas.
The colors of the cords, the way the cords are connected together, the relative placement of the cords, the spaces between the cords, the types of knots on the individual cords, and the relative placement of the knots are all part of the logical-numerical recording.
For example, a yellow strand might represent gold or maize; or on a population quipu the first set of strands represented men, the second set women, and the third set children. Weapons such as spears, arrows, or bows were similarly designated.
The combination of fiber types, dye colors, and intricate knotting contains a seven-bit binary code (much like is used in the movie the Matrix and Wanted) capable of conveying more than 1,500 separate units of information.
Quipus were knotted ropes using a positional decimal system. A knot in a row farthest from the main strand represented one, next farthest ten, etc. The absence of knots on a cord implied zero.
Quipucamayocs, the accountants of the Inca Empire (called Tahuantinsuyu in old spelling Quechua) created and deciphered the quipu knots. Quipucamayocs were capable of performing simple mathematical calculations such as adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing information for the indigenous people.
In the absence of a written language the quipus served as a means of recording history and passed on to the next generation, which used them as reminders of stories. An thus these primitive computers - quipus - had knotted in their memory banks the information which tied together the Inca empire.
Rise & Fall of an Empire Consolidation of a large empire was to become a continuing struggle for the ruling Inca as their influence reached across many advanced cultures of the Andes, including nearly 100 conquered nations. The Inca state's domain was unprecedented, its rule resulting in a universal language (though no written form), a religion worshipping the sun, and a 14,000 mile-long road system criss-crossing high Andean mountain passes and linking the rulers with the ruled.
Referred to as an all-weather highway system, the over 14,000 miles of Inca roads were an astonishing and reliable precursor to the advent of the automobile. Communication and transport was efficient and speedy, linking the mountain peoples and lowland desert dwellers with Cuzco. Building materials and ceremonial processions traveled thousands of miles along the roads that still exist in remarkably good condition today. They were built to last and to withstand the extreme natural forces of wind, floods, ice, and drought.
This central nervous system of Inca transport and communication rivaled that of Rome. A high road crossed the higher regions of the Cordillera from north to south and another lower north-south road crossed the coastal plains. Shorter crossroads linked the two main highways together in several places. The road system ran "through deep valleys and over mountains, through piles of snow, quagmires, living rock, along turbulent rivers; in some places it ran smooth and paved, carefully laid out; in others over sierras, cut through the rock, with walls skirting the rivers, and steps and rests through the snow; everywhere it was clean swept and kept free of rubbish, with lodgings, storehouses, temples to the sun, and posts along the way."
Spanish Conquest of the Inca Empire
However, with the arrival from Spain in 1532 of Francisco Pizarro and his entourage of mercenaries or "conquistadors," the Inca empire was seriously threatened for the first time. Duped into meeting with the conquistadors in a "peaceful" gathering, an Inca emperor, Atahualpa, was kidnapped and held for ransom.
After paying over $50 million in gold by today's standards, Atahualpa, who was promised to be set free, was strangled to death by the Spaniards who then marched straight for Cuzco and its riches.
So, how did Pizarro and his small army of mercenaries, totaling less than 400, conquer what was becoming the world's largest civilization? Much of the "conquest" was accomplished without battles or warfare as the initial contact Europeans made in the New World resulted in rampant disease. Old World infectious disease left its devastating mark on New World Indian cultures. In particular, smallpox spread quickly through Panama, eradicating entire populations. Once the disease crossed into the Andes its southward spread caused the single most devastating loss of life in the Americas. Lacking immunity, the New World peoples, including the Inca, were reduced by two-thirds.
With the aid of disease and the success of his initial deceit of Atahualpa, Pizarro acquired vast amounts of Inca gold which brought him great fortune in Spain. Reinforcements for his troops came quickly and his conquest of a people soon moved into consolidation of an empire and its wealth.
Spanish culture, religion, and language rapidly replaced Inca life and only a few traces of Inca ways remain in the native culture as it exists today.
The Aztecs
During the same period as the Inca Empire, the Aztec Empire dominated Mesoamerica from Mexico and Guatemala to the temtories of Salvador and Honduras for nearly 100 years.
This empire consisted of the CulhuaMexico, who had migrated from the Pacific Northwest and inhabited the area which would become the capital of Mexico, Tenochtitlan.
The Aztecs were fervent worshippers of the many gods of the Sun, and fierce defenders and conquerors of their territory. They settled in a swampy island in Lake Texcoco because they believed they were told by their gods to build a city at the place where they saw an eagle perched on a cactus holding a snake in its beak. The people of this culture were refined workers, merchants, farmers and fishers. They used a farming method of floating gardens called chinampas.
In 1519 when Hernan Cortes landed in this region and came upon this civilization, they were the sole heirs of a flourishing community. Only two years after his landing, the Aztec Empire crumbled and the capital was burned to the ground.
Painting of Aztec chinampas ('floating gardens')
Aztec Calendar
Aztec religion was polytheistic, and closely tied into the calendrical system they adopted based on the cosmos. The Aztec god was a form of energy in one way or another. This energy could then be distributed to mankind throught several different forms from lakes and streams to sunlight and wind. Each part of the Aztec world was represented in one fashion or another by some deity, which in turn either blessed or punished the peoples. These deities were then represented in the calendars of the Aztec, namely the Solar Year Calendar and the Ritual Calendar.
The solar year, or xiuitl, consisted of exactly 365 days grouped into 18 months of 20 days each. The Solar Year was used to determine planting and harvesting times and to organize festivities in Aztec society. The Ritual Calendar, was less directly associated with astronomical phenomena. We usually call it as tonalpohualli and the year was divided into 260 days. It was not based on natural cycle; basically, it was used for ceremonial life and prophecy (One's birthday associated with this). Aztec Calendars played an important role in Aztec daily life.
Sacrifice & War
The Aztecs practiced sacrifices because they believed that if one was sacrificed, he would become divine. They also wanted to frighten their enemies. They captured prisoners from their tribes and sacrificed them as well. Human Sacrifice Human sacrifice was practiced throughout Mesoamerica, especially the Aztecs. For the reconsecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, the Aztecs reported that they sacrificed 84,400 prisoners over the course of four days reportedly by Ahuitzotl, the Great Speaker himself.
Some reports claim some 250,000 persons were sacrificed annually in centeal Mexico in the fifteenth century. Human sacrifice was regarded as a kind of honorable death at that time. Accounts by the Tlaxcaltecas, the primary enemy of the Aztecs at the time of the Spanish Conquest, show that at least some of them considered it an honor to be sacrificed. In one legend, the warrior Tlahuicole was freed by the Aztecs but eventually returned of his own volition to die in ritual sacrifice. Tlaxcala also practiced the human sacrifice of captured Aztec warriors. Aztec Warfare The Aztecs often fought with neighboring tribes, but for the Aztecs, warfare had a much different goal than for most of their counterparts. The goal of the battles was not to destory the enemy and ransack the village but to capture the community and integrate them into the Aztec society, thus providing a much more productive and expanding kingdom. Before leaving for the war, the soldiers went to the main temples. There they received weapons and performed autosacrifices, cutting their flesh - ears, tongues, and limbs - to offer blood to the gods in return for their blessings. The temples of the cities they conquered were burned and the worship of Huitzilopochtli was installed.
Spanish Conquest
The Aztec empire reached its height during Ahuitzotl's reign, 1486 until 1502. His successor, Montezuma, had been leader for 17 years when Hernan Cortés and the Spaniards landed on the Gulf Coast in the spring of 1519.
Despite some early battles between the two, Cortés allied himself with the Aztecs’ long-time enemy, the confederacy of Tlaxcallan, and arrived at the gates of Tenochtitlan on November 8, 1519, guests of the Aztecs.
The Spaniards and their Tlaxcalan allies became increasingly dangerous and unwelcome guests in capital city. In June, 1520, hostilities broke out, culminating in the massacre in the Main Temple and the death of Montezuma. The Spaniards fled the town on July 1, an episode later characterized as La Noche Triste. They and their native allies returned in the spring of 1521 to lay siege to Tenochtitlan, a battle that ended that August 13 with the destruction of the city.The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most significant campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas.
Most of the Mesoamerican cultures were intact after the fall of Tenochtitlan. Indeed, the freedom from Aztec domination may have been considered a positive development by most of the other cultures. The upper classes of the Aztec empire were considered noblemen by the Spaniards and generally treated as such initially. All this changed rapidly and the native population were soon forbidden to study by law, and had the sFrtatus of minors.
The Mayans
The ancient Maya civilization occupied the eastern third of Mesoamerica, primarily the Yucatan Peninsula. The topography of the area greatly varied from volcanic mountains in the highlands to rain forests in the low lands. The Mayan civilization based on Agriculture. They dug moats and canals to bring water to arid (dry) places. During the dry seasons, the Mayans used slash and burn agricultural technique which involves cutting and burning of forests or woodlands to create fields.
Both the Highlands and the Lowlands were important to the presence of trade within the Mayan civilization. The lowlands primarily produced crops which were used for their own personal consumption, the principle cultigen being maize, a type of corn. They also grew squash, beans, chili peppers, amaranth, manioc, cacao, cotton for light cloth, and sisal for heavy cloth and rope.
The volcanic highlands, however, were the source of obsidian, jade, and other precious metals like cinnabar and hematite that the Mayans used to develop a lively trade. Although the lowlands were not the source of any of these commodities, they still played an important role as the origin of the transportation routes. In the lowlands, rainfall was high, and the water that collected drained towards the Caribbean or the Gulf of Mexico in great river systems. These rivers were vital to the civilization as the form of transportation for both people and materials.
Maya Culture
Contrary to popular beleif, the Mayan civilization was not one unified empire, but rather a multitude of separate entities with a common cultural background. Similar to the Greeks, they were religiously and artistically a nation, but politically sovereign states. As many as twenty such states existed on the Yucatan Peninsula.
Mayan Technology Two of the Mayan achievements included a system of writing called Hieroglyphics and a calendar. The Mayan thought priests could interpret the will of the gods by studying Mayan calendars. With the help of math, the priests could also determine good times to plant crops, and figure out the mood of many of the gods.
Over time, an elaborate system of writing was developed to record the transition of power through the generations. Maya writing was composed of recorded inscriptions on stone and wood and used within architecture. Folding tree books were made from fig tree bark and placed in royal tombs. Unfortunately, many of these books did not survive the humidity of the tropics or the invasion of the Spanish, who regarded the symbolic writing as the work of the devil.
Four books are known today:
The Dresden Codex
The Madud Codex
The Paris Codex (Pictured above)
The Grolier Codex.
The priests followed the ruling class in importance and were instrumental in the recordings of history through the heiroglyphs. The two classes were closely linked and held a monopoly on learning, including writing. The heiroglyphs were formed through a combination of different signs which represented either whole words or single syllables. The information could be conveyed through inscriptions alone, but it was usually combined with pictures showing action to facilitate comprehension.
Mayan Art The art of the Maya, as with every civilization, is a reflection of their lifestyle and culture. The art was composed of sketches and paintings upon paper and plaster, carvings in wood and stone, clay and stucco models, and terra cotta figurines from molds. The technical process of metal working was also highly developed but as the resources were scarce, they only created ornaments in this media. Many of the great programs of Maya art, inscriptions, and architecture were commissioned by Mayan kings to memorialize themselves and ensure their place in history. The prevailing subject of their art is not anonymous priests and unnamed gods but rather men and women of power that serve to recreate the history of the people. The works are a reflection of the society and its interaction with surrounding people.
One of the greatest shows of Mayan artistic ability and culture is the hieroglyphic stairway located at Copan. The stairway is an iconographical complex composed of statues, figures, and ramps in addition to the central stairway which together port ray many elements of Mayan society. An alter is present as well as many pictorial references of sacrifice and their gods. More importantly than all the imagery captured with in this monument, however, is the history of the royal descent depicted in the heiroglyphs and various statues. The figurine of a seated captive is also representative of Mayan society as it depicts someone in the process of a bloodletting ceremony, which included the accession to kingship. This figure is of high rank as depicted by his expensive earrings and intricately woven hip cloth. The rope collar which would usually mark this man as a captive, reveals that he is involved in a bloodletting rite. His genitals are exposed as he is just about to draw blood for the ceremony.
Political Organization of Maya Civilization
In both the priesthood and the ruling class, nepotism was apparently the prevailing system under which new members were chosen. Primogeniture was the form under which new kings were chosen as the king passed down his position to his son. After the birth of a heir, the kings performed a blood sacrifice by drawing blood from his own body as an offering to his ancestors.
A human sacrifice was then offered at the time of a new king's installation in office. To be a king, one must have taken a captive in a war and that person is then used as the victim in his accession ceremony. This ritual is the most important of a king's life as it is the point at which he inherits the position as head of the lineage and leader of the city. The religious explanation that upheld the institution of kingship asserted that Maya rulers were necessary for continuance of the Universe.
With the mighty Aztec Empire in ruins, conquistador Hernán Cortés sent his top lieutenant, to the south to search for more wealthy kingdoms. Alvarado found the remnants of the Maya Empire, in decline for centuries, but still formidable. Using Cortés conquest of the Aztecs as a blueprint, Alvarado divided and conquered the small Maya city-states.