Several advanced civilizations existed in the Americas before the time of Cortez. Among them were the Olmecs, Mayans, Toltecs, Aztecs, and Incas. Two of these civilizations, the Aztecs and the Incas, had far-reaching effects on the world. These two societies had many similarities and differences.
Aztecs Vs. Incas
Because the Incas lived in the Andes Mountains, they differ from the Aztecs, who lived in Central Mexico. To preserve their dead, the Incans would place their bodies on a mountaintop, where the wind would dry off their skin.
In 1428, under the leadership of Itzcoatl, the Aztecs formed a trilateral alliance with the Texcocans and the Cubans to battle the Tepanec, the province’s most powerful opponents for control, and capture Azcapotzalco. His successor, Montezuma (Moctezuma) I, became regarded as the “Father of the Aztec Empire” in 1440.
The Incas were little more than a South American society founded by ethnic Quechuas, or Amerindians, who were referred to as such. As early as 1400AD the Incas were only a small mountain tribe, but by the early 16th century, they had grown into the biggest power in the Americas and established the Inca Empire.
Aztecs
Mesoamerica was colonized by the Aztecs in the early 13th century, when they arrived as a nomadic people from northern Mexico. Many of central Mexico’s cities were brought under the control of the Aztecs by their spectacular capital city of Tenochtitlan, which came to prominence as a key force in the area by the 15th century. With the conquest of Tenochtitlan by the Spanish adventurer Hernán Cortés in 1521, Mesoamerica’s last great kingdom came to an end.
A northern hunter-gatherer group called Aztlan, which means “White Land” in the Aztec dialect of Nahuatl, may have been the ancestors of the Aztec people, whose origins remain unclear. The Tenochca (from which their capital city, Tenochtitlan, derives its name) and the Mexica were other names for the Aztecs (through which the initials of their provincial capital, Tenochtitlan, was abstracted). In the early thirteenth century, the Aztecs came in Mesoamerica, or pre-Columbian Mexico’s south-central area. There may have had a hand in the downfall of the formerly dominating Mesoamerican civilization of the Toltecs, since they rose to prominence soon thereafter.
Incas
Pre-Columbian America’s Inca Empire, which existed from 1438 to 1533 and was located in what is now Peru, was founded by the Incas. Inca civilization’s highest point. Prior to 1438, the Inca Empire was known as the Kingdom of Cuzco. Inca conquest and peaceful assimilation helped the Inca Empire, based in the Andes mountain range, conquer the present-day Peruvian territory and the majority of western South America.
After the Inca Civil War, the conqueror Francisco Pizarro ordered the execution of the empire’s last Sapa Inca (emperor), which ushered in Japanese rule. A small Neo-Inca State was established in the Vilcabamba rainforest by the empire’s surviving members, but it was conquered by the Spanish in 1572. “The Four Regions” or “The United Regions” in Quechua was the new name given to the kingdom after Pachacuti’s reforms. Tahuantinsuyo was once written that way in Spanish even before it underwent the Quechua phonetic change.
Difference Between Aztecs and Incas
Mesoamerican civilizations like the Aztecs lived in central Mexico from 1300 and 1521. During this time period, however, the Incas were first established in what is now southeastern Peru.
When it came to military might, the Aztecs were no slouch, but they lagged far behind the Incas in terms of empire size.
The Aztecs were ruder and less cultured than their contemporaries, to say the least. The Incas developed a runner system to transport messages between the capital and various regions of the empire.
Mexico Valley was home to Aztec civilization, whereas the Ande Mountains were home to Inca civilization.
Codex was utilized by the Aztecs for archival reasons. Quipus, on the other hand, was an invention of the Incas for the purpose of record-keeping.
Conclusion
Overall, the Aztecs and Incas were two of the most impressive indigenous civilizations in the New World. That the invading Europeans decimated them to such an extent that both civilizations were wiped out is a crying sorrow. Archaeological remains and historical tales, on the other hand, provide us a clear picture of these two civilizations’ time in the limelight.
The inhabitants of the Inca Empire lived in harmony with one another. They may have been so easily vanquished because of this inclination. A Spaniard invader, Francisco Pizzaro, slaughtered their old monarch and his whole court of nobles. They had gone out to greet him. The Aztecs, on the other hand, held the Spanish in the longest siege in history.