B. The Maya
1. Never formed a unified kingdom.
2. Increased agricultural productivity by draining swamps, building
elevated fields, terraced fields, and managed forest resources.
3. Large city-states.
4. Believed cosmos consisted of three layers, the heavens, human
world, and the underworld.
5. Rulers and elites communicated with the other worlds.
6. Fought for captives, not for territory. Elite captives were sacrificed
and commoners were enslaved.
7. Mayan women held no political power but participated in the
bloodletting rituals.
8. Technological developments included the Mayan calender,
mathematics, and the Maya writing system.
9. Reasons for fall include disruption of trade, overpopulation and
increased warfare around 800-900 C.E.
B. The Aztecs
1. Migrated to lake Texcoco area and established
the cities of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco.
2. Females maintained control of household and
market.
3. Established irrigation and chinampas, but also
received food from tribute.
4. Goods were exchanged through barter.
5. Worshipped a large number of gods, but the most
important was Huitzilopochtli, the Sun god and he
was appeased by sacrifice with human hearts.
B. Moche
1. North coastal region of Peru in about 200-700 C.E.
2. Moche society was stratified and theocratic.
3. Commoners supplied mita labor to the elite while
the elite military leaders and priests lived atop large
platforms and decorated themselves in magnificent
clothing.
4. Moche artisans were skilled in the production of
textiles, portrait vases, and metallurgy.
5. Decline can be attributed to a series of natural
disasters and pressure from the warlike Wari people.
D. The Inca
V. Comparative Perspectives
A. Political and Economic Comparisons
B. Imperial Comparisons