The Inca lived in the Andes Mountains in South America. Their range stretched from southern Chile through Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador and into southern Colombia.

At its height, the Inca Empire included Peru, western and south central Bolivia, southwest Ecuador and a large portion of what is today Chile, north of the Maule River.

The Inca civilization flourished in ancient Peru between c. 1400 and 1533 CE, and their empire eventually extended across western South America from Quito in the north to Santiago in the south, making it the largest empire ever seen in the Americas and the largest in the world at that time.

The Inca Empire (12th Century – 1533 AD) From Mexico and Central America, we move south to the Andes Mountains of Peru and Bolivia. From this small city-state kingdom, the Inca Empire began to expand, and brought much of modern-day Peru under Inca control.

In short, the Maya came first, and settled in modern-day Mexico. Next came the Olmecs, who also settled Mexico. They didn’t build any major cities, but they were widespread and prosperous. They were followed by the Inca in modern-day Peru, and finally the Aztecs, also in modern-day Mexico.

Science and Technology One of the Aztecs’ most remarkable technological achievements was the construction of their island city, Tenochtitlán. The Aztecs enlarged the area of the city by creating artificial islands called chinampas. Today, flower farmers in Xochimilco, near Mexico City, still use chinampas.

The Aztecs practised advanced medicine. They used a type of antispasmodic medication – medicine that could prevent muscle spasms and relax muscles, which may have been helpful during surgery. The Passion flower was used for this purpose, a flower which still grows in Mexico today.

The Inca built advanced aqueducts and drainage systems; and the most extensive road system in pre-Columbian America. They also invented the technique of freeze-drying; and the rope suspension bridge independently from outside influence.

What were the Aztecs famous for? The Aztecs were famous for their agriculture, cultivating all available land, introducing irrigation, draining swamps, and creating artificial islands in the lakes. They developed a form of hieroglyphic writing, a complex calendar system, and built famous pyramids and temples.

The Aztec were the first society that required education for all its children, without regard of gender or social status. Which showed the modern world we are all equal. Other ways the influenced todays world is by their diet, recreation, their arts and trade.

Tlachtli is kind of like basketball. Games similar to basketball have been played all over Mesoamerica by peoples like the Aztec, the Maya, and the Olmec. The object of Tlachtli is to put a ball through a hoop made of stone at one end of a court. But unlike basketball, the players can’t use their hands.

wrestling

3: Soccer. Well, it wasn’t quite the game we know as soccer today, but the Aztecs did play a game that could very well have been a precursor. It was called ollama, and was played on a field called a tlachtli, which is often used interchangeably as the name of the game.

Red and green tomatoes were cultivated (but were much smaller than the modern variety), as were white sweet potatoes, jícama (a type of turnip), chayote (vegetable pear), the nopal cactus, and peanuts. The Aztecs also grew many types of fruit including guavas, papayas, custard apples, mamey, zapotes, and chirimoyas.

It’s believed that the Aztecs invented tortillas and that the great Aztec emperor Montezuma used them like spoons for eating meat, beans and chiles. Tortillas have been made since then, and therefore tacos are the natural food of the Mexican people.”

Some animals such as the jaguar, eagle and snake had a paramount importance in the Aztec religious symbolism and were associated with the most powerful deities. Aztecs also used these animals as subjects for their tattoos which served as their personal animal totems.

The Aztecs, like other Mesoamerican societies, had a wide pantheon of gods. As such they were a polytheistic society, which means they had many gods and each god represented different important parts of the world for Aztec people. Whereas a monotheistic religion, such as Christianity, only has one god.

For the Aztecs, deities of particular importance are the rain god Tlaloc; Huitzilopochtli, patron of the Mexica tribe; Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent and god of wind and learning; and Tezcatlipoca, the shrewd, elusive god of destiny and fortune.

It is claimed that these similarities facilitated conversion because the Aztec and Maya saw belief in Jesus as an extension of things they already knew as opposed to a complete diversion from their traditional beliefs.

Huitzilopochtli

Many contemporary Aztecs continue to worship and make offerings to the ancient earth gods that they address as “Grandfather” and “Grandmother” [see photographs 14-15]. Earth gods under many different names and forms were important deities for the ancient Aztecs.

200 deities