The History Book

116

each year. The empire depended on

this tribute to reward the nobility

and the warriors, who ensured that

the towns subjugated by the Aztecs

remained submissive—little mercy

being shown to those who revolted.

While the Aztecs provided some

security to their subjects, they gave

little else. At Tenochtitlan, artificial

islands (chinampas) were created at

great expense to expand the land

available to produce food, but no

such works were carried out for the

subject cities. Defeated states did

not provide troops for the Aztec

army, and so did not share in the

spoils of future victory, and little

effort was made to propagate the

Aztec language. It was an empire

built on fear and in the end it proved

brittle: when it was invaded by a

small party of Spaniards led by

Cortes in 1519, the subject peoples

rallied to the newcomers rather

than defending the Aztecs, and the

empire collapsed within two years.

Inca beginnings

The Incas, whose heartland lay

high in the central Andes around

Cuzco, in modern-day Peru, had

similarly humble origins to the

Aztecs, but their rise to imperial

status was, if anything, even more

meteoric. They began as a small,

somewhat disregarded tribe and

developed their own strategies

to co-opt neighboring groups

into a successful empire.

The Incas’ origin myth told of

their emergence from a cave in the

high mountains, from where their

first leader—Manco Capac—led

his people to Cuzco. It is generally

believed that the Incas arrived in

the region around 1200, and for two

centuries they remained a relatively

THE FOUNDATION OF TENOCHTITLAN

insignificant farming group, with

their society divided up into clans

(ayllus) of roughly equal status.

Inca expansion

The Incas began to make their

mark as a major power around 1438,

when the neighboring Chanca

people attempted to push the Incas

out of the Cuzco valley. By this time,

the Incas had a supreme leader

(the Sapa Inca), and although the

incumbent Viracocha was unequal

to the task, his son Pachacuti

defeated the invaders, and then led

Inca armies to conquer the rest of

the Cuzco valley and the southern

highlands around Lake Titicaca.

Under Pachacuti’s son Topa Inca

Yupanqui and grandson Huayna

Capac, the Incas overcame Chimor

(the largest coastal state) in about

1470. They then absorbed the rest
      of the northern highlands and
      extended to parts of modern-day
      Ecuador and Colombia and south
      to the deserts north of Chile.
      Unlike the Aztecs, the Incas
      recruited troops from among the
      conquered peoples (placed under
      the command of Inca officers), thus
      providing them with the lure of
      plunder in return for their loyalty.

Inca communication

The empire of the Incas was highly

centralized; censuses recorded the

number of peasants, who all owed

labor service (mitad) to the Sapa

Inca. This level of organization

enabled the construction of public

works on a vast scale. Particularly

vital was the extensive road

network, which extended nearly

25,000 miles (40,000 kilometers)

long and was dotted at regular

intervals with resthouses that

facilitated rapid transit for the

army and provided a very efficient

system of communication across

the far-flung Inca domains. At the

If the land [Peru] had not been

divided by the wars... we

could not have entered or

conquered it unless over a

thousand Spaniards had

come simultaneously.

Pedro Pizarro

Spanish conquistador (1571)

Tlacaelel

As the Aztec Empire expanded

and conquered new territories, it

became increasingly necessary

to create a more complex system

of administration. After Itzcoatl

became ruler (tlatoani) in 1427,

he introduced the new post of

chief adviser (cihuacoatl). The

office’s first incumbent was

Itzcoatl’s nephew, Tlacaelel

(1397–1487), who held the office

until his death. Tlacaelel served

through several reigns and he

provided invaluable continuity.

In addition, he created impetus

for his reforms (mostly benefiting

the royal family and nobles) by

ordering the destruction of earlier

chronicles and the rewriting of

Aztec history to establish the

basis of Aztec imperial ideology.

He also presided over the

formation of the Triple Alliance,

solidifying the Aztec position

and ensuring a steady stream

of sacrificial victims. Given that

Tlacaelel was never the Aztec’s

ruler, his immense influence in

Tenochtitlan shows that the

Aztec system of authority was

not as monolithic as it might

at first appear.

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117

same time, the Inca domestication

of the llama as a beast of burden

made it easier to transport heavy

loads across the empire.

Unlike the Aztecs, the Incas

actively sought to spread their own

language (Quechua) and system of

religious beliefs, which was initially

based around the worship of Inti

(the sun god), but which came to

feature prominently Viracocha—a

supreme creation god and therefore

considered a more suitable deity for

a conquering power. They also

dispatched colonists (miqmaq),

shifting troublesome groups into

more pacified areas to dilute their

resistance and creating networks

of loyal settlers on the fringes of

the empire. Although definitive

population statistics are not known,

by the early 16th century the Inca

Empire—which the Incas called

Tawintusuyu ( “The Realm of Four

Quarters”)—consisted of about 4–6

million people in total, operating to

the advantage of the Inca minority

and their subjects.

Despite its many strengths,

the highly centralized nature of

the Inca Empire proved fatal in the

early 1530s, when Spanish invaders

led by Pizarro captured the Sapa

Inca Atahuallpa; without their

leader, the Incas rapidly collapsed.

The new colonizers

The Aztecs and the Incas built the

first true empires in their regions

of the Americas. They were able

to do so by creating food surpluses

through irrigation projects, thus

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD

releasing a large proportion of their

population to fight in the armies

that conducted their campaigns of

expansion. They also reorganized

the traditional tribal structure to

favor a warrior and noble elite.

In both cases, the momentum of

conquest demanded further wars

to reward the warrior caste or to

provide an incentive for newly

conquered peoples to remain loyal

and thus to gain the rewards of

participation in new campaigns.

Neither the Aztecs nor the Incas

survived long enough to govern

after their expansion slowed down.

Had they done so, they might have

developed strategies to bring long-

term stability to their empires, or

might have declined to the status

of competing city-states fighting to

control limited resources. Instead,

the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs

in 1521 and their defeat of the last

Incas by 1572 put paid to the

ambitions of both empires and left

the Spanish firmly established as

colonial rulers in the region for the

next 300 years. ■

Society in the expansionist Aztec

Empire was deeply militaristic. A boy

had to prove himself a warrior before

he could be considered a man. Noble

Aztec youths joined warrior societies

and progressed through the ranks by

taking more captives for sacrifice.

The Shorn Ones

Deadly warriors

who swore not to

step back in battle.

Otomies Named after

skilled allies of the Aztecs,

Otomies may have been the

first warriors to enter battle.

Jaguar Warriors Men had to take

four human captives before they

could be admitted to the ranks of

the Eagle and Jaguar Warriors.

Eagle Warriors Alongside Jaguar Warriors,

these may have been the lowest rank of the

elite Aztec warrior societies. Their resplendent

uniforms resembled their namesakes.

They cut open their chests,

drew out the palpitating hearts

and offered them to the idols.

Bernal Díaz de Castillo

True History of The Conquest

of New Spain (1568)

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