Compare and Contrast Maya, Aztec, and Inca Culture Essay

Throughout the humanities course, I have been intrigued by a vast amount of information on different cultures. However, there was a particular section that truly caught my attention, and has piqued an interest in me that has caused me to do my own research aside from this paper. The culture of the Mayas, and the Aztecs has been extremely fundamental in understanding my ancestry, being that I am Mexican American. I took an interest in their beautiful architecture, their ritualistic and sacrificial religious practices, as well as their history and how they began. Throughout this paper I will outline the similarities and differences of these two cultures, as well as articulate an understanding of the humanity disciplines outlined above.

The Mayan, Aztec, and Inca civilizations brought major accomplishments to the world today. These accomplishments established them as advanced societies during their time without the influence of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Some of these accomplishments ranged from agriculture to architecture and on to writing and trade. Such as, the Mayans with their agriculture system of chinampas and there monumental temple/pyramids, the Aztecs with their trading in the city of Tenochtitlan, and the Incas with their road and bridge system connecting the whole empire.

The Mayan, Inca, and Aztec civilizations each originated from Latin America. The Mayans lived in southern and central Mexico, other Mayans lived in Central America in the present day countries of Belize, Guatemala, and ancient Honduras. The Incas lived along the long coastal strip, and in the high peaks and deep fertile valleys of the Andes Mountains, and along the edges of the tropical forest to the east; this would be the country of Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina in present days. The Aztecs were from Aztlan located in both north and northwest Mexico.

The Maya were a people from Middle America, which includes modern Guatemala, Southern Mexico, and Northern Belize (Editors). The Maya civilization was considered to be “one of the most dominant indigenous societies of Mesoamerica,” (Maya). “The Maya excelled at agriculture, pottery, hieroglyph writing, calendar-making, and mathematics, and left behind an astonishing amount of impressive architecture and symbolic artwork,” (Maya). They also gave mankind the modern calendar (Jarus, Maya). The Mayans were a very advanced people, but one of the most important things in the Mayan culture was their religion/god worshipping rituals.

The Aztec and Mayan civilizations were two important, early civilizations that settled in Mesoamerica. The Mayan and Aztecs were two civilizations that lived in two different time periods, but they shared many physical and mental characteristics of one another. The Aztec and Mayan civilizations were different but they were more similar. The Aztecs and Mayans were more similar in their location, religion, writing system, government, social structure, gender roles, technology, and sporting activities.

The Incas and the Aztecs Before the Spanish and Portuguese "discovered" the New World, there

So, as stated before in this essay, the Incas and Mayans had quite a few things in common but they were much more different than similar. Although both civilizations failed, at one point they flourished greatly. They were intelligent and paved the way for things liken mathematics, architecture,

The Aztec location differs from the other empires. For example, the Aztec is located in Mexico, but they use to rule part of America. In addition, the Aztec is also located in Mesoamerica. Another difference is how long and when they ruled. The Incas only ruled about 100 years. That is differ from Aztec and Mayans because they ruled for about 2000 years. In addition, all three empire ruled around different time period. Lastly another difference is they way the farm. The Mayans and Incas farm normally on land. Except the Aztec had a different way they farm. For example, the Aztec farm on water. The Aztec had a lack of lands, so they had created floating farm islands called chinampas. In conclusion, The Aztec have similarities and a lot of differences compared to the other

Architecture, the basis of life for the Mayans. Architecture, specifically regarding pyramids. Now, when we think of the word “pyramid” most people will automatically think of the Great Pyramids of Egypt (we’ll get to those). But the Mayans had just as pyramids just as great. See, the technical building of the Maya pyramid was the same as the Egyptians. Both civilizations had pyramids of their own architectural design; Egypt with the well-known triangle and the Mayans with staircases. The use of slaves would help rise the pyramids from the ground, stacking, piling, pulling, and layering stone and clay. The main difference

The Maya and Aztec civilizations are two vastly different civilizations, as is to expected, however, despite these differences, they do share a number of similarities.

DBQ 5- Inca and Aztec Comparison Throughout the early fourteenth and fifteenth centuries C.E., empires such as the Chinese and Byzantine thrived and prospered. South and Mesoamerican cultures such as the Aztec and Inca arose at this time. These cultures grew to become very advanced, each inventing a wide selection of technologies to suit their social and economic needs. The economic characteristics of the Aztec and Inca Empires were similar in agricultural focus and an importance of trade; however, they differed in their governmental organization.

If I had to live in one of the three civilizations- Maya, Inca, or Aztec- I would choose Maya. The Maya had a very simple number and math system. I’m not very good at math, so I would enjoy math much more if I could use the Mayan number system. The Mayan also had a diet mainly consisting of plants like maize. I do like meat, but I could definitely live without it. Plus I really do enjoy fruits and vegetables. They also had this ball game called pok-a-tok. Though it was used for religious purposes, children and adults still used it as a game for entertainment, and I think that it sounds as if it was very nice entertainment.

Agriculture was the basis of the economy of the Mayan and corn was the principal food.(Voorhies 324) Other crops included avocados, tomatoes, and chili peppers. They cultivated an enormous variety of plants.(Foley 20)

Intro: So today i'm going to compare and contrast the Maya, Aztec, and the Inca. Like what they do different and the same different sacrifices and other stuff.

The Aztecs civilization and the Mayan civilization where the most important civilizations from the new world that amazed many of the Europeans that came to conquer this wonderful rich land. The Europeans where amazed with the Aztec and Mayan culture, their ways of life, their geographical surroundings and their technology. The Europeans and historians today find that the Aztecs and the Mayans where similar in some ways of life like their culture, their technology, their religious events and at the same time they had their differences in their cultures.