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Similarities Between Inca And Aztecs

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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. The Aztec and Inca economies and technology focused directly on agricultural trade products. Document two provides visual representations of Aztec chinampas, which were “floating islands approximately seventeen feet long and one hundred to three hundred thirty feet wide.” These chinampas were used as an irrigation technique, allowing the Aztecs to produce four crops a year. The Aztecs built thousands of acres of chinampas, as they allowed their civilization to make …show more content…

Document one depicts the extent of Inca road systems, which covered the western coast of South America. The Inca used these roads to transport goods to South and Mesoamerican cultures. The Inca constructed this vast road system to ensure connection to other civilizations to maintain the goods that their people needed, though they were not the only culture that relied heavily on trade. As recorded by a travelling conquistador, the Aztecs were seen daily “buying and selling, and where are found all kinds of merchandise produced in these countries, including food products, jewels of gold and silver, lead, brass, copper, zinc, bones, shells, and feathers,” (document 7). Trade was the center of Aztec life. They traded their goods for items like vanilla and rubber from surrounding countries, which was the basis of their economy, along with tributes from conquered lands,

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