The Importance of Religion in Aztec and Incas Cultures Essay

The question that Ogburn is asking is, how did the Incan empire manipulate the Saraguro region, what did they manipulate, and why was it an important part of the Incan Empire? Ogburn explains that the Incans conquered the Saraguro region in Ecuador in the 1460s and conquered the region for about seventy years. After taking control over the area from a local tribe, the Incans developed their main road that takes them to their main spiritual areas in which they created when they manipulated the Saraguro Region. Ogburn identified seven sacred/ceremonial places and two administrative centers that the Incans manipulated because of religious and governmental purposes. The sacred/ceremonial places were mostly volcanos, bedrock, and waterfalls that were used for rituals, human sacrifices, and

The City of Cuzco was a complex urban center with distinct religious and administrative functions. It was surrounded by clearly defined areas for agricultural, artisan, and industrial production. Besides the religious and government buildings, there were also exclusive abodes for royal families, which formed an unprecedented symbolic urban compound. This compound showed a stone construction technology with remarkable aesthetic and structural properties, such as the Temple of the Sun or Qoricancha. Cuzco was the capital of the Tawantinsuyu Inca Empire, which covered much of the South American Andes between the 15th and 16th centuries AD. It was abandoned by the Incas when the Spaniards conquered it in the 16th century.

The Inca’s religion centered around nature and their location in the Indies Mountains in South America. The Inca believed strange natural formations had supernatural powers and called them hauca (mountain in bottom right). They called the strange natural formation hauca and the Inca performed their sacrifices on them. The Incas performed human sacrifice on hauca. Sacrificing was important because they did it to appease the gods (located in the bottom right on the mountain). Their most important god was Viracocha (the sun in the background). The Inca believed he created the universe and he was the Sun God, and they called themselves “The Children of The Sun”. The Inca’s religion was mostly connected with nature and the Inca’s surroundings

The dream of most archaeologists is to find something that is well preserved in order to retrieve all of the needed information. The finding of a 7 year old boy mummy up in the Aconcagua Mountains was exactly what archaeologist hope to find. The Aconcagua boy is a well preserved mummy whom was found back in summer of 1985 by hikers whom happened to just stumble upon this well preserved mummy (“The complete mitogenome…”). These hikers were not aware of the significance of their finding, and all the information that could be retrieved from this mummified boy. Archaeologist soon came to find, after observing this mummy that he had been part of a ritual known as the “capachoca” that the Inca used to take part in. The ritual only scarified children to their gods

In this source review, I decided to choose the passage Sacred Mountains, Ceremonial Sites, and Human Sacrifice Among the Incas by Johan Reinhard and Constanza Ceruti. In the review, Reinhard talks about the many archaeological explorations they performed. The explorations discovered human remains, usually buried with different artifacts. The artifacts would include vases, pots, and/or tapestries. Only a few human remains were found throughout the centuries of archaeological expeditions. These remains seemed to be used during a sacred ritual the Incas performed called a capacocha. The capacocha was a ritual involved in sacrificing human lives in the mountains. The Incan people believed that the mountains were sacred and possessed supernatural

The ancient Inca religion was deeply connected to nature and the success of farming, so the Incan people lived their lives will a deep respect for nature and farming. The Inca’s most important god was ‘Inti’, the sun god, and he represented all warmth, light, and a healthy environment full of flourishing crops. He ruled over all of the people and brought all of the necessary climate changes and natural disasters alongside the thunder god, ‘Illapa’ and the moon goddess, ‘Mama-Quilla’. Together, the three of them encouraged the Incan people to care about the environment and take care of it properly. Other goddesses, such as ‘Mama-Cocha’, the goddess of the sea, and ‘Pacha-Mama’, the goddess of the earth, also convinced the Incan people to take

Religious practices in the Inca society consisted of sacrifices and worshiping their gods. Sacrifices happened for their gods and goddesses during worship. They would normally sacrifice small children in the mountains because they were considered the purest of beings. (This would be located in the center because this is important). The Incas were polytheistic,this is important to know because this is supposedly why the Inca make sacrifices of the young beings. Their main god was Viracocha because they believed that he made the earth,stars,moon,and sun.This is why the Inca had sacrifice,to give back to him or just to worship other gods and or goddesses.The Incas emperors were considered to be demigods because they were all knowing and wise.

This style helped create one of the most well-known architectural feats of the ancient world, Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu is located at the end of a long ridge descending from Mt. Salcantay, 8,000ft above sea level. Machu Picchu is theorized to be built by order of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, the ninth Emperor of the Inca. Its buildings are lavish and there is an extensive amount of land for agriculture on the outskirts. “The site’s buildings, walls, terraces, and ramps reclaim the steep mountainous terrain and make the city blend naturally into the rock escarpments on which it is situated.”

The Incas called their vast empire Tawantinsuyo, or the “Land of the Four Quarters,” with the capital city Cuzco at the center of the empire (Stone, 195). The layout depiction of Cuzco has been described in several different ways, but was undoubtedly separated into two social divisions, the upper Hanan and the lower Hurin sectors. The architecture of Cuzco provides evidence that the Inca ruler used the construction and placement of scared buildings, such as the Qorikancha and Saqsa Waman, to display imperial control and ideology over the surrounding conquered territories.

The Capacocha is a sacrificial ceremony for children with perfect looks. The discoveries of the bodies lead scientists to believe

The Inca had a cultural legacy that still stands with us today. The Sculpture of Viracocha was a very important artifact as Viracocha was believed to be the creator god . He was said to kill off an entire race of disobedient humans to replace them with ones he formed from clay (Gale). The Incas were one of many groups who lived in the Andes Mountains at the time. Over time they grew and eventually started conquering people until almost

The wonderful description of Cuzco holds the purest truth! First, the city’s location is quite remarkable! Located at a breathtaking 11, 200 feet elevation, Cuzco offers a gorgeous site of pasture lands, mountains, and rivers (Scher). Second, the city’s layout is ideal, because it is composed of four highways for comfortable travel. Consequently, I could travel throughout the city safely and could enjoy the sites, such as the plazas and buildings. For example, I witnessed the tallest structure in the city—the Sunturwasi—and the notorious complex—the Coricancha (Cartwright). The precious metals that decorate the Coricancha both illustrate the wealth and power of the Incan Empire, and they amaze those who witness it. In general, Cuzco matched

Inca, the word is derived from Inti, the sun god, was one of the largest and oldest Pre-Columbian civilization extending from Ecuador in north to whole of Chile in south. The region is predominantly known as Andean region and is modern day Peru, with official language being Quechua. They had their own flag which is a very impressive thing about this civilization because flags gained prominence only in 17th-18th century. Incas were the most powerful Empire in that region ruling more 12 million people for around 100 years. Incas are believed to be ruling from 1438 A.D- 1532 A.D with Aristocratic ruling system in the society. Inca Empire was founded by Ayar Manco, popularly known Manco Capac and was known as Sapa Inca “child of the sun”. Incas were firm believer in god worshipping creator god Viracocha, Sun god Inti, Thunder god Illapa and earth-mother goddess Pachamama. Incas had a very powerful army conquering different parts of Pre-Columbian America using weapons such as axes, bow and arrow, spears, swords and more importantly Clubs(it was considered as a unique weapon which Incas only used) majorly made up of stone and copper. They had a very keen sense of clothing and dressed according to their position in the society with noble donning more expensive clothing than the Inca commoner. As far as shelter is concerned, housed were divided into two types one for commoners and other for Nobles, the latter being highly decorated and made of stone whereas

One major cause that helped the Inca established their power was by conquering through military expansion by different rulers. In 1438, the son of a tribal ruler conquered the Chanca people. He gave himself the title of Pachacuti. After he died, his son Yupanqui took control in 1471 and expanded. He conquered the state of Chimu. Soon, his successor Huayna Capac became ruler. This effected the rulers as they had a tradition of successors. It began a tradition of expanding the empire more after the last ruler. Each ruler tried building of what the predecessors had

According to archaeologists, in this area was fought the last battle that defined victory over the Chancas, covering prestigious victory and gave power to the Inca Pachacutec.Inca Pachacutec was the first to emerge beyond the valley of Cusco after his epic victory over the Chancas. He conducted the Tahuantinsuyo expansion and recognized it as the "constructor" of Cusco. This was one of his greatest works.(Peru for Less, 2017)