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The Incas and the Aztecs Essay

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The Incas and the Aztecs Before the Spanish and Portuguese "discovered" the New World, there were many groups of people already living in South and Central America. Two of these groups were the Incas and the Aztecs. The Incas lived mainly in Peru, and the Aztecs lived mainly in what is today Mexico City. Although these two groups probably never came on contact with one another, they had many similar traits. This is probably partly because of the influences on them by traveling tribes. It is more likely that the similarities of the tribes are based on the similar conditions they lived with and the problems they faced. …show more content…

In the sacrificial ceremonies they would sacrifice either people or animals. Some other occasions for a sacrificial ceremony were deliverance from draught, plague, earthquakes, or defeat in war[1]. In these religious ceremonies, they used beautiful statues and jewelry, usually made of gold. These pieces were crafted by the artisans, who were in the sixth social class, yet had a very important job. The Incas knew their respective jobs, and they loved working. There were many holidays to show reverence to the gods when the people wouldn't have to work; yet many of them chose to work anyway. The Incas kept records on quipus, colored strings with knots tied in them. Only specially trained people could decode them, so no records of the Incas are known. The largest social class of the Incas was the laborers. They were at the bottom of the totem pole, but they were the most important. The Incas are known for their superb architecture, bridges, roads and aqueducts, some of which still stand today. The architectural laborers were just as skilled as the quipu-decoders, just in a different way. They could carve slabs so well that nothing was used to join them when making a building. They were so intricate that they fit together perfectly, and this was hard at the time because of the

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