Essay on The Lost Inca Indian Culture

The Huichol Indians are an indigenous group that lives “in the Sierra Madre Mountains of northwestern Mexico” (Woolcott). The Huichol religion is an animistic religion. According to Dr. Pamela Lindell, animistic religions are “religions that believe that all of nature – humans, animals, plants, rocks, the ocean, etc. - is animated by spirits and souls” (“Professor’s Notes 2” 3). To better understand the Huichol Indians and their religion, this paper examines Huichol myth, symbolism, rituals, religious specialists, and deities from various anthropological perspectives.

lands and sometimes on building projects or in mining.” (World of the Inca). Thus the Inca expected

During the fifteenth century, two major state-based agrarian civilization, Aztec and Inca empires, played a huge role by making up the population of the Americas. With this being said, a lot of the Americas history lies within the boundaries of the empires. This history includes literary tradition, records about the civilizations culture, and observations of the Spanish who conquered them in the early sixteenth century. Document 12.1 concentrates on giving evidence through the eyes of two Spanish observers, both of whom at least tried to connect with the civilizations and record first hand records.

     The Aztecs society was structured in a hierarchy with nobles at the top. Social status was determined primarily at birth. All members of the nobility could trace their lineage to the first Aztecs ruler Acamapichtli . The only way one could rise up to another class in the system was to perform an outstanding military achievement.

Steven J. Stern’s text, Peru’s Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest, highlights from beginning to end Spain’s conquest of the Andean people while articulating the transformation of the relationship between these two peoples. He illustrates how Spain’s efforts toward colonialism of the Andes, transformed the natives from a self-sufficient group of people into an oppressed caste system known as “Indians.” Additionally, he introduces the idea that the Spanish needed to break the indigenous and gain their favor in order successfully establish dominance over them and their land. While arguing this, he offers several facts, which contradict the black legend associated with the Spanish and their means of conquest.

The Aztec and Incan religions were similar and different in many ways. For one, both empires and their religions consisted of polytheistic values. Both empires participated in human sacrifice. Both empires worshipped a sun god or deity. Both empires used religion to unify societies and access authority over citizens.

Religion was the center of the Aztec’s life. The Aztecs worshiped many gods, which were actually the forces of nature, such as rain or sunshine, represented in a human form. In the Aztec religion there was over 1,000 gods and goddesses. Each god had many different names and meanings. The Aztecs had many gods that were focused on agriculture, since most of their culture was based on this. The main god of the Aztec people was Huitzilopochtli this is the god that told them to build the city of Tenochtitlan this is also the first temple built after finding the capital. Now Tlaloc had a big impact on the people as well being the rain god. The people thought he fertilized the crops and the way the people sacrificed to him was by killing 6 year olds or younger to make them cry before sacrifice. They thought the tears would help with the process, if the children did not cry enough they had to make them cry more before killing them. The sun god that helped Tlaloc in the process of growing the crops was Tonatiuh he provided the warmth and comfort for the people. He also needed a blood sacrifice to preform his duties. People that died a violent death went to the god of Tlaloc for their afterlife. Now the god of night was Tezcatlipoca his name means, Smoking Mirror, he had connections with the all parts of the world. Tezcatlipoca was brothers to Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent,

Deities were honored with sacrifices in the form of agricultural produce and animals. Religious beliefs had a strong moral dimension. Incas conceived of sin as a violation of the established social or natural order; believed in a life beyond death; and punishments for sins. They observed rituals of confession and penance by which priests absolved individuals of their sins. In the

What are some similarities between the Aztec and Inca religions? What are some differences? That is a very broad topic where you could have many different responses. Honestly, the number of similarities outweighs the number of differences between their respective religions. The main similarities between the Incan and Aztec religions were that they were both polytheistic and they both held sacrifices.

Incas believed in many Gods such as Viracocha. Viracocha is one of the main Gods in the Inca religion. Viracocha is the creator of everything. He created everything such as the sun, moon, stars and the earth before he created living things such as humans and animals. When Viracocha created human he gave them some rules which they disobeyed. He then became angry with the people and cursed them all. Some were swallowed by the sea while the others were swallowed by the earth. He then brought a flood named Uñu Pachacuti that washed away all the humans.

In the Saraguro region in Ecuador, the Incans used their religion to control the population. It was key that the Incan Empire used their religion to manipulate sacred landscapes to control portions of a population. It is seen archeologically that the Incans manipulated several ritually important places and other imperial infrastructures into the sacred region of Saraguro. In the article, Inca Manipulation of the Sacred Landscape of Saraguro Ecuador, by Dennis E. Ogburn, he discusses how all throughout the Saraguro region of Ecuador, it is seen that the empire manipulated the landscapes for religious purposes as well as for controlling their people.

The Inca religious system was based on the worship of multiple deities. The supreme god was the creator god, Viracocha. The Incas also worshiped the sun god, Inti, from whom the royal family was believed to have descended. Additionally, a number of other nature gods were

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 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

The history of Peru is riddled with legends, conquistadors, and a revolution. The fabled beginnings of the Inca empire, which preceded Peru in their lands, state that Manco Capac, a son of the sun god, was sent down and made home in the Vilcanota Valley (“Peru History”). This became their capital, Cuzco. The Incas documented their history through the reigns of the kings. However, it was not until the eighth king, Pachacuti, rise to power