The Postclassical Period, c. 600 CE to c. 1450: Handout 3.7: Postclassical Americas

Territorial empires were tightly integrated domains where rulers used standing armies and directly supervised the conquered provinces.

Instead, they often left native rulers in place as long as they submitted to the Aztecs and met their tribute demands.

It should be well understood that great prudence was needed to enable these Inca kings to govern such large provinces, extending over so vast a region, parts mountainous, with snowy peaks and ridges, parts consisting of deserts of sand, dry and without trees or water.

These regions were inhabited by many different nations, with varying languages, laws, and religions, and the kings had to maintain tranquility and to rule so that all should live in peace and in friendship towards their lord.

Although Cuzco was the head of the Inca empire, at certain points the king stationed his delegates and governors, who were the most learned, the ablest, and the bravest men that could be found...

So great was the veneration that the people felt for their princes, throughout this vast region, that every district was as well regulated and governed as if the lord was actually present to chastise those who acted contrary to his rules.

So great was the veneration that the people felt for their princes, throughout this vast region, that every district was as well regulated and governed as if the lord was actually present to chastise those who acted contrary to his rules.

Then after they had danced the Aztec priests laid them down on their backs on some narrow stones of sacrifice and, cutting open their chests, drew out their palpitating hearts which they offered to the idols before them.

Political and Ideological Structure

▪ Considerable Investment in Monumental Architecture, Art, Symbols of Status, and other Elements of Ritual and Propaganda

▪ Agricultural System Well-Adapted to Tropical Rain Forest (Imitating its Dispersion and Diversity)

In addition to speeding the transmission of critical information, the extensive and technically sophisticated road system greatly facilitated the efficient movement of bulk and manufactured goods,...provincial officials, and, of course, Inca armies throughout the empire.

The highways also functioned as symbolic representations of Inca rule and of the majesty of the individual kings who competed to enlarge and make more magnificent the roads of their predecessors.

The highways also functioned as symbolic representations of Inca rule and of the majesty of the individual kings who competed to enlarge and make more magnificent the roads of their predecessors.

So, their road system, like virtually every other physical artifact of the Inca imperial infrastructure, served multiple purposes, from the most economically instrumental to the deeply political and symbolic.

In a real sense, we can consider the infrastructure itself, imbued with social, political, and religious qualities, as an active agent in the extension and consolidation of Inca power.

This resulted in an elaborate system of offerings and sacrifices designed to please, appease, and win the support of the gods with all their powers.

Aztec state religion was not necessarily geared to produce a uniform world-view and a common value system...nor to sanctify the ruler in the eyes of his subjects.

This achievement-based system of social status cut across particularistic loyalties of kinship and ethnicity.

This centralized system of reward and prestige created a cohesive imperial force at the expense of various kinship groups, ethnic groups, and local city-states.

This centralized system of reward and prestige created a cohesive imperial force at the expense of various kinship groups, ethnic groups, and local city-states.

This ideology sought to establish the moral worth of military achievement by linking it to cosmic structure and human survival and by rewarding it with social differentiation and esteem.

This ideology sought to establish the moral worth of military achievement by linking it to cosmic structure and human survival and by rewarding it with social differentiation and esteem.

This ideology sought to establish the moral worth of military achievement by linking it to cosmic structure and human survival and by rewarding it with social differentiation and esteem.

Young men joined the state in its “projects” of warfare and human sacrifice, the actions being shaped by their “images and ideas of what constitutes goodness...”