Logan Tueller
History 100
Dr. Madsen-Brooks
10 April 2016
Incan and Aztec Civilizations and Their Demise
In Central and Southern America, two unique civilization prospered and grew to be some of the most mathematically and astronomically inclined cultures ever seen in the world at that time. With massive temples and cities erected so perfectly in the middle of the jungle, both the Incas and Aztecs lived in massive areas and supported populations in the millions.
At its peak, the Incan Empire stretched over current day Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Ecuador and had anywhere from 4 to 37 million inhabitants, this number has such a wide range is because the Spanish Conquistadors destroyed hundreds of years of Incan census records which had information on every citizen that belong to the empire (1). The Incas had the largest pre-Columbian Empire in the Americas, with their capital was located in Cuzco, Peru which is where their well-organized imperial government was based along with their strong central administration, intricate political system and military powers. All was going well for the Incas until Francisco Pizarro arrived from Spain conquered Cuzco with less than 200 conquistadors in 1533. Once the capital was captured, Pizarro’s men surrounded the 13th and final Incan Emperor, Atahuallpa, and Francisco Pizarro strangled him to death (2). The Incan Empire lasted right around 200 years, until it came to a swift end due to the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors and their European disease which wiped out almost 95% of their population. Similarly, the Aztecs were also wiped out from being conquered by the Spanish and then further destroyed by small pox, measles, typhus, influenza and diphtheria. Although they came to the same demise, The Aztec Empire had many key features that differentiated it from the Incan Empire.
The Aztec empire was located in present day Mexico and had a triple alliance between the three city-states of Tenochtitlan, Texcoc and Tlacopan, which differs from the Incan Empire which had an imperial government ran out of one capital. The Aztecs controlled vast parts of Mesoamerica between the 14th and 16th centuries and based their government off a type of feudalism where the outlying villages paid tribute, gave supplies, and offered warriors to the capital cities. This system set up an imperial center with a political reach that extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and as far south as Guatemala. In 1519, Corte reached the Mesoamerica and allied with the Nahautl, who were enemies of the Aztecs (3). In order to dismantle the Aztec Empire, Cortez’s men and the Nahautl warriors attacked the Aztecs and conquered Tenochtitlan for Spain. At that time, one of the Spanish soldiers had contracted smallpox and spread it throughout the empire, which killed more than 3 million Aztecs. Once the city had fallen, Cortez began building Mexico City on the ruins which quickly became a pre-eminent city in the Spanish colonies and King Charles I of Spain appointed Cortez as governor of New Spain. Although they were both wiped out from European diseases that they had never encountered before, the Incas and Aztecs had grown to be economic super powers in the Americas. Although the Aztec Empire was smaller than the Inca Empire in population, 5 million to 37 million respectively, they both developed their own governmental systems that were capable of supporting massive populations, creating large public work projects, developing calendars based off astronomy that were accurate for thousands of years, and even building massive temples made with precisely cut stones in the middle of the jungle or high up at the top of the Andes Mountians.

Works Cited
1) Seaman, Rebecca M. 2013. Conflict in the early Americas: an encyclopedia of the Spanish Empire’s Aztec, Incan, and Mayan conquests. http://ebooks.abc-clio.com/?isbn=9781598847772. (188-189)
2) History.com Staff, Pizarro Executes Last Inca Emperor. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/pizarro-executes-last-inca-emperor.
3) Sandine, Al. 2015. Deadly Baggage What Cortes Brought to Mexico and How It Destroyed the Aztec Civilization. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. http://public.eblib.com/choice/PublicFullRecord.aspx?p=213008

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