Aztec And Inca Empires example essay topic

The Aztec and Inca peoples lived in militaristic and expansionist societies whose ideals were fueled by their religious convictions. Expansionism was necessary for both societies to support their religious beliefs. The religious zeal of these two civilizations became something that the leaders of the empires could not control. These empires were built through ideologically driven conquests, which became the cornerstones of their societies and something beyond the control of the rulers. Every imperialistic nation has a motive for expansion. Military, materialism, and missionary are three of the biggest motives foe expansion that imperialistic countries use to expand their borders.

Conquests that are based strictly on militaristic or materialistic goals make up long-lasting empires that rule for centuries without decline. These two motives require that some semblance of a government be set up in conquered territories so that the ruling country may use these territories as they wish. Furthermore, once these types of conquests are started, emperors are able to stop them as they wish. Ideological conquests, however, are driven by deep-down religious convictions that emperors and rulers have little power over. Furthermore, conquests that are driven by ideologies do not require the conquerors to establish working governments in their wakes. Therefore, imperial land-holdings that were acquired through ideologically driven conquests sometimes require re-conquering.

The Aztec and Inca empires were built through various ideologically driven conquests, which became ingrained in their societies and grew beyond the emperors' control. The Aztec's expansion was promoted by their need for human sacrifices in order to keep the world working in the proper order. The Mexica people's, who founded the Aztec empire, rise in power coincided with their tribal god's, Huitzilopochtli, rise in the pantheon of gods to one of the creator gods (Bakewell, 23). The further Huitzilopochtli rose in the pantheon the more sacrifices were needed to keep the universal balance. The Mexica people inherited the use of human sacrifices from their predecessors, the Toltec's, but Huitzilopochtli was a Mexica creation. Mexica imperialism was due to "the elevation of Huitzilopochtli and the formulation of an imperial cult that united the patron deity, Mexica military ambitions, and the sun into a vision of the constant struggle between the forces of the universe" (Conrad, 38).

This required the Mexicas' to go out and make war with their neighbors and then ruthlessly take prisoners of war for later sacrifice. It was believed that the strength from the sacrificed captives's oils would strengthen the sun in its ongoing battle with the forces of darkness (Conrad, 38). This need for the sun to constantly be appeased set the Mexica people out on divine missions for sacrificial bodies that took the form of imperial conquests. Mexica rulers flooded their lands with propaganda that promoted their imperialistic religion. Most of the Aztec's art and literature was made up of this propaganda, which created this religious fervor among the people that grew beyond the control of the ruling elites. "Oral literature, monumental art, written codices, and public and private ceremonies instilled and continually reinforced belief in the divine struggle and the unceasing need for sacrificial victims" (Conrad, 51).

Furthermore, religious zeal was strengthened by the guarantee that immortality would be granted to warriors who died in the divine quest and increased social standing awaited those who failed well in wars (Conrad, 52). The Aztec empire was conquering new lands but not staying to govern them. "Moctezuma II inherited not only a tradition of glorious military achievement but also its product: a far-flung, loosely organized, and totally unstable imperial hegemony" (Conrad, 60). Moctezuma II recognized this problem with his empire because he spent a lot of time conquering lands that had already been conquered by his predecessors. Moctezuma II tried to shift the focus of his empire away from expansion and move towards consolidating the lands that were under his control (Conrad, 62). But the Aztec ideology had too strong of a foothold in Aztec society and change was impossible by the time Moctezuma's reforms were attempted.

"Both the shift in military strategy and the restructuring of social and political hierarchy attempted to consolidate the empire at the expense of the very dynamism that had originally created it" (Conrad, 68). Military motivation declined as a result of the restructuring of the classes. Moctezuma decreased social mobility by displacing the upwardly mobile social groups. This reform lowered military incentives for war and destroyed the morale of the Aztec warriors. Coupled with the weakening of the sacrificial sun cult these reforms ultimately led to the end of the Aztec way of life.

"The paradox which defeated Moctezuma II was that while expansion was no longer practicable, it remained the cornerstone of the Mexica ideological, social, and political systems" (Conrad, 69). The Aztec empire was built upon conquest and expansion and it was impossible for Moctezuma to try and change the one thing that held the empire together. "The effects of the imperial cosmology and a century of unrestrained growth were simply irreversible" (Conrad, 69). The Aztec empire was founded through an expansionist religion that was spread to the people through their art and literature making it the focus of their lives.

It had such a foothold in the Aztec's way of life that change proved to be impossible. The emperor Moctezuma II proved to be no match for the imperial ideology of the people he governed. The cosmology of the Aztecs was a social institution that had more power over the people than the emperor could ever have had. The Inca Empire also had an ideological element to their society that fostered imperial ideologies and became the cornerstone of their society, yet led to their society's decline. The core of their religion was the cults of ancestor worship, especially the institution of split inheritance (Conrad, 89). Ancestor worship was more for the commoners of the Inca Empire because they did not have the resources needed for split inheritances.

When commoners had a death they buried a person's possessions with them and constantly offered food, drink, and clothing to the dead (Conrad, 102). This wasn't too costly, but it served the purpose of revering their ancestors and keeping everyone happy. The idea of split inheritance, however, was costly and was reserved for the kings and royalty of Inca society. This idea held that once a king died all of his possessions remained his even in death.

The line between life and death in Inca society was blurry so the people let the mummies of dead kings keep their possessions and an ancestor cult, or panama, was established to properly worship the mummy (Conrad, 113). This type of worship was very costly because it forced a king's successor to go out and build his own palace and obtain his own wealth through the conquest of neighboring lands (Bakewell, 29). Therefore, like the Aztecs, the Inca's religious convictions forced them into a life of warfare and imperial expansion. Inca imperial expansion, however, was not for sacrificial bodies like the Aztecs. The Inca kings conquered new lands in order to get agricultural lands because they needed land for their laborers to work on if they were going to get anything from the labor taxation (Conrad, 120). Acquiring more land also helped the king after he has passed away.

Having lots of land and possessions guaranteed that his cult could be properly sustained after his death. The notion of split inheritance became ingrained throughout Inca society through the use of propaganda that convinced the people that conquest was their duty (Conrad, 122). Military achievements were rewarded with land grants, money, clothing and other status symbols. This made the commoners of Inca society look very favorably upon the idea of conquest. Military expertise became the principal avenue for Inca social mobility (Conrad, 124).

Furthermore, the principal places in heaven were supposedly reserved for those who fought with courage and skill during battles. "In all of these ways the king's quest for land was integrated with the economic and political welfare of the state as a whole" (Conrad, 124). But the Inca Empire became too far-flung and too diverse for the emperors to be able to rule effectively and the empire's decline started. The emperor Huascar took the throne in 1525 and a power struggle between him and his brother ensued (Conrad, 134). Huascar became the Moctezuma II of the Inca Empire. Huascar knew that the Inca system of expansion was flawed and change was needed in order for the empire to survive.

"Huascar knew exactly what lay at the heart of [the Inca's] problems-the property rights of the dead" (Conrad, 136). But Huascar's assault on the mummies was seen as the ultimate heresy and his brother, Atahualpa, overthrew him with the support of the Inca people (Conrad, 136). The abolishment of split inheritance would have opened up massive tracts of land and ultimately benefited Inca society as a whole, but the expense of losing wealth was too much for the nobility to tolerate. Much like the Aztec Empire, the Inca Empire fell into decline as a result of the religious ideology that brought them to prominence". [The Inca's] rise and fall were grounded in the same phenomenon: the property right's of the dead" (Conrad, 139). Ironically, the ancestor's whom the Incas looked to for stability and support ended up ruining their empire.

Split inheritance was so ingrained in Inca society that it took on a life of its own and could not be stopped by anyone. In the minds of the Incas the short-term benefits of the split inheritance system far out-weighed the long-term detriments of which they arguably were not aware. Both the Incas and the Aztecs were part of empires that were built by religious ideologies that required the expansion of a state. These ideologies had similar benefits like a better after-life, material riches, and social mobility, and similar disadvantages. The disadvantages included not allowing for government of conquered territories and over-extending each empire's sphere of influence to the point that political stability was impossible. Each society had a potential savior of the empire in the end, but the religious ideologies of the people were far too strong for any emperor to oppose.

Bibliography

Bakewell, Peter. A History of Latin America. Blackwell Publishers Inc., Malden, MA. 1998 Conrad, Geoffrey W.
and Demarest, Arthur A. Religion and Empire: The Dynamics of Aztec and Inca Expansion. Cambridge University Press. New York, NY. 1984.