The three major civilizations of the American continents were the Mayans, The Aztecs, and the Incas. They all originated in Mesoamerica, an area including Mexico, Central America, and northern South America, although the Incan Empire spanned to the south end of Chile. The different civilizations shared many characteristics due to their intercultural exchange and proximity to each other. This paper will compare and contrast the religion, government, economy and trades systems, architecture, and warfare of each of the civilizations.
Religion
Religion in the Mesoamerican societies were strikingly similar, all sharing traits of the first primitive religion of fire, earth, water, and astral gods. In each of their religions there are layers …show more content…
To honor the gods they participated in human sacrifice by ripping out and burning the heart, building pyramid temples, and by studying astrology and astronomy. The priests of this religion also held immense power in society at the time, and at the peak of Mayan society their religion was estimated to have about 2 million adherents. When the Spaniards arrived in the Americas the Maya’s religion dwindled and mixed with Roman Catholicism. Incan religion was also based around nature gods like the sun, the moon, wind, and lightning. Their creator god was Viracocha, and came from pre-Incan Peruvian people. Similar to the Mayans their main god was Inti, the sun god, and they believed that he was the father of the first king and that through him they are all connected to Viracocha. Some of their rituals include: festivals, divination, and sacrifices. Aztec Religion was, like the other Mesoamerican civilizations, based on nature. They also had the sun for their chief deity. Some of their rituals were: sacrifice, festivals, reenactments of myths, and impersonation of the gods.)conclusion sentence here)
Government and Laws The government systems of the Incas, Mayans, and Aztecs had similarities and differences. All of them had one supreme ruler that was said to be divine. The rest of Incan government was primarily made of people related to the ruler. The Mayans royal court was made up of nobles. The Aztecs were dualistic, and much like the consuls of Rome had two leaders; a higher one for external affairs and lesser one for internal
Religion
Religion in the Mesoamerican societies were strikingly similar, all sharing traits of the first primitive religion of fire, earth, water, and astral gods. In each of their religions there are layers …show more content…
To honor the gods they participated in human sacrifice by ripping out and burning the heart, building pyramid temples, and by studying astrology and astronomy. The priests of this religion also held immense power in society at the time, and at the peak of Mayan society their religion was estimated to have about 2 million adherents. When the Spaniards arrived in the Americas the Maya’s religion dwindled and mixed with Roman Catholicism. Incan religion was also based around nature gods like the sun, the moon, wind, and lightning. Their creator god was Viracocha, and came from pre-Incan Peruvian people. Similar to the Mayans their main god was Inti, the sun god, and they believed that he was the father of the first king and that through him they are all connected to Viracocha. Some of their rituals include: festivals, divination, and sacrifices. Aztec Religion was, like the other Mesoamerican civilizations, based on nature. They also had the sun for their chief deity. Some of their rituals were: sacrifice, festivals, reenactments of myths, and impersonation of the gods.)conclusion sentence here)
Government and Laws The government systems of the Incas, Mayans, and Aztecs had similarities and differences. All of them had one supreme ruler that was said to be divine. The rest of Incan government was primarily made of people related to the ruler. The Mayans royal court was made up of nobles. The Aztecs were dualistic, and much like the consuls of Rome had two leaders; a higher one for external affairs and lesser one for internal