Throughout the Americas there were many significant civilizations before the arrival of westerners. Two of the greatest civilizations that I believe were the most interesting because they both were going on at about the same time were the Aztec and the Inca empires. These were both central and south American civilizations that at their height stretched all across central and South America with populations in the millions. Since both these civilizations grew and expanded about the same time and in similar areas there are many similarities and differences between the two. The Aztecs and Incas were different because of the Locations effecting agriculture, their forms of communication and documenting, and there political systems. Main similarities between the two were there sacrificial practices, both were conquered by Spain, and both had very similar formation stories. The Aztecs were a great …show more content…
The Aztec Capital was called Tenochtitlan that was on an island with the only way to the main land was through crossways. This was a great spot for there capital to be placed because the water was a natural moat allowing protection from any attacking force. The location that the Aztecs were at made them vastly different in the ways they lived. One example is there agriculture. Living on the island was great for agriculture and growing crops. They built little plots of land called Chinampas that they used for there crops. ( Somerville, 27) The Aztecs mostly had a vegetarian diet, this is mostly due to the fact that one of their main food sources was the algae from the lake. This was the main crop that was grown on the Chinampas. The Incan capital was high up in the Andes in Cuzco.