“What did the Americas look like before Columbus arrived? Describe the social, political, scientific, agricultural, and architectural organisation, weaknesses and achievements of Mesoamerica prior to contact with Europeans.

Essay by kyleschachatUniversity, Bachelor'sB, April 2014

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Kyle Schachat

563117

HIST 3017 - Essay 1

Prof. Mucha Musemwa

24th April 2014

"What did the Americas look like before Columbus arrived? Describe the social, political, scientific, agricultural, and architectural organisation, weaknesses and achievements of Mesoamerica prior to contact with Europeans. Focus on the Incas of Peru and the Aztecs of Mexico only."

The South American region at the time of Christopher Columbus's arrival was home to a number of advanced societies that ruled over their respective lands for many years and flourished in many regards. These civilizations and subsequently their people, displayed many; social, political, architectural, scientific as well as agricultural advancements within their respective societies. The societies that I will be focusing on during the course of this essay will be that of the Aztec and Incan civilizations that developed in current day South and Central America. I will also demonstrate some of these civilizations achievements and weaknesses in due course.

The first of the two Ancient civilizations that I will be discussing is that of the Aztec empire. The Aztecs were the first major civilization to rule the area of Central America. When the Aztec empire was discovered by the Spanish, There was an already established complex social, political and religious system with Tenochtitlan as their capital city. The strong alliance in Central Mexico that formed in 1428, known as the 'triple alliance' allowed the Aztecs to consolidate their power within the valley of Mexico and subsequently Mesoamerica. The combined forces of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and the Tlacopan formed a strong military and economic alliance that became the unstoppable driving force behind expansion and control of the region. These groups agreed not to engage in war against one another and to cooperate in wars of conquest against other societies' within Central Mexico and by the time...