Aztec Agriculture

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As early as 1100 B.C., societies in the Americas developed advanced forms of farming techniques, trade systems, writing systems, and so much more. These societies are known today as the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas. The astounding innovations of farming techniques, trade systems, and writing systems created societies of not only ingenuity, intelligence and sophistication but of lasting remnants of indigenous legacy.
The Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas all had unique farming techniques that helped them produce crops. The Mayans came up with a creative method of growing food in which wild or forested land is clear cut and any remaining vegetation burned. The ash, left over from the cleared land, left a layer of nutrient-rich soil. But the land was …show more content…
Chinampas were key to the food production of the Aztec Empire. In order to ensure that the chinampas produced good harvest, throughout the year, it was vital that the supply of water was well managed (ancient-origins, pg 1).
Trade was an important part of Mayan, Inca, and Aztec society. The Mayans traded many items throughout their empire. Obsidian, Jade, Cacao, are a few of the widely traded goods used for payment and services in the Mayan empire. Obsidian was considered a valuable trade good because it could be made into tools and weapons (DBQ #1). The Incas created roads along the Andes mountains to connect their empire. The roads were such a vital part because it helped transport goods, from place to place, and help communicate with one another. The roads also helped divide the empire into four different divisions (DBQ #3). The Aztecs did not have a large necessity to trade because of their advanced agriculture systems and their location. The empire’s main method of trade was not controversial. They received tributes from neighboring states, as taxes. At the markets you could get anything from food to weapons. The Aztecs also had a very advanced monetary system, consisting of cacao beans and quachtli. Cacao beans were fairly common and could be spent on anything (theaztec-empire.weebly, pg …show more content…
The Incas, however used a different type of writing called quipu. Quipu is an ancient Inca device for recording information, consisting of variously colored threads knotted in different ways. Quipu is a highly portable device that achieved a surprising degree of precision and flexibility. Using a wide variety of colours, strings, and sometimes several hundred knots, all tied in various ways at various heights, quipu could record dates, statistics, accounts, and even represent, in abstract form, key episodes from traditional folk stories and poetry(ancient.eu, pg
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