Aztec Social Structure

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There are three different tribes that lived in Central America and South America. One group, the Maya, lived in modern day Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Their capital is Tikal including dozens of major pyramids. They lived in the Preclassic time period. Another group, the Aztec, lived in modern day Mexico, their capital being Tenochtitlan, being a desert-like area. Their town was separated into 4 city section champas. That group lived in the Postclassic time period. The last group, the Inca, live in modern day Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Chile. Their capital was Cuzco, with a gorgeous monument, Machu Picchu, resting in the Andes Mountain Range. This group had lived in the Postclassic time period. These three groups have some things in common, but they also are very different.
One thing all three groups did occasionally was human sacrifice. They did …show more content…
The Mayans social structure worked like this: the Mayan society was rigidly divided between nobles, commoners, serfs, and slaves. The noble class was complex and specialized. Noble status and the occupation in which a noble served were passed on through elite family lineages. For the Aztecs, the social structure was very similar: The Aztecs followed a strict social hierarchy in which individuals were identified as nobles (pipiltin), commoners (macehualtin), serfs, or slaves. The noble class consisted of government and military leaders, high level priests, and lords (tecuhtli). The Incas social structure is again, very similar: The Incas' social structure was divided into four levels: Sapa Inca, royalty, nobility and the ayllu. The Sapa Inca was the most powerful person in the entire empire; he served as the king of the Incas and was believed to be the "son of the sun. As you can see, the three different social structures were similar. In all three groups, the men were always chosen as Kings, Priests, Rulers, or

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