1. How did states develop in Post Classical Americas?
The Aztecs were one of the first peoples to succeed in developing a state. In the unstable world of post-Toltec Mesoamerica, various people and cities fought for power, and the winner of this power struggle were the Aztecs. They eventually built a great empire, which lead to a rapid rise in power and the formation of an imperial state. Almost at the same time that the Aztecs extended their control over Mesoamerica, a great imperial state was beginning to rise in the Andean highlands that eventually became an empire. The Incas had an Andean based cultural lifestyle and this combined with a genius for state organization solidified the empire.
2. What new innovations affected agriculture in the Americas in the Post Classical Era?
In the Aztecs, feeding the people became a struggle as the amount of food brought in started to decrease. However, the Aztecs found a solution in and around the lakes they adopted an ingenious system of irrigated agriculture by building chinampas for agriculture. Chinampas were beds of aquatic weeds, mud, and earth that formed artificial floating islands. This construction allowed the water to reach all the plants. Similar agricultural techniques were used in the Incas as they were known for their incredible water and land management.
3. What new trade networks developed in the Americas?
There were several methods of new trade developed in the Aztecs. In each Aztec community were periodic markets that worked according to various cycles in the calendar system where a wide variety of goods were exchanged. Cacao beans and gold dust were sometimes used as currency, but most trade was done as barter. Another form of trade came in the form of the great market Tlateloco which operated daily and was controlled by the special merchant class, or pochteca; pochteca specialized in long distance trade in luxury items such as plumes of tropical birds and cacao.
4. How did trade affect the diffusion of literary, artistic, and cultural traditions?
The increase of cross-cultural interactions resulted in the diffusion of literary, artistic, and cultural traditions. The Incas drew on