The Global Tapestry (1200-1450)

The Aztecs

The Inca

The Olmecs

The Maya

Use of iron horse shoes increasing efficiency in overland transport.

Deep-draft ships capable of ocean navigation for coastal trade routes.

Wheeled carts utilized on extensive road systems within cities.

Llama caravans as means of transport across difficult terrain.

It allowed citizens to pay taxes with goods instead of labor, emphasizing a market economy.

It was a voluntary service that promoted individualism by rewarding personal achievement with land grants.

It required all citizens to provide labor to the state for public works projects, reinforcing communal responsibility.

It provided military training for young men, showcasing the prioritization of defense and expansionism in Inca culture.

By building large monumental structures such as temples and earthen mounds

Through development of complex writing systems

Through expansionist military campaigns

By establishing trade routes with other civilizations

Widespread conversion to Mayan religious practices by later civilizations.

Direct governance by Mayan rulers over Aztec and Incan territories.

Complete assimilation of Aztec and Inca cultures into Mayan society.

Altered geopolitical dynamics through potential conflicts or alliances.

Chinampa Farming

Qanat Farming

Quipu Farming

Terrace Farming

They were central to establishing alliances and integrating new territories into the empire’s administrative structure.

They mainly facilitated trade relationships rather than political control or administrative integration of new areas.

Focused on exogamous marriage practices that kept distinct ethnic groups within provinces socially separated but politically unified under the Sapa Inca's rule only nominally based on kinship ties for administration purposes.

Kinship ties limited territorial expansion due to strict inheritance laws dividing lands among heirs equally.

A merchant oligarchy funded exploratory expeditions that brought back knowledge influencing mathematical advancements.

Decentralized power structures led to competing academic centers striving for prestige through scientific discovery.

Direct democracy encouraged widespread education that resulted in collective advancements in numerical systems.

Theocratic rulership supported an elite class of priests who developed advanced calendrical systems and astronomical observations.

Inca :: Peru

Mayans :: Canada

Aztecs :: Mississippi

Cahokia :: Mexico

Evolutionary pressure on llamas prompting rapid biological changes

Establishment of a transregional trade empire based solely on llama transport

Development of a highly specialized nomadic culture centered around llama herding

Increased reliance on ecologically sustainable practices for resource extraction