History Summarized: The Maya, Aztec, and Inca

Human sacrifice, smallpox, and the Spanish empire... that's the whole story, right? Haha, eheh, hehe, HA, not even close! The civilizations of Mesoamerica are fascinating in their own right, and very distinct from each other too! Step on in and I'll learn you a thing or two.
Also no spoilers, but next time, I'm covering the Iroquois Confederation! Ok, maybe that was exactly a spoiler.

This video was produced with assistance from the Boston University Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.

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[SavageGreywolf]

It's very worth mentioning that the Maya, as an ethnicity, still totally exist and still live where they've always lived, the fall of their empire notwithstanding.

[roberthebert]

Man I wish there was more fantasy set in Meso-American type worlds, I'm getting a little sick of constant Middle-Age Europe settings

[frenchyalicea]

The Inca fiber weaving was soo elaborate that they also had protective wearing that protected from arrows as well...pretty cool!!

[jimena]

It truly makes me sad as an Hispanic that so much culture was destroyed like that :( I’m still glad to know people descended from those empires still exist and even speak the native languages and it truly makes my heart leap :)

[cammiescorner]

I'm gonna be honest... every time I hear about the destruction of these old civilizations, it just makes me angry, and sad, knowing what could've been.

[fredericksmith]

There are actually quite a few Mayans alive today. I knew one (he was a student of my father). interestingly enough, he actually spoke Spanish as a third language. (He spoke Mayan as a first language, and he learned English to study in the United States.)

[Balmung]

To be fair, the Inca definitely had wheels and knew how to use them. It's just that the mountainous nature of their empire made them relatively hard to actually use for hauling stuff and the wheel was mostly relegated to children's toys and such.

[GeoRyukaiser]

Fun Fact: There are a lot of parallels between the Inca and Roman Empires, including syncretism, diplomacy and nationwide road network building efforts.

[MeganKoumori]

9:29 "The Inca Empire began with the once small kingdom of Cusco..."

BOOM BABY!!!

[tibiademon]

"first we were able to translate numbers in the mayan calendar" *shows the aztec calendar*

YOU... FIEND...

[joholland]

Damned conquistador they threw off everyone’s groove

[TheGreatNincompoop]

"It incorporated people through diplomacy as well as outright conquest."

Well, that's a generous way to say 'ultimatum'.

[TheNodrokov]

Something very interesting about the Aztec empire that you missed was their concept of a "war season." Every year, the Aztec emperor would take an army and campaign against one of the local tribes, taking captives for ritual sacrifice. As I'm sure you can imagine, this kind of pissed off a lot of the native tribes, and was a big part of why so many were willing to ally with the Spanish and overthrow the Aztec (of course, the Spanish also promised these tribes half of all the Aztec's wealth and lands). I believe there was also a later indigenous revolt that failed despite initial military success, because the war season ended and all of their soldiers returned home to plant crops.

[WildKat]

I'm always sad that the Inca empire doesn't get as much praise as the Mayan and Aztec just because their writing system of knots is basically a dead language. Quechua has, linguistically, been changed dramatically by the Castilian (Spanish) spoken by the conquistadors. So the oral stories were lost all that much faster.

When you think about it they had the largest empire (or at least almost the largest) on both American continents that used trade, agriculture, diplomacy, and multi-ethnic groups of people to serve in that empire in service to the Emperor, it's people, or their army.

PS: Their army was awesome! They had some of the best terror tactics against their enemies. And your direct superior ALWAYS spoke YOUR native language. People that could speak multiple languages had higher governing power than those that couldn't. AKA: smarter people were always the heads of government, military, and trade.

[RandomWizardArt]

the Aztec empire was basically the America before America, they had drafts, taxes, legally required education, they even had unpaid interns

[philschiavone]

I asked my mother in law her family history and she said Azteca. I asked her more about it and she said, I have to be an Aztec because we are all from Guadalajara. It is strange how people from Mexico really do not give their ancient roots much thought.

[Wolfsgeist]

It should also be mentioned, that the people that formed these civilizations are still around. Nahua, Maya and Quechua people still live in Central and South America and number in the millions (these three alone combined at least 20 million and there are many more like Zapotec or Aymara). They're not "gone" like Hittites or Gauls or whatever.

[prakarsh]

lets not forget that the mayans built what they had WITHOUT pack animals.

[graussief--kup]

I started working at a Peruvian restaurant and after looking into Peru the amount of Incan language and traditions that still exist is amazing

[philswiftismygod]

feels nice having u guys explain part of my history (girl from Peru and Venezuela here so I love learning about the incas)


I really want Red to talk about the inca myths, I think she might enjoy some since she seems to enjoy the aztec ones.