What was the differfece between the Incan empire and the Aztec empire?

Answer 1

A couple of things are for example. Aztec Empire/Mexica people were a mix of 3 major Cities (One was head, the other Religious capital and the other Economical capital) They spoke/speak nahuatl. They lived in Mesoamerica (Oaxaca valley, now Mexico City)
They feared the Sungod were very superstitious. The warriors were ordered to fight other tribes in order to get either slaves, sacrifices and/or tribute+land. (Flowery wars)


The Aztecs used their merchants to scout the land and find weak Empires that they can either conquer or battle. They used cocoa beans as money were very capitalistic. (a woman slave cost about 30-50 cocoa beans while special feathers of maybe the Quetzal bird would reach 1000 cocoa beans (They would love to show off how rich or elegant they were and how brave) The Aztecs could not conquer and did not want to conquer the Tlaxcala or the Tarascans for they were a great source of sacrificial prisoners.
They also had schools for both women(how to cook and serve the man) and men(either how to be a priest (expensive!), warrior, farmer, craftsman or merchant-spy)
They also invented chinampas which were basically floating farms


The Aztecs did wage war against the Spanish and the Spanish lost many battles in the beginning until disease became widespread and killed many Emperors right after each other which slowly killed their morale


Now the Incans did not believe an individual could own anything, everything belonged to the Sungod. Sapa Inca. Which happened to be their Emperor. And nobody stole or lied (many ex-conquistadores have mentioned in regret that they were the ones to bring European traditions like raping and deceiving) The way they managed this was that it was very centralised in Cuzco and the Emperor had many Generals and Priest that would speak on his behalf. The people in power also spoke a different language then the common folk, who spoke mostly either Aymara or Quechua, but which included many more languages before the Spanish missionaries forced them to learn Aymara or Quechua)
The Incan Empire did not last long in comparison but they inherited many Huari buildings. The were great roadbuilders and very now and then there would be a shelter with food and a place to sleep or get some Coca leaves to chew on(gave them energy and hid their hunger) They used quipu's which were strings with knots on it with different colours and sizes which one would understand what kind of product they would need and how much of it. These roads were also very safe even at night because these posts would light a fire and bring light. Very few peoples did not want to be part of the Incan Empire and thus many were incorporated. The Incan empire sometimes would move a few people from side of the empire to the other side with brought cultural integration and the peoples would learn from and another and not start riots. The Incans preferred to sacrifice animals instead of people (but it wasn't uncommon)
The only people who were able to fully subdue the Incans expansionist dreams (and only in the South mind you) were the Mapuches (my favourite tribe if I may add)
They created a much larger empire and many more people under their dominance than the Aztecs.
Anyways, after a long civil war where to Princes fought for dominance which left the army and the Empire tired and injured. Atahualpa(the Southern older prince but son of a non-incan un-married woman) was killed after supposedly throwing a Bible on the floor and commanding the death of his brother (Huascar, of legal noblebirth was captured during the civil war)


The Spanish then simply created a puppetstate out of the Incan Empire
Also Inca begins with an I and Aztec with an A :p