Compare the Two Dominant Civilizations of the Americas: the Aztecs in Central America and the Incas in South America.

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Compare the two dominant civilizations of the Americas: the Aztecs in Central America and the Incas in South America. The Aztecs and the Incas were two of the most influential and powerful empires. While having different geographic locations, these two civilizations were very much alike. For example, their living standards and religious beliefs. What set the Aztecs and Incas apart was that the Aztecs were pioneers of modern education, requiring all children to get a formal education regardless of sex, class or status. While the Incans had one of the most diverse cultures to ever exist with more than 700 languages being spoken by the Incan people and no sole political body to rule. Although, both the Aztecs and the Incas were defeated by the Spanish and both suffered greatly from smallpox. One of the things that made the Aztecs and Incas so similar was the fact that they lived in the same general timeframe, The Aztecs from 1375-1521, and the Incas from 1438-1532. Manco Capac, the first emperor of the Incan empire, founded the Incan civilization in the early 13th century. Founded in the 14th century, the Aztec Empire was formed from the alliance of three city-states; the Tepanecs, Acolhuas and Texcoco, in modern-day Central Mexico. Their religion on the other hand, both the Aztecs and Incas revered and had their own god-like personifications of the sun. The Incas were receptive of other belief systems, but also acted as a theocracy since all members of the Incan Empire had to worship the sun god, Inti. The name of the Aztec's sun god, Huitzilopochtli, was also the god of war. Aztec mythology states Huitzilopochtli directed the Aztecs' ancestors to the location of Tenochtitlan, or modern-day Mexico City. In Incan society, the emperor is a descendant from God, he is believed to own everything on Earth. Aztec society is ruled by a king who is elected by a council

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