Originated in 4 corner area of US-500 towns and cities / Indians
Social classes / Three different levels. Slaves, commoners, and nobles-Children of slaves could be sold-slaves could buy back freedom-slaves that reached the royal palace without being caught were given their freedom-Commoners are farmers, merchants, and artisans-tenant farmers could not own land-most commoners given lifetime ownership of land-nobles were born royal-priests high rank-could earn rank instead of being born noble-warriors high rank-warriors took part in sacrificial rituals- / 1 bragmins - priets, only ones allowed to speak lang. of sacred book-job to teach and study the veda -worshiped gods-
2 kshatryas -warriors rulers-study the veda -lead government and armies-kept city safe- 3 vaisyas-common people, farmers, merchants, traders, care for land-tend herds 4 sundras-workers, servants-serve other higher varna’s 5 parihas-slaves-do dirty work like clean animals-the classes are called vama’s
raja’s were rulers
Government / a confederacy. strong army very wealthy because of surplus gold-emphasis on warfare-thought that gods and sun needed blood to live or shine so had many sacrifices to gods-war very important activity-500 towns and cities- / Very strong religious people. Mostly learned in short period in time when is school-not much is known about ancient Indian government-
Complex culture / they offer tributes to gods such as gold or bird feathers, irrigation and built terraces to control water flow, cattle raising, farming, discovered chocolate-made paper from tree bark-used pictures for writing-hieroglyphics-women marry at 16-girls learn how to cook and living necessities-boys learn crafts and arts- / Spoke many different languages with different religions, not involved in education. When in school they learned about religion-cucumber, basil, originated in India-discovered trade winds faster than other civilizations-seals to identify property-
Surplus / Corn is the main food and trade, tomatoes, avocados, beans, squash, chili peppers, flowers, hunted ducks, geese, deer, rabbits, raised for meat dogs, turkeys. traded gold bird feathers, jaguar skins for rubber, cascae beans medium trade units, chocolate, cotton jaguar skins, bird feathers worn by nobles.-major trade of Tlatelolco market-tlaxcalli is a corn paste-tlaxcalli is called a tortilla in Spanish- / traded pottery, milk, grain, cowherd, leather, cloth, beads, shells, knives, metal bars-grew,
wheat-rice-barley-peas- melons-dates-cotton-sheep-pigs-zebus, kind of cow-water buffalo-fish-timber, copper, gold-grain-vegetables-cereal –bread- fruit-
Specialization of labor / Farming used a special type of method called slash and burn, irrigation workers, cattle raising, 3 basic crafts, metal workers, music, feather workers. Metal workers used gold, copper, silver / your work was decided on what class you were in. occasionally change class but very hard to change
guru-type of teacher
The classes of the ancient Aztecs and the ancient Indians social levels and the way that they classified the people into groups are very similar. In the ancient Aztec civilization the classes are basically divided into three classes, the slaves, commoners, and nobles. The slaves and their children are allowed to be sold, for a certain amount of time. The commoners were regular people such as farmers, merchants, traders, and artisans which were each entitled to a lifetime ownership of an area of land. Nobles, the highest class, consisted of priests and warriors. The priests had a very important job of reading calendars of the gods and sun and were the only ones that could. Warriors were responsible for most of the sacrificial tributes and rituals. Because of the belief that the gods needed blood to live and the sun needed human lives to shine they had many tributes. Like the Aztecs the Indian civilization had almost the same classifications. Such as the top level were the priests in the Indian level system and same as in the Aztecstop level. The next class down for both civilizations is warriors, then merchants, farmers, traders, and lastly slaves. As you can see the Aztecs and the Indian cultures have developed almost the same social classes. The Aztecs and the Indians class for farmers and merchants may have been on of the lower classes but were a very essential part of the system which has to do with my next topic.
Agricultural surplus is animportant part of ancient life in both cultures, ancient Aztec and ancient India that happen to be quite different. The Aztecs grew more desert foods and since where they lived it had a dry climate they had to hunt and grow more products to trade for what wasn’t available. There was a major surplus of corn, maize, tlaxcalli, a corn paste, and a variety of vegetables such as tomatoes, avocadoes, beans, and chili peppers. Much of their surplus supplies were traded through a major market called the Tlatelolco market. The priests and the warriors would wear jaguar skins and bird feathers during celebrations and ceremonies, but if the supply of necessities for the farmers and merchants was low they would have to trade their ceremonial clothes in the Tlatelolco market for cacae beans, cotton, rubber, and gold. The usual animals that they would hunt were deer, rabbits, ducks, and geese. The only animals that the ancient Aztecs raised for meat were turkeys and dogs.
On the other hand the ancient Indian diets had much less meat involved. It is said that they were customarily vegetarians because of their culture and religion. The only exception is that they ate pigs. Their every day foods mostly consisted of cereal, bread, and different types of grain, fruit, and various vegetables. The crops that farmers grew in ancient India were foods such as wheat, rice, barley, peas, melons, and dates. Cattle ranchers raised pigs, their only kind of meat they ate, zebus, a kind of cow thought to be a god, and sheep, for their wool. Along with wool they had a great surplus of cotton. Unlike the ancient Aztecs, the ancient Indians traded more items instead of food because they had an apparently very good farming system. India is near a river that they considered holy called the Brahmaputra River where they got a lot of their water. When trading item for instance milk, cheese, butter, cowherd, and leather were high value trade items because they come from or are the holy cow. Other lower trade items were grain, beads, knives, metal bars, pottery, and cloth. Since the Indians were very good artisians they had a lot of surplus materials that they used to make bowls, jewelry, and other various artwork. Ancient India and Ancient Aztecs have a lot more differences than similarities. Here is another difference.
The way that Ancient Aztecs and Ancient Indians taught and educated the younger people in their culture is very dissimilar. For one thing the ancient Indians thought of schooling or education as the same thing as learning religion. The usual life for a boy that is about 8-12 entering school would be like this. Oncethe boy is initiated he would go to school and be taught by a guru, a teacher, or has the choice to stay at home and learn about his father’s business. When at school all of the boys have to do rigorous training and even the prince has to wash his own clothes and make their own food. They live in these inns out in the forest until they are about in their early twenties. Once they are done with their education they can get married as soon as possible and get a job. For the girls however, they would stay home and learn how to cook, clean, read, write, and other homemaking chores. When girls reach 12-16 they get married and live with their husband’s family.
In the ancient Aztec system, education was believed to be a very valuable part of their culture. When they were small children the fathers educated the boys, and the mothers educated the girls. When they reached a certain age family education was over and the sons and daughters of nobles and priests would be sent to the calmecac, a special school for children of higher classes, and the rest of the children went to the tepochcalli. The tepochcalli was specially built for the commoners kids and there was one located in each neighborhood like a public school. The calmeacs were more like private schools. In the tepochcalli the kids learned history, myths, religion, and traditional songs. Military instruction was a special coarse-like training for the boys. Girls were taught the basics of family forming and how to be an artists, how to trade, and build on their future lives with a family. In the calmecac the children of nobles were taught to be religious leaders and leaders in the military like their parents or parent.