Similarities Between The Aztec And Spanish Empires

Spain, as one of the most powerful nations in the old world, had a great influence on many events in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Spanish also had an influence on many other empires/nations' fate. One of the empires that suffered a grave fate at the hands of the Spanish was the Aztec empire. The Aztec empire was not the oldest Mesoamerican empire and it was formed from an agreement between three city-states. The Aztec's class system had the emperor on top, then the priests, and everyone else below them. The priests were responsible for keeping the gods happy. The sacrifice of goods and people was a commonplace in the Aztec culture, and it was often the goods/people of other nations that were taken for sacrifices. As one can imagine,

The Incan Empire was older than the Aztec empire and included over five million people before the Spanish arrived. The strength of the empire was impressive considering most of the empire's terrain was mountainous and they had only llamas and people to transport goods. One of the systems that the Incas had in place that allowed their road systems to flourish was that every young poor male had to work for their government building villages, roads, etc. After the Spanish arrived, many Incas died from disease. It is believed that the similarities between the Spanish religious and political systems and the Mesoamerican political/religious systems allowed for an easier takeover of the empires for the Spanish. The Spanish had originally come to the "New World" in search of gold and they found little of it, however, they found a surplus of silver, especially in the mountain practically made of silver in Peru. The responsibility of mining for the silver fell to the natives, despite the mercury poisoning and the deadly conditions in the mines. Spain did eventually become rich from the silver, but inflation and the cost of their wars left them damaged. China had also suffered inflation after they developed paper money and they changed their tax system to require that taxes be paid in silver, which meant their people gave up agricultural jobs for jobs that usually involved silk (which paid in