The rapid decline of the Aztecs, Inca abd Mayan population was coused by:?

Answer 1

Complete Answer:Guns, Germs and Steel (by Jared Diamond)
Quick Answer: These populations were easily felled due to:
1) Disease - separation from the 'Old World' for millenia greatly reduced these peoples' abilities to resist disease.
2) Steel - there was no equivalent to the Spanish sword
3) Guns and Cannons - the psychological effect was probably greater than the actual military effect, but it was there,nonetheless
4) Religion - in the Aztec case, at least, Cortez was aided by an Aztec belief in the god Quezacoatl, whom Cortez (at least temporarily) managed to convince the Aztecs he was
5) Horses - the mounted Conquistador was a force to be feared
6) Assistance by other Native groups - many groups had recently been conquered by the Aztec and were anxious to assist anyone who could resist them
7) Weak leadership - at least in the case of the Inca leader, Atahualpa, the leadership was exceptionally weak - the Aztec leader, Montezuma, was no prize either
Put these things together, combine with Spanish determinism, and you have a fairly easy series of victories.

Answer 2

The Spaniards brought about the fall of the Inca and Aztec Societies. Through superior military technology, formenting inssurection of subject peoples, and introduction of infectious diseases.

Europeans had nothing to do with the fall of the Mayan societies. Their first major collaspe occured between 800 and 1000 AD over 500 years before any European landed on the mainland of the Americas. Their collapse was due to a number of different factors, deforestation and its resulting ecological collapse and a rise in fanatic religious activity being a couple of the primary causes. Read the book "Collapse" by Jared Diamond for an excellent arguement about the fall of the Maya.

Answer 3

The answerers above are right. Smallpox and Spanish superior technology both played a role in the downfall of the pre-Colombian empires.

However, I would also like to add that the arrival of the Spaniards also brought about revolt in the Indian empires, especially that of the Aztecs. The Aztecs would exact heavy tributes from the conquered people. When the Spaniards arrived, a lot of these subjugated Indian groups saw an opportunity to rise against their masters and so, they allied themselves with the Spaniards. The Spaniards were very few in number and it is unlikely they would have been able to overtake the vast Aztec empire had they not had help from within.

Answer 4

People who couldn't spell.
I don't know much about the Inca--they lived in South America, far from the Aztecs and Maya.
The height of the Mayan civilization had already come and gone when the Spanish arrived. That happened because of warfare, drought and famine. The Spanish killed some with war and most others with disease.
The Aztec civilization was at its height when the Spanish arrived. They turned some of the Aztec's allies against them and also used their enemies to attack them. They razed Tenochtitlan (its ruins are *under* Mexico City) and killed just about everyone Aztec they could find-90% of the population within 10 years.

Answer 5

The Spanish Conquistadores. Hernan Cortez conquered the Aztecs, Francisco , Pisarro conquered the Inca. Both used superior force and deception. Cortez kidnapped Montezuma II, the Aztec ruler and when his people saw him obey Cortez they killed him. Pisarro captured the Inca ruler and once a huge ransome of gold was paid he had Patchacuti strangled and cremated. The cause for the decline of the Maya is still a matter of study but some of the theories are the result of deforestation, draught, and overpopulation. In the cases of the Aztecs and Inca they were conqured by force then they were killed by exposure to viruses such as smallpox which the Europeans had immunities to but were deadly to natives.

Answer 6

Incas Decline

Answer 7

Warfare with the Spanish, diseases brought by the Spanish (small pox and typhus), and forced relocation post-disease by the Spanish, which weakened the indigenous cultural/social/governmental controls enjoyed by those cultures which led to a drastic decline in quality of life and self-sufficiency.
The population of the Valley of Mexico before the time of the conquest is estimated at 19 million; by 1550, the estimated population was 4 million and by 1581 less than two million. Thus, the indigenous population of the Central Mexico Valley is estimated to have declined by more than 80% in the course of about 60 years, which is absolutely shocking, if you ask me.

Answer 8

Aztecs and Incans were doomed off by the Conquistadors from Espainol. The Mayans mostly likely succumbed to prolonged drought.

Answer 9

I'm pretty sure that, of those three, the Aztecs were the only ones that committed human sacrifice. The Incas most definitely didn't. =]

Answer 10

Spaniards--partly because the Spanish had better weapons and technology, but mainly because they carried smallpox, which devastated the Indian empires (in some cases killing over half the population.)