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NARRATOR: Before the colonists arrived, the largest civilizations in America were the Incan empires and the Aztec, or the Native Méxica.

WOMAN: The history of the Méxica Empire started with the Méxica people coming down from northern Mexico and moving into the Central Valley, where they founded what was going to become the capital. Nowadays, it's Mexico. And the empire started from the foundation of the city in 1325.

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NARRATOR: Nearly 250,000 people lived in the vast city of Tenochtitlan located near present-day Mexico City. They built massive pyramids, and complex waterways, and canals. The Aztec city rivaled most of those in Europe. By comparison, though, when the Spanish arrived, the Aztec civilization was relatively new.

WOMAN: And we can think of the Méxica Empire as a very young empire. The expansion started in 1428, and the Spanish arrived in 1519. So it's like, 100 years is nothing in terms of European history when you think of the Roman Empire.

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NARRATOR: There was another big difference between the Aztecs and those older civilizations. The Aztecs were really a group of many different cultures. Although they all served under one emperor, the loyalties were to their ethnic leaders. This would become a great weakness for the Aztecs.

WOMAN: It was not unified. And therefore, it was not a solid empire. So when the Spanish came in, they found allies that were willing to fight on their side.

NARRATOR: The Inca Empire was similarly impressive but similarly weak. In what is now Peru, the Incas mastered the technique of building communities in the Andes mountains. The city of Cuzco was the center of the Inca civilization.

WOMAN: The Inca Empire was built on verticality, in the sense that the geography, the landscape, was completely different.

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NARRATOR: However, like the Aztecs, the Incas' vast civilization was loosely held together and, therefore, weak.

WOMAN: The similarities between the Méxica Empire and Inca Empire are many.

NARRATOR: Both the Méxica and the Inca, although vast and powerful empires, were still young. And their government structures not completely united. By the time the Europeans arrived, both Native American empires were primed for conquest.