Contacts between the Incas and the Aztecs/Meosamericans

There was no direct contact between the Incas and the Maya/Aztecs - distances were too great. Incas were not interested in anything further north of Ecuador/Columbia border.
As a matter of fact, geographic difference between the Aztecs and the Incas is almost as great as that between Japan and India. Yet, it is somehow assumed that they must be related since they both were "pre-columbian" and conquered by the Spaniards.
As for European diseases (smallpox mostly) - it is true that they traveled much faster that the conquistadors. It is generally believed that Inca emperor Huayna Capac (father of Huascar and Atahualpa) died during a smallpox epidemic in 1525 - seven years before Pizarro set foot in Peru.

Both the Incas and the Aztecs were propably unaware of each other's existence. My knowledge of the Aztecs is not as good as that of the Incas (which are my speciality by the way). The Incas believed that they controlled all the four corners of the world (the name of their state - Tawantinsuyu - means "four quarters tied together") - anything beyond their empire - be it tropical forests of East Peru, lands south of central Chile or in central Columbia - were generally believed to be "unworthy of conquest" (sort of like Germania in Roman times) and overall barbaric. With a mindset like this the Incas probably couldn't concieve of another state of their magnitude. For them, world=Inca empire.

Originally posted by PMLF
Thanks for all the interesting information. I agree that the distances are great, but I supposed they could used some kind of boats to move between both regions.

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such trips were theoretically possible. For example. the Incas have reached the Galapagos Islands. It is not at all unlikely that the Incas might have reached Panama or even Mexico by following the Pacific coast, but such contacts, if they indeed occured, like the pre-columbian discoveries of America, would have been sporadic and insignificant.

Webbrave since inca's seem to be your specialty, do you know of any progress on the digs in Bolivia?

Originally posted by w_mullender
Webbrave since inca's seem to be your specialty, do you know of any progress on the digs in Bolivia?

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do you mean the terraces discovered in Eastern Bolivia a couple of years ago? Or the ruins at the bottom of Titicaca discovered ust recently? Both are pre-Inca.

here is a link about the Titicaca find from late October

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=1427628

Thanks for the link! But I meant the altiplano(?) in Bolivia, I heard they were digginh there.

there are numerous ongoing expeditions in both Peru and Bolivia.
Titicaca is on the altiplano. Those underwater ruins are the most recent discovery there.

Originally posted by webbrave
there are numerous ongoing expeditions in both Peru and Bolivia.
Titicaca is on the altiplano. Those underwater ruins are the most recent discovery there.

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Aha that explains my confusion then. It is indeed quite interesting.

Webby,
What about those pre inca legends about a white race living near a huge lake (Not sure which one, but Titicaca is the obvious choice) that built huge ships and sailed to the Easter Islands?

The ruins of their cities were discovered in eh, PEru? Sorry my geography of that region isn't too good.

Originally posted by Jools
Webby,
What about those pre inca legends about a white race living near a huge lake (Not sure which one, but Titicaca is the obvious choice) that built huge ships and sailed to the Easter Islands?

The ruins of their cities were discovered in eh, PEru? Sorry
my geography of that region isn't too good.

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I have never heard this legend before. One of the Inca origin myths has to do with lake Titicaca, but neither "white race", nor Easter Island are mentioned... Are you sure you don't have it confused with something else?

Originally posted by PMLF
I read somewhere that both the Aztecs and the Incas had legends about white men coming from the sea in the future. But I don't know if these legends were invented later by the Spanish.

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Aztecs had one, its that Quetzatcoatl myth (got to love those Aztec names)