"All is overthrown and destroyed, nothing is left standing," the Spanish soldier Diaz remarked as the once thriving civilization of the Aztecs lay in ruins. In addition to the defeat of the Aztecs, the Europeans also conquered the emerging civilization of the Incas. There were many reasons to the downfall of the two prosperous societies, many of which included disease, lack of modern weaponry, and tension between the Europeans. Since the Aztecs and Incas were so successful, yet they the Europeans destructed them in a heartbeat, one would wonder which civilization would have lasted longer if the Europeans had never discovered North America and South America. The Aztecs had a more decentralized system of government than the Incas; therefore their society was more organized. The Aztecs displayed an overall better military, which had many rewards. Lastly, the Aztecs possessed more of an independent common class, which was one of the most populace social classes, than the Incas. In summary, were it not for the arrival of the Europeans, the Aztec civilization would have lasted longer than the Incan civilization because of the Aztec's system of government, system of labor, and more independent common class. .
The Aztec's government was a very straightforward system. The goal of the whole government was to be decentralized, meaning that the Aztec king had total control over the empire, but the local rulers had to pay tribute if they wanted to maintain independence. The Incas exercised a more centralized system of government, meaning that the Incan emperor kept complete control over the empire, leaving no independence to the local rulers. This difference in how the two civilizations managed their governments is the key to why the Aztec society would have outlasted the Incan society. In theory, after time, the Incans would have gotten sick of the little independence they received day after day.