Download Aztec Empire History

AZTEC EMPIRE
1325 CE to 1519 CE
Blood, sacrifice, and the end of
the world.
AZTEC EMPIRE
Height of influence from 1325 CE to 1519 CE
Location: valley of Central Mexico
Mexica (popularly known as the Aztecs) migrate into northcentral Mexico around 1325 CE
Aztec Empire comprised of a number of city-states
 Capital city-state was Tenochtitlán (Mexico City is now on top of it)
 Other major city-states were Texcoco and Tlacopan (combined with
Tenochtitlán, these were called the “Triple Alliance”)
AZTEC EMPIRE: GOVERNMENT
Basic Structure
 Emperor (literally, “The Great Speaker”)– ruled empire from Tenochtitlan
 Elected from one royal family by all of the rulers of all Aztec city-states
 Advised by other members of the nobility who served in various councils
 Each Aztec city-state ruled by a hereditary ruler
 Cities divided into clan-based neighborhoods called calpulli, each was
 ruled by a hereditary “chief”
 had its own local temple and school
Tribute
 Conquered city-states were allowed to keep their own ruler and
government, as long as they paid their tribute
 Commoners of the empire were also required to pay tribute (taxes) to the
nobles of their city-state
AZTEC EMPIRE: RECORD KEEPING
Spoken language called Nahuatl
Some basic symbols (mostly related to numbers and dates)
But no fully-developed independent system of writing (most
written sources are from outside, non-Aztec groups)
Limited written sources BY Aztecs mean that reading
about Aztecs tends to be very complicated. Watch for
POV in documents about the Aztec.
AZTEC EMPIRE: SOCIAL ORDER
Social Classes
 Nobility
 “Speakers” = leaders of city-states of the empire
 Chiefs = ruled over districts within cities and served in high positions
in army and government
 Non-noble elites
 Pochteca – hereditary merchant/spy class comprised of longdistance traders
 Artisans who made luxury items
 Commoners
 free commoners – farmers, artisans
 rural tenants – who lived on/worked nobles’ lands
 Slaves (largely prisoners of war)
AZTEC EMPIRE: SUBSISTENCE
Food Crops = Corn, beans, squash, amaranth, chia,
tomatoes, peppers
Other Crops
 cacao – beans used as money and to make a drink for high status
people (xocolatl)
 cotton – for clothing
Domesticated Animals = dog, turkey
 No beasts of burden!
Hunting/fishing to supplement protein
Chinampas
Chinampas were man-made floating islands 17’ long x 100’ to 300’ feet wide.
Aztecs built over 20,000 acres of chinampas.
AZTEC EMPIRE: RELIGION
Polytheistic Belief System
 Each calpulli had a patron god/goddess
 Some of the Major Deities:
 Huitzilopochtli – sun god
 Quetzalcoatl – feathered serpent and ancestor of royal family
 Tlaloc – rain god
Human Sacrifice
 Mostly killing of POWs (xochiyaoyotl or “Flowery War”)
 Done to “feed” the sun god and maintain the world
 Sometimes involved ritual cannibalism
Priestly Class – performed ceremonies and sacrifices
 Women could be priestesses
 Priests performed auto-sacrifice (bloodletting, scarification, etc.)
Center of cities were ceremonial districts with pyramid temples and courtyard groupings
AZTEC EMPIRE: COLLAPSE
By about 1500, many tributary states were
unhappy and planning rebellion
Conquest by the Spanish in 1519
 Assisted by rebellious city-states
 Spread of smallpox and the execution of last Emperor,
Montezuma II
More details on this later in Unit Four. 