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The
Aztecs
The Aztecs…
• Were the last to appear in
Mesoamerica before the
Spanish conquest
• Had to search for land
because most land was
taken
• Scavengers; hated and
rejected
•Believed they were the
people of the sun
•Huitzilopochtli, war
god, was their
protector
Legend: Huitzilopochtli and
“The promised Land”
• Tenoch (1325-1375) – chief
told to go to Lake Texcoco,
look for an eagle perched on
a prickly pear cactus with a
snake in its beak
• Build the capital; make
sacrifices
Mexico’s Flag
Tenochtitlan
• Settled on small island on the
edge of Lake Texcoco – A.D.
1350
• Became the capital
• Tenochtitlan – Place
of the Prickly Pear
Cactus on a rock
Geography
• 3 Lakes:
Texcoco
(largest),
Chalco, Xaltocan
• Marshy – created
farmland
City Construction
• Linked to mainland by
causeways
• Built aqueducts (water
channels) to bring fresh
water to city’s reservoirs
and waste away
• Population grew
• Built chinampas
Chinampas
• “floating gardens”
-Series of rafts anchored
to river bed
-filled with mud
• “floating islands”
- piled up mud and reeds
-connected the “gardens”
• 25,000 acres of chinampas
Result…
Population
grew
dramatically!
Tlatelolco – Aztec Market
• Main crossroads of empire
– every five days
• Barter- the exchange of
items without the use of
currency
• Cocoa beans were most
common form of currency
Aztec Culture
• Organized and united by
its beliefs
• Daily religious rituals
• Beliefs influenced
economy, government,
and ways of war
Classes
• Strict class system
• Birth determined class
• All went to school (3
different schools)
• Schools were tough
4 Social Classes
• Ruler: owned land
• Commoners: worked the
land
• Merchants: owned
shared land
• Slaves; no land; no
rights
Government
• Divine king/ruler
• Each city ruled by “king”
• Dual leadership:
military/religious
• Judicial Branch
Judicial Branch
• Rulers – high court
• Commoners – low court
• Prisoners – treated
harshly
• Sentences: death,
mutilation, slavery
Religious Beliefs
• Polytheistic – Hundreds of gods
• Believed fate influenced entire life
• Naming child, planting, crowning fate
• Believed in omens – signs of the
future
• No fear of death or sacrifice
because of belief in fate
Human Sacrifices
• Gods required human sacrifice
to stay strong
• Some blood letting
• Cannibalism
• Human sacrifices were usually
prisoners of war
• Honor to be chosen as a sacrifice
• 20-50 thousand people sacrificed
each year
Huitzlopochtli
• Sun and war god
• Battled forces of darkness
each night and was re-born
each morning
• Human sacrifices insured
sun’s victory thus rise
Quetzelcoatl
• Former white-skinned
bearded priest
• Came from the east –
promised to return
• God of civilization,
priesthood, and
learning
Tlaloc
• The Rain God
• Children were drowned
as sacrifices to him
• Main agricultural god
Tezcatlipoca
• God of night and all
material things
Accomplishments
Medicine
• Superstitions
• Herbs
• Splints
Language
• Heiroglyphics
• Language – Nahuati –
living language today
Codices – “books”
• Codex Mendoza
• Florentine Codex
• Codex Borbonicus
Calendar
• 360 days, 18 months , (5 days
for sacrifice)
• Each day controlled by 2 gods
• Lunar and solar
• Calendars would synchronize
every 52 years
• Believed the world would end
every 52 years
Art
• Stone carvings
• Figures of gods
• Calendar stone
Jewelry
Masks
Chocolate
• Mayans and Aztecs
• “xocoatl” bitter, spicy chocolate
drink
• Played role in social and religious
life
• Symbolized life and fertility
• Medicine
• Wealthy
• Cortez returned to Spain with
cocoa beans and “recipe”
Montezuma II
Emperor
1502-1520
Trained as a priest
Aztec power reached its height
under
• One goal of conquest was to gain
sacrifices
• Also sought wealth
•
•
•
•
• Grew to 400-500 small
states – 15 million people
• Aztecs collected tribute –
payment in the form of
goods, services, or
currency
• Held empire together by
force
Fall of the
Aztecs
#1
• Failed to win loyalty of
conquered people
because of resentment
and anger
• Conquered people were
eager to join Spaniards in
defeating Aztec empire
#2
• Montezuma’s training led to
fall of Aztecs
• Believed Cortes to be
incarnate of Quetzalcoatl
• Killed by one of his
former subjects
#3
Spaniards were
armed with guns, iron
weapons, and had
horses
#4
• Smallpox
• Natives had no
immunity to this
European disease