Download The Aztec

Bellwork
• Write down at least two (2) things you know
or have heard about the Aztecs.
World History
Section 5, Unit 1
The Aztec
Objectives
• Describe the origins of the Aztec people
• Examine the geography of the Valley of Mexico
• Analyze the beginnings of the great cities of
the Aztec, such as Tenochtitlan (ten-och-teetlan)
• Analyze the significance of religion in Aztec
life
• Discuss the fall of the Aztec peoples to the
Spanish
Valley of Mexico
• The Valley of Mexico,
which is a mountain
basin 7000 ft above sea
level, served as the
home of several
powerful cultures.
Valley of Mexico
• The valley had several
large, shallow lakes at
it’s center, accessible
resources, and fertile
soil.
• These benefits
attracted peoples,
such as the people of
Teotihuacan and the
Toltecs.
Teotihuacan
• While the Maya were
growing a massive
empire, an amazing
city was built in the
Valley of Mexico:
Teotihuacan (teh-ohtee-hwa-kan).
Teotihuacan
• The city, with it’s
125,000 people and
200-foot-tall pyramid,
marked the land.
• There, the citizens
built a thriving city
that traded with
peoples far into
Central America.
Toltec
• However, the
Teotihuacan was
abandoned by 750 AD,
with little information
about who built it or if it
was part of a larger
empire (due to the lack
of writing).
• However, in it’s ashes
grew the Toltec, a new
peoples of central
Mexico.
Toltec
• The Toltec were a group of fierce warriors
who based their empire on conquest and
human sacrifice.
• Toltec peoples, through trade and conquest,
spread as far as the Yucatan, influencing the
Maya.
• However, by the early 1200s, the Toltec reign
had ended, but would inspire an entire new
group of peoples.
Aztec
• The Aztec- known as the
Mexica- arrived in the
Valley of Mexico around
1200 AD.
• They were a group of poor,
nomadic people from the
harsh deserts of northern
Mexico.
• Fierce and ambitious, they
soon adapted to the local
ways, finding work as
soldiers-for-hire for local
rulers of small city-states.
Aztec
• Inspired by their
legends, the Aztec
built a city on Lake
Texcoco, at the center
of the Valley.
• In 1325, they founded
their city, named
Tenochtitlan (tehnoch-teet-lan).
Much of the city was inspired by
Teotihuacan, who the Aztecs
believed they were descended from.
Aztec
• Over the years, the
Aztec increased in
strength and number.
• In 1428, they joined with
two other city-statesTexcoco and Tlocopan–
to form the Triple
Alliance.
• This alliance became the
leading power in the
Valley and soon gained
control over
neighboring regions.
Aztec
• By the early 1500s, the
Aztec controlled a vast
Mesoamerican empire,
which stretched from
central Mexico to the
Atlantic and Pacific
coasts and south to
Oaxaca.
• This empire was divided
into 38 provinces and
had a population
between 5-15 million
peoples.
Aztec
• The Aztec state based it’s power on military
conquest and the tributes received from
conquered peoples.
• The Aztecs exercised loose control over
much of their empire and often let local
rulers govern their own regions.
Question: Why might this be an effective way of
governing it’s empire?
Aztec
• However, the Aztec did demand tribute,
usually in the form of gold, maize, cacao
beans, cotton, jade, and other products.
• If a ruler did not pay the tribute, the Aztec
warriors would destroy villages, and capture
or slaughter the inhabitants.
Aztec Society
• At the height of the
Aztec Empire, military
leaders held great
power.
• Government officials,
priests, and these
military leaders made
up the noble class.
• Many nobles owned vast
estates, which they
ruled over like lords.
Aztec Society
• The other two classes of Aztec society were
the commoners and the slaves.
• Commoners included merchants, artisans,
soldiers, and farmers who owned their own
land.
Aztec Society
• The merchants were their own type of elite.
They often traveled widely, and in were
sometimes spies for the emperor and gained
great wealth for themselves.
• Slaves, however, were captives who worked
many different jobs.
Aztec Society
• However, at the top of
the social pyramid was
the emperor, who had
absolute power.
– Despite that, the emperor
did consult with top
generals or officials.
• He lived in a
magnificent palace,
surrounded by servants
and his wives. Visitors
had to treat the emperor
like a god–for example,
they could not look at
him directly.
Aztec Society
• The Aztecs, much like the
Toltec and Maya, controlled
an extensive trade network.
– Many different goods
including gold, silver,
foodstuffs, coral, cotton, and
more were sold throughout
the empire.
• Most of the agricultural
goods produced at the
market was grown on
chinampas, farm plots built
on the marshy fringes of
the lake.
– These plots provided the food A chinampas was basically an artificial
needed for a huge urban
island– they were connected to the city
population.
by canals and would yield massive crops.
Tenochtitlan
• By the early 1500s, Tenochtitlan was an
amazing urban center.
• With a population around 200,000 people,
it was larger than any city in Europe at the
same time.
Tenochtitlan
• To connect the island of Tenochtitlan to the
mainland, Aztec engineers built three
raised roads over the water.
The Palace
complex
with various
canals and
large roads
shown.
Tenochtitlan
• Other cities ringed
around the lake, created
a dense concentration of
people in the Valley of
Mexico.
• In Tenochtitlan, palaces,
temples, markets, and
residential districts were
connected by streets.
Tenochtitlan
• Canals divided up the
city, while aqueducts
funneled fresh water
in from the mainland.
• At the center of the
city was a large
complex filled with
temples, palaces,
government buildings.
At the center of Tenochtitlan was
a giant pyramid with twin
temples atop it. It was the
religious center of the Aztecs.
Religion
• Religion played a
major role in Aztec
society.
• In Tenochtitlan there
were hundreds of
temples and religious
structures dedicated to
the gods, many of
whom they borrowed
from the Toltecs.
Altar toads at the Temple Mayor in
modern Mexico City (Cuidad De
Mexico)
Religion
• Aztec religious practices center on elaborate
public ceremonies designed to
communicate with the gods.
• At these ceremonies, priests made offerings
to the gods and presented ritual dramas,
songs, and dances.
• The Aztec calendar was filled with religious
festivals, which varied according the god
being honored.
Religion
• The most important
rituals of the Aztecs
involved the sun god,
Huitzilopochtli (witsilo-po-cht-lee).
• According to belief, the
sun god made the sun
rise every day, but only
when he was nourished
with human blood.
Without it, the sun
would fall from the sky
and all life would perish.
Religion
• For that reason, the Aztec priests
carried out human sacrifice on a
massive scale, with some
estimates as high as 20,000
people a year.
• Thousands of victims, usually
prisoners (but in some cases
children), were led to the altar
atop the Great Temple, where
priests would sacrifice them by
taking their heart, beheading
them, or cutting their throat
(other options included being
shot with arrows, dying in
gladiatorial battles, flayed
[skinned] after being sacrificed,
or being drowned).
At one point, it’s estimated upwards to
80,400 people were sacrificed to
commemorate the building of a new
temple.
Religion
Question: How might this need for sacrifices affect
their military?
• To meet this supply of
sacrifices, the Aztec
pushed the military to
carry out new
conquests.
• The battle tactics of
Aztec warriors were
designed to provide
live prisoners for the
sacrifices.
A bowl were hearts were placed when cut
out. The kind of sacrifice depended on the
God being honored.
During the sacrifices, Aztecs at the bottom
of the temple may have also been engaging
in ritual self-harm (bleeding).
Decline
• Eventually, the Aztecs
need for an everexpanding empire
created problems.
• In 1502, a new ruler,
Montezuma II, was
crowned emperor.
• Under Montezuma,
the Aztec began to
weaken.
Decline
• For decades, the Aztecs had been
demanding tribute and sacrificial victims
from the provinces.
• With the population of Tenochtitlan
growing, the emperor called for more
sacrifices.
Question: How might his prove to be a
problem?
Decline
• In response, the provinces began to rise up in
rebellion, which the military had to put down.
• Montezuma also tried to reduce pressure on
the provinces caused by great demands for
tribute payment, such as by reducing the
number of government officials.
• However, the rebellions continued and the
issues only grew when a new enemy appeared.
Decline
• In the early 1500s, the
Aztecs came into
contact with Spanish
explorers, seeking to
expand into what they
thought was Asia.
• Many Aztecs feared the
arrival of the Spanish,
believing that their
arrival signaled the end
of their empire.
Decline
• Ultimately, the Aztecs
were correct in their
assumptions.
• The Spanish, who
aligned themselves with
the provinces that were
against the Aztec,
captured Tenochtitlan in
in 1521, signaling the end
of the empire.
• However, the arrival of
the Spanish would prove
to be disastrous for more
than the just the Aztec.
Mesoamerica Falls
• Due to infighting, and the arrival of the
Spanish, the great empires of Mesoamerica
(and South America) would give way to the
new expanding colonies of European
explorers.
• Many of these groups of people would fall
ill to the disease brought by Europeans and
many were forced to work for Europeans,
often in harsh conditions.
Aztec Legacy
• While the Aztec people lost their great
empire, the culture of the Aztec still
continues to influence modern cultures in
Latin America– including language, food,
and other aspects of their culture.
• Millions of people of Hispanic heritage can
still trace their roots to the Aztec and the
language of the Aztec people– Nahuatl– is
spoken by around 1.5 million people.
Aztec Legacy
• As well, Mexico City was also built on the
ruins of Tenochtitlan and is one of the
oldest cities in the Americas.
• In the end, the Aztec, among the other
Mesoamerican cultures, have had a long
lasting affect on the cultural identity of
millions of people in the Americas.
Closure
• In your notebook, write something you
learned about the people of the Americas
that you didn’t really know before.
– Did anything surprise you?
– Was something particularly interesting?
Review Objectives
• Describe the origins of the Aztec people
• Examine the geography of the Valley of Mexico
• Analyze the beginnings of the great cities of
the Aztec, such as Tenochtitlan (ten-och-teetlan)
• Analyze the significance of religion in Aztec
life
• Discuss the fall of the Aztec peoples to the
Spanish
Questions?
• If you have any questions, please ask now.
Fun fact: the calendar
to the left is the actual
Aztec Calendar.
Next lesson
• In the next lesson, we will return to Europe
and discuss the Renaissance and
Reformation period
Review
1. What allowed the Aztecs to gain power in
Mesoamerica?
2. How did the sacrificial practices of the Aztec affect
their military? Do you think that this change may
have weakened them?
3. What was the social structure of the Aztec people?
Please describe the social structure.
4. What was Tenochtitlan like? What did it look like
and how did people farm there?
5. Why did the Aztec value human sacrifices so heavily?
6. Why did the need for more sacrificial victims lead to
problems with controlling the empire?
7. How did the arrival of the Spanish cause the fall of
the Aztec empire (and other American civilizations)?