Download The Aztecs –Cornell notes Vocabulary: Urban Society 2. Class

The Aztecs –Cornell notes
Vocabulary:
1. Urban Society 2. Class Structure 3. Empire 4. Alliance 5. Tribute 6. Sacrifice
7. Tenochtitlan 8. Montezuma II 9. Hernan Cortes
 Aztecs were nomadic hunters and gatherers that lived in the Northwest
desert of Mexico.
 In the late 1200’s they began to move south.
 Eventually they arrived at the central valley of Mexico which is about 7500
feet above sea level.
 There were other small city-states occupying the area and the Aztecs had to
settle for what was left.
 According to legend: The sun and war god told that they would settle
where they found an eagle perched (sitting) on a cactus.
 They found the place; it was a small island on a large lake.
 They built a city (Tenochtitlan=place of the prickly pear) and it became their
capital. Where Mexico City is today.
 The terrain was swampy and there was little level land for farming, the
Aztecs learned to construct chinampas, raised garden beds. (p.394)
 They cultivated (grow) many crops, including corn, squash and chili
peppers. And hunted animals in surrounding areas.
 Between 200,000 and 400,000 people might have lived in the urban area of
Tenochtitlan at its height.
 Aztec engineers built canals to provide routes into the city for canoes and
bridges and causeways to tie the city to the mainland.
 Aztecs made alliances with city states and used their warriors’ skills to
conquer others, their empire grew from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific
Ocean and from the Valley of Mexico to what today is Guatemala.
 The Aztecs demanded tribute (forced payment) from the people they
conquered.
 Class structure: nobles, intermediate, and commoners.
 Nobles= Emperor and his family, priests.
 Intermediate= Merchants and skilled artisans.
 Commoners= Farmers, fishers, craftspeople, and soldiers (most belonged to
this class). Slaves were at the bottom of this class.
 Religion was the center of Aztec life, they were polytheistic.
 They had a calendar
 Aztecs held religious ceremonies to their gods, more importantly to ask
their gods for a good harvest.
 Sometimes prisoners of war were sacrificed to the gods.
 Families had a small altar to worship at home.
 War was a sacred duty for Aztec warriors, they were feared in battle and
might kill everyone who was not a warrior and take the warriors to be
slaves or be sacrificed.
 The Aztec Empire was at its height and 1502 and Montezuma II was its
emperor.
 In 1519 a Spanish expedition led by Hernan Cortes (aided by la Malinche,
dona Marina) arrives in Tenochtitlan.
 Cortes takes Montezuma II prisoner and is later killed in the fighting.
 Diseases brought by the Europeans decimated the Aztecs; the invaders also
had superior weapons and the help of Aztec enemies.
 In 1921 Cortes conquered Tenochtitlan, which signaled the end of the
empire.
 The city of Tenochtitlan is lost but archeologists have discovered the
remains of temples, buildings, and other treasures.
 The Spanish built Mexico City over Tenochtitlan.
 The Aztec codices represent the writing system they used. It used pictures
and symbols, called glyphs, to represent ideas and words.
 Aztecs studied the movement of the sun, stars, and planets. They created
two calendars, one for farming (harvest crops) and one for religious
ceremonies.