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Aztec Civilization
The Aztec Empire: In the Beginning…
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The Aztecs, originally the Mexica, traveled throughout present day
Mexico searching for a suitable home (This is where Mexico gets its
name today)
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Some believe that many were the last of the Mayans
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They finally arrived at Lake Texcoco
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In the middle of this lake, there was an island…
On this island a sign from the heavens was received…
What sign can you imagine was seen?
This sign was an eagle who flew from high in the sky and landed on
a cactus and began eating a snake…this sign was interpreted as the
gods informing the Aztecs to settle there
Good Choice???
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The island that would eventually become the great city of
Tenochtitlan, was nothing but swamp land…good for nothing
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The Aztec were a great civilization that settled in
what is now Mexico City.
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The Aztecs were made up of a number of
wandering tribes of which the Mexica were the
most dominant.
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They grew in numbers from about 1200 to 1521
A.D.
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They settled on the island city of Tenochitlan,
where Mexico City now stands.
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The Aztec Empire centered on warfare.
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All men were required to join the Aztec army in order
to maintain a powerful empire and for religious
reasons.
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Dying in battle honored the war god, Huitsilopochtli.
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Tribes who lost men to the Aztecs either as sacrifices or
slaves became their enemies.
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Aztec War God:
Aztec Government
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Had city states
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Established laws and taxes
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Emperor was chosen by a counsel of nobles
Aztec Religion
Religion built around battle to get living sacrifices
 Anyone who died in battle had honor of dying for Huitzilopochtli, the god
of war
 Believed the way to appease the gods and make them happy was through
human sacrifice
 Polytheistic—believed in many different gods
 “There is nothing like death in war”
 Only blood can nourish the Sun God
 30,000/year
 2,500/month
 625/week
 89/day
 3/hour
 1 every 20 minutes
 Every male served as warriors – regardless of standing
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Agriculture
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The most important crop was…MAIZE
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Other crops were squash tomatoes, chili peppers, and edible flowers.
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3 out of every four Aztecs were farmers
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Others worked in the construction of buildings and causeways
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They also raised turkey, ducks, geese, and dogs for food
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Because the majority of the island the Aztecs lived on was a marsh, they had
to find a way to farm that would produce the crops needed to survive.
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They built chinampas, a kind of floating garden created by heaping fertile
mud on rafts secured between trees.
Chinampas
Inventions/Accomplishments
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Laws
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Poetry
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Writing
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Crafts
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Architecture (used gold)
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Schools
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Chinampas
Decline…..
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Montezuma the powerful king of the Aztecs has an ironic dream of the Sun God
coming to visit him by sea.
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The ironic part of this dream is that on the same day the Sun God was to come,
Hernan Cortes came to visit the Aztecs from Spain
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Cortes was treated as a god
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Cortes realizing that he was being welcomed as a king, took advantage of the
situation
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Once believing that conquering the Aztecs would be difficult, he now knew he had
things easy
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Cortes took all the riches for the most part without a fight
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Not only did the Aztecs have to deal with disadvantage of the Spaniards metal
weapons and defenses, but disease also took a terrible toll on the Aztec people
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Without having built up tolerances against certain European diseases and sicknesses,
the Aztecs immune systems were unable to fight anything off
Hernan Cortes
Cortes recruited many of the tribes who were enemies of
the Aztecs, and had superior weaponry the Aztecs could
not win against.
 In 1519 Cortes captured the Aztec ruler, Montezuma II,
and enslaved the Aztec people.
 Many that were not enslaved died of diseases brought by
the Spaniards.
 In 1521 he claimed the Aztec Empire for Spain and
renamed it New Spain
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