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Aztec Empire
Notes in SINK
The Aztec Empire, 1519
• Capital City, Tenochtitlan
BEGINNING OF CULTURE
• Called Mexica
• Lived by hunting small animals
and collecting wild plants
• Nomadic: lived in small groups,
moved frequently 1111-1325 AD
• Started in Aztlan- northwest of
the Valley of Mexico
Aztecs
• During their journeys, adopted other
cultures customs and ideas
• Learned to cultivate/farm corn, chiles
and other crops
• Followed calendars from other
civilizations
• Wherever they stopped they built a
temple to Huitzilopochtli
– (Wee-tsee-lo-POCH-tlee)
. Their god Huitzilopochtli had commanded them to find an eagle
devouring a snake, perched atop a cactus. After two hundred years
of wandering, they found the promised sign on a small island in the
swampy Lake Texcoco. It was there they founded their new capital,
Tenochtitlan.
One Problem
•When they arrived in
the Valley of Mexico,
there was little available
land. Others were there
and had already formed
alliances.
•The Mexica were not
popular, so were chased
out into of the five lakes
in the valley, Lake
Texcoco where they
took refuge on an
island.
•They were Strong and
clever warriors, so they
offered their military
services to the other
cities.
• Formed other alliances through
arranged marriages.
• By the 1400's (1427) - The
Aztecs conquered
neighboring peoples,
becoming an empire.
NINE ELEMENTS OF AZTEC
CULTURE
• BASIC NEEDS
• LANGUAGE
• FAMILY
PATTERNS
• ECONOMY/SOCIA
L ORGANIZATION
– TRADE
– FARMING
– SOCIAL
CLASSES
•
•
•
•
•
GOVERNMENT
RELIGION
EDUCATION
ART
RECREATION
BASIC NEEDS
• Houses for commoners made of reeds
and mud. One room, windowless, and
divided into two parts…kitchen and
sleeping area.
• Houses for wealthy were adobe
• Diet: corn cakes, beans, sweet potatoes,
avocados, squash, peppers, fish, fowl,
deer, turkey, and popcorn!
• Work: trade, hunting, farming, craftsmen
BASIC NEEDS
• As the Aztec population grew, more food
was needed.
• To solve this problem, Aztec engineers
created “floating” gardens or chinampas.
• They built a series of rafts, which they
anchored to the shallow parts of the lake
bed.
• They piled on dirt and grew crops. They
made walkways out of mud and reeds to
connect the floating rafts.
BASIC NEEDS
• They created a complex system of irrigation
canals to water their crops
• The Aztecs grew chili peppers, squash, corn,
tomatoes, and beans.
•
Tending to the chinampas
CITIES
• Tenochtitlan was the capital.
– became the present day Mexico
city
• Tlaltelolco- island to the North
– Became rivals, so Aztecs of
Tenochtitlan battled and won.
SOCIAL
ORGANIZATION/ECONOMY
• 3 CLASSES- BUT SUBDIVIDED!
• NOBILITY
– RULERS, CHIEFS, NOBLES
• INTERMEDIATE
– MERCHANTS, ARTISANS, CRAFTSMEN
• COMMONERS
– FREE COMMONERS
– PEASANTS
– SLAVES
SOCIAL
ORGANIZATION/ECONOMY
• NOBILITY
– RULERS (tlatoani)
• Ruled empires, cities, major towns
protectors, organize wars, religious
celebrations
– CHIEFS (tecutli)
• Judges, generals, tax collectors,
advisors
– NOBLES (pilli) (not as wealthy)
• Lower level military officials, teachers, priests,
astrologers, scribes
SOCIAL
ORGANIZATION/ECONOMY
• INTERMEDIATE
– MERCHANTS
• Traded luxury goods and foods over long
distances, often served as spies
– ARTISANS/ CRAFTSMEN
• Sculptures, mosaic, gold and feather work
SOCIAL
ORGANIZATION/ECONOMY
• COMMONERS
– MERCHANTS
• Traded luxury goods and foods over long
distances, often served as spies
– ARTISANS/ CRAFTSMEN
• Sculptures, mosaic, gold and feather work
RELIGION
• Central to Aztec
• Over 60 gods
life
and goddesses
• Sun god especially
• Priest would
important
offer sacrifices
• Thousands of
to keep sun god
prisoners sacrificed
happy and alive
to Aztec gods.
AZTEC RELIGION
• The Aztecs believed that the sun god
needed daily "nourishment" - that is,
human blood and hearts - and that
they, as the "people of the sun," were
required to provide the sun god with his
victims.
• Warriors who died in battle or on the
sacrificial stone were called quauhteca
("the eagle's people").
• It was believed that after their death the
warriors first formed part of the sun's
brilliance; then, after four years, they
went to live forever in the bodies of
hummingbirds.
AZTEC
RELIGION
Aztec historians recorded that in
1487, at the great pyramid of
Tenochitilan, executioners sacrificed
four lines of prisoners, each two
miles long. But before they were
ritualistically killed, the victims were
forced to climb up the pyramid's two
hundred and thirty seven steps. At
the top were two killing rooms, with
priests wielding sacrificial knives.
Sacrifices were necessary to satisfy
their hungry sun-god who demanded
blood as payment for creating the
world. The limbs of a victim would
be given as a reward to the victim’s
captor to be eaten. If his gory fee
were not paid, the sun would go out.
Aztec Religion
An Aztec tzompantli, as
illustrated in 1596. A
tzompantli is a type of
wooden rack used for the
public display of human
skulls, typically those of war
captives or other sacrificial
victims.
Aztec tzompantli
Aztec Religion
AZTEC
RELIGION
• The main attributes of the
Aztec sun god, Huitzilopochtli,
were a helmet in the form of a
hummingbird head; a turquoise
or fire serpent called xiuhcoatl,
his magic weapon, in one
hand; in the other, a shield with
five feather ornaments; and a
ritual paper flag complements
his attributes.
QUETZALCOATL- "The God of
Wind"
• The Creator God-The Feathered Serpent-The
Founder of Agriculture- Precious Feather SnakeThe Road Sweeper.
• Often portrayed with a black beard to represent
age or as an old man. Covering his mouth there
is often a red mask in the form of a bird's beak.
• His mask identifies him as the god of wind and
he was worshiped under the name of Ehecatl, or
wind. One of the greatest gods, god of wind,
light, and Venus
QUETZALCOATL- "The God of
Wind"
• According to Aztec tradition, this being left his
homeland and vowed to return in triumph.
• This became part of a legend about a prince whose
return from exile would be preceded by a sign of an
arrow through a sapling.
• When the Aztec saw the Spanish with a cross on
their breastplates, they mistook the Spanish for
Quetzalcoatl’s representatives because the cross
looked like the sign they awaited.
Tezcatlipoca vs. Quetzalcoatl
TEZCATLIPOCA- "The Mirror That Smokes"
"One Death"
• The creator God - The God of the Hunt - Patron
of Princes - God of Providence. The Lord of the
Here and Now - The Enemy on Both Sides.
• The true invisible god who walked over the
heavens and surface of the earth and hell. Where
ever this god went wars, anxiety, and trouble
were sure to follow.
• Tezcatlipoca was thought to incite wars against
one another and was called Necocyautl, which
means "sower of discord on both sides".
Tezcatlipoca
LANGUAGE
• BORROWED FROM OTHER VALLEY
TRIBES
• NAHUATL
– First to write down the language
• Pictures represented words
• Spaniards destroyed most of their books
LANGUAGE
FAMILY PATTERNS
• Each person was a member of an extended
family. (grandparents, aunts, uncles, parents,
siblings)
• Each family was a member of a clan or Calpolli.
• Each Calpolli elected its own officers.
• Twenty clans combined to form a tribe.
– Tribes met together to take care of common needs.
– Each tribe had a leader to be in this council.
– The council chooses a chief.
FAMILY PATTERNS
• Calpolli governed all parts of a person’s life.
– Birth- priest consulted about birth date.
– Education
– Arranged marriages- within clan ony
Education
• To build the city they wanted, they knew that
they would need many engineers, builders,
and traders. This required an educated
population.
• To solve this problem, the Aztecs set up a
system of public schools.
• Attendance was mandatory for all Aztec
children, even girls and slaves.
• The Aztecs were the only people up to that
time in history to have free schools that every
child had to attend.
Education
• There were three different schools: one
for girls, and two for boys.
• Girls learned about religion and were
trained to be good wives and mothers.
• They learned how to cook, sew, and
how to care for their children.
• They also learned how to make
beautiful woven textiles.
EDUCATION FOR BOYS
• Sons of the upper class went to the nobles’
school.
• Sons of wealthy traders and merchants
also went to this school. They studied law,
writing (hieroglyphics), medicine,
engineering and building, interpretation of
dreams and omens, and self-expression.
They also learned about their history and
religious beliefs.
• It was a tough school. The boys were
humiliated and tormented to toughen them
up.
SECOND BOYS SCHOOL
• Sons of Commoners
and Slaves
• The other boys’ school was
for sons of commoners.
•
Its main goal was to train
warriors and farmers.
• Boys had to sleep under
skimpy blankets. They
were given hard bread to
eat.
• The commoners’ school
also taught history,
religion, manners, correct
behavior, and important
rituals, along with singing
and dancing.
MATH/SCIENCE
• Counting system used dots to
represent numbers 1-19
• A flag represented 20
• A feather represented 400
• A bag represented 800
AZTEC CALENDAR
• The 2 Aztec calendars consist of a 365
day calendar cycle called xiuhpohualli
(year count) and a 260 day ritual cycle
called tonalpohualli (day count).
• These two cycles together formed a 52
year "century", sometimes called the
”Calendar Round".
CALENDAR
Sun Stone, or the Stone of
Axayacatl
Mistaken for
the calendar,
but is
actually an
altar.
ART
• Architecture
– Temples, pyramid,
• Sculpture
– Stone, metal, wood, jade, turquoise, emerald,
volcanic glass
• Pottery
– Clay: Some created for everyday use, others
created for ritual pottery (colorful and
elaborate)
• Weaving
Aztec Temple
RECREATION
• Connected to religious festivals
• Most popular sport is like Basketball
– ‘ullamaliztli’ and the ballcourt ‘tlachtli’
• Board games
• Hide and seek
• Running games
• Tag
GOVERNMENT
• Kings
– Elected for life by Calpulli Council
– Head of government and religion
– Took “tributes” from conquered nations
• The calpulli
• Families didn't individually own land, the land was owned by a
group of families, the calpulli.
• Responsible for the basic needs of the group.
• They would set up the telpochalli, a school for common citizens.
They were also responsible to make sure taxes were collected
from the group.
• In the cities, calpullis became less family-related and more
regional. As is the case today, city life brought many different
individuals of different race and culture together.
By 1500, the Aztecs ruled millions of people.
By the early 1500’s, the city of Tenochtitlan had a population of
200,000 and over 1 million in the Basin of Mexico (5 times larger
than London at the time)
Montezuma II
• Montezuma was the leader of the Aztecs when the Spaniards came in
1519
• Montezuma was baffled by Cortez and the Spaniards because they
were so different from what he had ever seen (horses, helmets)
• The Spaniards cannons, guns, metal armor, and horses confused
Montezuma and prevented him from taking action against him
• Montezuma even thought that Cortez and the Spaniards might be gods
• Montezuma did not know what to do to defend the Aztecs against
Cortez which made it very easy for Cortez to defeat the Aztecs
• Montezuma was taken prisoner by Cortez and died in Spanish
captivity in 1520
Hernan Cortes
•
•
•
•
•
•
Born in 1485.
Town of Medellin, Spain.
Attended Salamanca U. at age 14 for law.
1501 gave up education for a life at sea.
1504 set sail for the Dominican Republic.
At 18 joined the army of Diego Velazquez.
Hernan Cortez
• He arrived Mesoamerica in 1519
• After 2 years, Cortez had destroyed the Aztec Empire
• Cortez used the Aztec Empire’s weakness to destroy
it.
• He exploited these weaknesses: small communities
of people ruled by the Aztecs that weren’t loyal to
them, no natural immunity to European diseases,
and the Mesoamericans’ fear of these strange new
people
Dona Marina
•
Marina was an Aztec girl, the daughter of a priest who was sold into slavery
•
The Mexica traders sold Marina to the Mayan Indians
•
The Mayans gave Marina to Cortez right after he arrived in Mexico
•
Because Marina had traveled around a lot she learned to speak Mayan plus her
own language
•
She learned to speak Spanish when she was given to Cortez
•
Because she could speak two Indian languages besides Spanish, Marina
became very important to Cortez in his dealings with the Aztecs
•
Marina was very respected by Cortez and his men because of her bravery and
intelligence plus she hated the Mexica (Aztecs) who sold her.
Aztec Decline
•
t
•The arrival of the Spaniard Cortes destroyed
the Aztec culture
•The Aztecs thought it was the god
Quetzalcoatl returning, so was sent many
gifts.
•Cortes was impressed with gold and silver,
so entered the city.
•Montezuma welcomed them, invited them to
palace.
•Cortes held Montezuma prisoner. He died in
1520.
•War- Aztecs defeated in 1521
Decline Facts
• In 1503, Montezuma II becomes Aztec
ruler, a position he holds until his death
in 1520, during the Spanish occupation
• In 1519, Hernan Cortez arrives in
Mexico and subdues the entire Aztec
civilization by 1525
• After the Aztecs were defeated Cortez
demolished Tenochtitlan and rebuilt the
city in the Spanish style, renaming it
Mexico City
Mexican flag and coat of arms
Conclusion
Despite the Aztec’s advanced culture and warrior skills, they
still could not fend off the invading Spanish. The
Conquistadors defeated them with superior armor and
weapons, overwhelming the Aztec army with it’s stone
weapons and cotton cloaks. The Europeans brought many new
and useful tools and ideas to the New World, but they also
brought diseases that the indigenous people had no immunity
to. The Spaniards came in search of gold and riches, not to
become friends and allies with the native people of
Mesoamerica. The Aztec culture was unable to react quickly
enough to the invading Spaniards, and were easily defeated
through war and disease.
Aztec Glossary
• Huitzilpochtli: the legendary god who led the Aztecs to their
homeland
• Pochteca: wealthy merchant commoners
• Tenochtitlan: The Aztec capitol city
• Teotihuacan: huge city of the early people who lived in
Mesoamerica before the Aztecs – it was in ruins when the Aztecs
came into power
• Tlamama: common laborers who carried trade goods for the
pochteca
• Tlamatinime: wise men or priests
• Tlatelolco: the largest market on the outskirts of Tenochtitlan
• Tlatoque: Aztec supreme ruler (tlatoani – plural)