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 • Formed other alliances through arranged marriages.

• By the 1400's (1427) - The Aztecs conquered neighboring peoples, becoming an empire.

•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.

NINE ELEMENTS OF AZTEC CULTURE

• BASIC NEEDS• LANGUAGE• FAMILY

PATTERNS• ECONOMY/

SOCIAL 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

• Over 60 gods and goddesses

• Priest would offer sacrifices to keep sun god happy and alive

• Central to Aztec life

• Sun god especially important

• Thousands of prisoners sacrificed 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 ReligionAztec tzompantli

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 Snake- The 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.

• t

Aztec Decline •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)