The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec peoples included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to the 16th centuries. Aztec culture was organized into city-states ("altepetl"), some of which joined to form alliances, political confederations, or empires. The Aztec Empire was a confederation of three city-states established in 1427: Tenochtitlan, city-state of the Mexica or Tenochca; Texcoco; and Tlacopan, previously part of the Tepanec empire, whose dominant power was Azcapotzalco.
Introduction
Aztecs
Aztecs | Introduction
Post-classic period from 1300 to 1521 Post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. 1300 to 1521 1300 to 1521.
the culture of the aztec empire was based around which geographic form
user
Central Mexico
assistant
this culture became popular between which time period?
user
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec peoples included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to the 16th centuries. Aztec culture was organized into city-states ("altepetl"), some of which joined to form alliances, political confederations, or empires. The Aztec Empire was a confederation of three city-states established in 1427: Tenochtitlan, city-state of the Mexica or Tenochca; Texcoco; and Tlacopan, previously part of the Tepanec empire, whose dominant power was Azcapotzalco.
Aztecs | Introduction
For the same reason, the notion of "Aztec civilization" is best understood as a particular horizon of a general Mesoamerican civilization. The culture of central Mexico includes maize cultivation, the social division between nobility ("pipiltin") and commoners ("macehualtin"), a pantheon (featuring Tezcatlipoca, Tlaloc and Quetzalcoatl), and the calendric system of a "xiuhpohualli" of 365 days intercalated with a "tonalpohualli" of 260 days. Particular to the Mexica of Tenochtitlan was the patron God Huitzilopochtli, twin pyramids, and the ceramic ware known as Aztec I to IV. From the 13th century, the Valley of Mexico was the heart of dense population and the rise of city-states.
Aztecs | Introduction
Although the term Aztecs is often narrowly restricted to the Mexica of Tenochtitlan, it is also broadly used to refer to Nahua polities or peoples of central Mexico in the prehispanic era, as well as the Spanish colonial era (1521–1821). The definitions of Aztec and Aztecs have long been the topic of scholarly discussion ever since German scientist Alexander von Humboldt established its common usage in the early nineteenth century. Most ethnic groups of central Mexico in the post-classic period shared basic cultural traits of Mesoamerica, and so many of the traits that characterize Aztec culture cannot be said to be exclusive to the Aztecs.
Aztecs | Introduction
This depopulation of the Bajío coincided with an incursion of new populations into the Valley of Mexico, which suggests that this marks the influx of Nahuatl speakers into the region. These people populated central Mexico, dislocating speakers of Oto-Manguean languages as they spread their political influence south. As the former nomadic hunter-gatherer peoples mixed with the complex civilizations of Mesoamerica, adopting religious and cultural practices, the foundation for later Aztec culture was laid. After 900 CE, during the postclassic period, a number of sites almost certainly inhabited by Nahuatl speakers became powerful. Among them the site of Tula, Hidalgo, and also city states such as Tenayuca, and Colhuacan in the valley of Mexico and Cuauhnahuac in Morelos.
Aztecs | Central Mexico in the classic and postclassic
The Early Aztec period was a time of growth and competition among altepeme. Even after the empire was formed in 1428 and began its program of expansion through conquest, the altepetl remained the dominant form of organization at the local level. The efficient role of the altepetl as a regional political unit was largely responsible for the success of the empire's hegemonic form of control. It should be remembered that the term "Aztec empire" is a modern one, not one used by the Aztec themselves. The Aztec realm was at its core composed of three Nahuatl-speaking city states in the densely populated Valley of Mexico.
Aztec Empire | Government
The Aztecs, a people with a rich mythology and cultural heritage, dominated central Mexico in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. Their capital was Tenochtitlan on the shore of Lake Texcoco – the site of modern-day Mexico City. They were related to the preceding cultures in the basin of Mexico such as the culture of Teotihuacan whose building style they adopted and adapted.
Mesoamerican pyramids | Aztecs
Aztec society traditionally was divided into social classes. The Aztec social classes grew incredibly sophisticated and complex once the Mexica people settled and began to build their empire. It's been said that the class structure was so elaborate that it impressed the Spanish almost as much as the architecture of the empire. The Mexica people, who later became the nucleus of the Aztec empire, were for a time a nomadic tribe looking for a home. As they moved south, they came into contact with advanced peoples. Many cultures of the day looked back to the impressive culture of the Toltecs, and the Aztecs came to admire the Toltec heritage.
Class in Aztec society | Introduction
The Nahua peoples began to enter central Mexico in the 6th century AD. By the 12th century, they had established their center at Azcapotzalco, the city of the Tepanecs. The Mexica people arrived in the Valley of Mexico in 1248 AD. They had migrated from the deserts north of the Rio Grande over a period traditionally said to have been 100 years. They may have thought of themselves as the heirs to the prestigious civilizations that had preceded them. What the Aztec initially lacked in political power, they made up for with ambition and military skill. In 1325, they established the biggest city in the world at that time, Tenochtitlan.
History of Mexico | Aztec Empire (1325–1521 AD)
Room three features the Tierras Prietas site, the cultivation of food plants and use of natural resources such as the bajareque technique of walls made of interwoven branches and clay. Room 4 covers aspects of village life and cultural exchange from 200 to 750 A.C.; the introduction of ball games and new pottery techniques. Room five contains pieces from the Aztec period from 1487 to the 1520s, when the province of Cihuatlan was established, and tribute was paid to the Aztecs by the local population in shells, chocolate, basketry and textiles. Room six covers the colonial period and search for a maritime route to the west during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Zihuatanejo | Museum of Archeology
James Maffie has explained that the Aztec concept of Time (like that of the Mayas) was not one of 'uniform forward flow' whose passage could be accurately measured by a clock or some similar device. Specific events were regarded as separate, unique entities, only minimally related to those which had occurred immediately before them or to those which followed straight afterwards. Of paramount importance were the positions which they happened to occupy in the 260-day and 360+5-day calendar counts. Also significant were the 584-day Venusian cycle, and indeed the "age-growth cycles" of the people involved (which extended from birth through to old age).
Aztec philosophy | How did the Aztecs regard "Time"?
Umberger, Emily. “MATLATZINCO BEFORE THE AZTECS: JOSÉ GARCÃA PAYÓN AND THE SCULPTURAL CORPUS OF CALIXTLAHUACA.” Ancient Mesoamerica; Cambridge, vol. 28, no. 1, 2017, pp. 1–19 Restall, Matthew. “The Aztec Empire: a Surprise Ending?” The Historical Association, no. 134, 2017, pp. 12–17. Olson, Jan M. “MATERIAL EXPRESSIONS OF WEALTH AND SOCIAL CLASS AT AZTEC-PERIOD SITES IN MORELOS, MEXICO.” Cambridge University Press, vol. 27, no. 1, 2016, pp. 133–147.
Aztec architecture | References
This group were the Mexica who during the next 300 years became the dominant ethnic group of Mesoamerica ruling from Tenochtitlan their island capital. They formed the Aztec Empire after allying with the Tepanecs and Acolhua people of Texcoco, spreading the political and linguistic influence of the Nahuas well into Central America.
Nahuas | Pre-Columbian period
The Aztecs left a durable stamp upon modern Mexican culture. Much of what is considered modern Mexican culture derives from the Aztec civilization: place-names, words, food, art, dress, symbols, and even the name "Mexican". ("See also Origin and history of the name "Mexico-Tenochtitlan"").
Pre-Columbian Mexico | Legacy of the Aztecs
Of all prehispanic Mesoamerican cultures, the best-known is the Mexica of the city-state of Tenochtitlan, also known as the Aztecs. The Aztec Empire dominated central Mexico for close to a century before the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire (1519-1521). The Mexica people came from the north or the west of Mesoamerica. The Nayaritas believed that the mythic Aztlán was located on the island of Mexcaltitán. Some hypothesize that this mythical island could have been located somewhere in the state of the Zacatecas, and it has even been proposed that it was as far north as New Mexico. Whatever the case, they were probably not far removed from the classic Mesoamerican tradition.
Mesoamerican chronology | Aztec
When the Spaniards arrived, the Aztec Empire had reached much of Mesoamerica, touching both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean.
Mexico City | Aztec period
250–900 CE The Classic Period was dominated by numerous independent city-states in the Maya region and also featured the beginnings of political unity in central Mexico and the Yucatán. Regional differences between cultures grew more manifest. The city-state of Teotihuacan dominated the Valley of Mexico until the early 8th century, but little is known of the political structure of the region because the Teotihuacanos left no written records. The city-state of Monte Albán dominated the Valley of Oaxaca until the late Classic, leaving limited records in their script, which is as yet mostly undeciphered. Highly sophisticated arts such as stuccowork, architecture, sculptural reliefs, mural painting, pottery, and lapidary developed and spread during the Classic era.
Mesoamerican chronology | Classic Period
Arising from the humblest beginnings as a nomadic group of "uncivilizated" wanderers, the Aztecs created the largest empire in Mesoamerican history, lasting from 1427/1428 to 1521. Tribute from conquered states provided the economic and artistic resources to transform their capital Tenochtitlan (0ld Mexico City) into one of the wonders of the world. Artists from throughout mesoamerica created stunning artworks for their new masters, fashioning delicate golden objects of personal adornment and formidable sculptures of fierce gods. The Aztecs entered the Valley of Mexico (the area of modern Mexico City) in 1325 and within a century had taken control of this lush region brimming with powerful city-states.
History of art | Aztec
This era is dominated by the Olmec expansion as well as the height of native cities such as Izapa and Chiapa de Corzo. The Classic Period (300 BCE to 900 CE) is distinguished by the rise of the Maya civilization, with some notable Zoque settlements. The Post Classic is marked by the fall of the great Mayan cities around 900 CE and extends to the arrival of the Spanish. In this area of Mesoamerica, the native peoples dispersed into small isolated communities without regional cohesion. In the latter part of this period, the Aztecs from the Mexican Plateau began to make incursions here, conquering the Central Valley and Soconusco regions.
Regional Museum of Anthropology and History of Chiapas | Permanent collection
The latter portion of the Postclassic is generally associated with the rise of the Mexica and the Aztec Empire. One of the more commonly known cultural groups in Mesoamerica, the Aztec politically dominated nearly all of central Mexico, the Gulf Coast, Mexico's southern Pacific Coast (Chiapas and into Guatemala), Oaxaca, and Guerrero.
Mesoamerica | Postclassic
Latecomers to Mexico's central plateau, the Mexica thought of themselves, nevertheless, as heirs of the civilizations that had preceded them. For them, arts, sculpture, architecture, engraving, feather-mosaic work, and the calendar, were bequest from the former inhabitants of Tula, the Toltecs. The Mexica-Aztecs were the rulers of much of central Mexico by about 1400 (while Yaquis, Coras and Apaches commanded sizable regions of northern desert), having subjugated most of the other regional states by the 1470s. At their peak, 300,000 Mexica presided over a wealthy tribute-empire variously estimated at 5–8 million people in total a population of 8–12 million. The actual population is never more than an estimate.
Pre-Columbian era | Aztec/Mexica/Triple Alliance civilization
These were small polities ruled by a hereditary leader "(tlatoani)" from a legitimate noble dynasty. The Early Aztec period was a time of growth and competition among "altepetl". Even after the confederation of the Triple Alliance was formed in 1427 and began its expansion through conquest, the "altepetl" remained the dominant form of organization at the local level. The efficient role of the altepetl as a regional political unit was largely responsible for the success of the empire's hegemonic form of control.
Aztecs | Triple Alliance and Aztec Empire
This section of the mural displays the richness of the ancient Aztec culture including the people and their traditional costumes. It shows an image of the sun, which was the center of the world in the Aztec religion. Below the sun are a pyramid and an Aztec leader. They built the pyramids and temples to the sun. Rivera depicts these main motifs and the everyday life of the Aztecs, including the volcanoes around the Valley of Mexico, corn and other main crops, artisans weaving and making pottery, mothers carrying babies, art and artisan activities including painting on scrolls, and calligraphy.
The History of Mexico (mural) | North wall
The methods of Aztec rule were influenced by the story of their Mexica ancestry, who were migrants to the Mexican territory. The lived history was marked by violence and the conquering of native groups, and their mythic history was used to legitimize their conquests and the establishment of the capital Tenochtitlan. As the Aztecs grew in power, the state needed to find ways to maintain order and control over the conquered peoples, and they used religion and violence to accomplish the task. The state religion included a vast canon of deities that were involved in the constant cycles of death and rebirth.
Aztec sun stone | Connections to Aztec Ideology
Another source of knowledge is the cultures and customs of the contemporary Nahuatl speakers who can often provide insights into what prehispanic ways of life may have been like. Scholarly study of Aztec civilization is most often based on scientific and multidisciplinary methodologies, combining archeological knowledge with ethnohistorical and ethnographic information.
Aztecs | Sources of knowledge
The Aztecs were a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican people of central Mexico in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. They called themselves "Mēxihcah" (pronounced [meˈʃikaʔ]). The capital of the Aztec Empire was Tenochtitlan. During the empire, the city was built on a raised island in Lake Texcoco. Modern-day Mexico City was constructed on the ruins of Tenochtitlan. The Spanish colonization of the Americas reached the mainland during the reign of Hueyi Tlatoani Moctezuma II (Montezuma II). In 1521, Hernán Cortés, along with an allied army of other Native Americans, conquered the Aztecs through germ warfare (germ theory not being established until 1560 by earliest records, this was an unintentional result of Europeans coming to the New World), siege warfare, psychological warfare, and from direct combat.
History of the Aztecs | Introduction
The last battle between the Aztecs and the Zapotecs occurred between 1497 and 1502, under the Aztec ruler Ahuizotl. At the time of Spanish conquest of Mexico, when news arrived that the Aztecs were defeated by the Spaniards, King Cosijoeza ordered his people not to confront the Spaniards so they would avoid the same fate. They were defeated by the Spaniards only after several campaigns between 1522 and 1527. However, uprisings against colonial authorities occurred in 1550, 1560 and 1715.
Zapotec civilization | Warfare and resistance
The modern name "Mexico" comes from their name.
Pre-Columbian era | Aztec/Mexica/Triple Alliance civilization
Aztec religion was based on the belief in the continual need for regular offering of human blood to keep their deities beneficent; to meet this need, the Aztec sacrificed thousands of people. This belief is thought to have been common throughout the Nahuatl people. To acquire captives in times of peace, the Aztec resorted to a form of ritual warfare called flower war. The Tlaxcalteca, among other Nahuatl nations, were forced into such wars.
History of Mexico | Aztec Empire (1325–1521 AD)
At the time of the Spanish conquest of Yucatán during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Maya were still powerful, but many communities were paying tribute to Aztec society. The latter culture was thriving, and it included arts such as sculpture, painting, and feather mosaics. Perhaps the most well-known work of Aztec art is the calendar stone, which became a national symbol of the state of Mexico. During the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, many of these artistic objects were sent to Europe, where they were placed in cabinets of curiosities, and later redistributed to Western art museums. The Aztec empire was based in the city of Tenochtitlan which was largely destroyed during the colonial era.
History of art | Postclassic
To the Mexicas, the Toltecs were the originators of all culture; "toltecayotl" was a synonym for culture. Mexica legends identify the Toltecs and the cult of Quetzalcoatl with the mythical city of Tollan, which they also identified with the more ancient Teotihuacan.
Aztec religion | Mythology
The Spanish conquest of Yucatán took almost 170 years. After the fall of Tenochtitlan, most of the other Mesoamerican cultures remained intact. In fact, the conquest of the Aztec empire did not have an immediate impact on other Mesoamerican cultures.
History of the Aztecs | Fall of the Aztec Empire
Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who achieved political and military dominance over large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the Late post-Classic period in Mesoamerican chronology. Until the age of fourteen, the education of children was in the hands of their parents, but supervised by the authorities of their "calpōlli". Part of this education involved learning a collection of sayings, called "huēhuetlàtolli" ("sayings of the old"), that embodied the Aztecs' ideals. Judged by their language, most of the "huēhuetlàtolli" seemed to have evolved over several centuries, predating the Aztecs and most likely adopted from other Nahua cultures.
History of education | Aztec
In the early colonial period some indigenous governors became quite rich and influential and were able to maintain positions of power comparable to that of Spanish encomenderos.
Aztecs | Colonial period, 1521–1821
It is a matter of debate whether the enormous city of Teotihuacan was inhabited by speakers of Nahuatl, or whether Nahuas had not yet arrived in central Mexico in the classic period. It is generally agreed that the Nahua peoples were not indigenous to the highlands of central Mexico, but that they gradually migrated into the region from somewhere in northwestern Mexico. At the fall of Teotihuacan in the 6th century CE, a number of city states rose to power in central Mexico, some of them, including Cholula and Xochicalco, probably inhabited by Nahuatl speakers. One study has suggested that Nahuas originally inhabited the Bajío area around Guanajuato which reached a population peak in the 6th century, after which the population quickly diminished during a subsequent dry period.
Aztecs | Central Mexico in the classic and postclassic
The four squares that surround the central deity represent the four previous suns or eras, which preceded the present era, 4 Movement (Nahuatl: "Nahui Ōllin"). The Aztecs changed the order of the suns and introduced a fifth sun named "4 Movement" after they seized power over the central highlands. Each era ended with the destruction of the world and humanity, which were then recreated in the next era. The duration of the ages is expressed in years, although they must be observed through the prism of Aztec time. In fact the common thing to figures 676, 364 and 312 is that they are multiples of 52, and 52 years is the duration of 1 Aztec century, and that is why they can express a certain amount of Aztec centuries.
Aztec sun stone | Four previous suns or eras
When Mexico became independent from Spain, a romanticized version of the Aztecs became a source of images that could be used to ground the new nation as a unique blend of European and American.
Aztecs | Legacy
Some of these manuscripts were entirely pictorial, often with glyphs. In the postconquest era many other texts were written in Latin script by either literate Aztecs or by Spanish friars who interviewed the native people about their customs and stories. An important pictorial and alphabetic text produced in the early sixteenth century was "Codex Mendoza", named after the first viceroy of Mexico and perhaps commissioned by him, to inform the Spanish crown about the political and economic structure of the Aztec empire. It has information naming the polities that the Triple Alliance conquered, the types of tribute rendered to the Aztec Empire, and the class/gender structure of their society.
Aztecs | Sources of knowledge
Aztec mythology is known from a number of sources written down in the colonial period. One set of myths, called Legend of the Suns, describe the creation of four successive suns, or periods, each ruled by a different deity and inhabited by a different group of beings. Each period ends in a cataclysmic destruction that sets the stage for the next period to begin. In this process, the deities Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl appear as adversaries, each destroying the creations of the other. The current Sun, the fifth, was created when a minor deity sacrificed himself on a bonfire and turned into the sun, but the sun only begins to move once the other deities sacrifice themselves and offers it their life force.
Aztecs | Mythology and worldview
The Toltec culture is an archaeological Mesoamerican culture that dominated a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo, in the early post-classic period of Mesoamerican chronology (ca 800–1000 CE). The later Aztec culture saw the Toltecs as their intellectual and cultural predecessors and described Toltec culture emanating from Tollan (Nahuatl for Tula) as the epitome of civilization; indeed, in the Nahuatl language the word "Toltec" came to take on the meaning "artisan". The Aztec oral and pictographic tradition also described the history of the Toltec empire giving lists of rulers and their exploits. Among modern scholars it is a matter of debate whether the Aztec narratives of Toltec history should be given credence as descriptions of actual historical events.
History of Mexico | Toltec
With the decline of the Toltec civilization came political fragmentation in the Valley of Mexico, and into this new game of political contenders for the Toltec throne stepped outsiders: the Aztec. Newcomers to the Valley of Mexico, they were seen as crude and unrefined in the eyes of the existing Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the fallen Toltec empire. Latecomers to Mexico's central plateau, the Aztecs thought of themselves as heirs to the prestigious civilizations that had preceded them, much as Charlemagne did with respect to the fallen Roman Empire. What the Aztecs lacked in political power, they made up for with ambition and military skill.
Pre-Columbian Mexico | Aztec civilization
D.H. Lawrence gave the name "Quetzalcoatl" to an early draft of his novel "The Plumed Serpent", but his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, insisted on a change of title. American author Gary Jennings wrote two acclaimed historical novels set in Aztec-period Mexico, "Aztec" (1980) and "Aztec Autumn" (1997). The novels were so popular that four more novels in the Aztec series were written after his death. Aztec society has also been depicted in cinema. The Mexican feature film "The Other Conquest" (Spanish: "La Otra Conquista") from 2000 was directed by Salvador Carrasco, and illustrated the colonial aftermath of the 1520s Spanish Conquest of Mexico.
Aztecs | In popular culture
Mexico City was built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan, gradually replacing and covering the lake, the island and the architecture of Aztec Tenochtitlan. After the fall of Tenochtitlan, Aztec warriors were enlisted as auxiliary troops alongside the Spanish Tlaxcalteca allies, and Aztec forces participated in all of the subsequent campaigns of conquest in northern and southern Mesoamerica. This meant that aspects of Aztec culture and the Nahuatl language continued to expand during the early colonial period as Aztec auxiliary forces made permanent settlements in many of the areas that were put under the Spanish crown. The Aztec ruling dynasty continued to govern the indigenous polity of San Juan Tenochtitlan, a division of the Spanish capital of Mexico City, but the subsequent indigenous rulers were mostly puppets installed by the Spanish.
Aztecs | Colonial period, 1521–1821
According to this system, the ruling classes proclaimed themselves the descendants of Quetzalcoatl, the Plumed Serpent, one of the creative forces, and a cultural hero in Mesoamerican mythology. They likewise declared themselves the heirs of a no less mythical city, called Tollan in Nahuatl, and Zuyuá in Maya (from which López Austin derives the name for the belief system). Many of the important capitals of the time identified themselves with this name (for example, Tollan Xicocotitlan, Tollan Chollollan, Tollan Teotihuacan). The Tollan of myth was for a long time identified with Tula, in Hidalgo state, but Enrique Florescano and López Austin have claimed that this has no basis.
Mesoamerican chronology | Postclassic period
By 900 BCE, there is ample evidence of the cultivation of corn, beans, squash, chili peppers and cotton. The rise of city states was established by 700 BCE. By the Mesoamerican period, the area was inhabited by a number of ethnicities. The regions of Acatlán and part of Chiautla were dominated by the Mixtecs. Tepexi was dominated by the Popolocas. The central part of the state was dominated by the Olmec-Xicalancas and Nahuas, with strong cultural links to the Toltec-based culture at Cholula. The north was populated by the Totonacs, the Mazatecs and the Otomi, whose cultural center was in El Tajín.
Puebla | Pre-Hispanic period
The section also illustrates the Aztecs’ religion, including the worship of snakes and jaguars. Aztecs rituals are also shown in which men consume alcoholic beverages made from cacti and dance in honor of the Sun God.
The History of Mexico (mural) | North wall
Figures from Aztec mythology have appeared many times in works of modern culture.
Aztec mythology in popular culture | Introduction
Nahua peoples descended from Chichimec peoples who migrated to central Mexico from the north in the early 13th century. The migration story of the Mexica is similar to those of other polities in central Mexico, with supernatural sites, individuals, and events, joining earthly and divine history as they sought political legitimacy. According to the pictographic codices in which the Aztecs recorded their history, the place of origin was called Aztlán. Early migrants settled the Basin of Mexico and surrounding lands by establishing a series of independent city-states. These early Nahua city-states or "altepetl", were ruled by dynastic heads called "tlahtohqueh" (singular, "tlatoāni").
Aztec Empire | Before the Aztec Empire
Aztec mythology is the body or collection of myths of Aztec civilization of Central Mexico. The Aztecs were Nahuatl-speaking groups living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other Mesoamerican cultures. According to legend, the various groups who were to become the Aztecs arrived from the north into the Anahuac valley around Lake Texcoco. The location of this valley and lake of destination is clear – it is the heart of modern Mexico City – but little can be known with certainty about the origin of the Aztec. There are different accounts of their origin.
Aztec mythology | Introduction
The later debate about the nature of the Toltec culture goes back to the late 19th century. Mesoamericanist scholars such as Mariano Veytia, Manuel Orozco y Berra, Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, and Francisco Clavigero all read the Aztec chronicles and believed them to be realistic historic descriptions of a pan-Mesoamerican empire based at Tula, Hidalgo. This historicist view was first challenged by Daniel Garrison Brinton who argued that the "Toltecs" as described in the Aztec sources were merely one of several Nahuatl-speaking city-states in the Postclassic period, and not a particularly influential one at that. He attributed the Aztec view of the Toltecs to the "tendency of the human mind to glorify the good old days", and the confounding of the place of Tollan with the myth of the struggle between Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca.
Toltec | History of research
Pre-Columbian Aztec society was a highly complex and stratified society that developed among the Aztecs of central Mexico in the centuries prior to the Spanish conquest of Mexico, and which was built on the cultural foundations of the larger region of Mesoamerica. Politically, the society was organized into independent city-states, called altepetls, composed of smaller divisions (calpulli), which were again usually composed of one or more extended kinship groups. Socially, the society depended on a rather strict division between nobles and free commoners, both of which were themselves divided into elaborate hierarchies of social status, responsibilities, and power. Economically the society was dependent on agriculture, and also to a large extent on warfare.
Aztec society | Introduction
The empire was split in pieces: kings (thought to be gods), nobles, generals, priests, peasants, and finally slaves. Politically, the society was based around the independent city-state, called an "altepetl", composed of smaller divisions ("calpulli"), which were again usually composed of one or more extended kinship groups. Aztec society was highly complex and stratified, composed of several hierarchies. The society depended on a rather strict division between nobles and free commoners, both of which were themselves divided into elaborate hierarchies of social status, responsibilities, and power. A commoner would not have the same rights to land and dress code as a noble would, even down to regulating the materials they were allowed to use in their clothing.
Eagle warrior | Aztec Society
Over time, asymmetries of power elevated one of those city states, Tenochtitlan, above the other two. The "Triple Alliance" came to establish hegemony over much of central Mesoamerica, including areas of great linguistic and cultural diversity. Administration of the empire was performed through largely traditional, indirect means. However, over time something of a nascent bureaucracy may have been beginning to form insofar as the state organization became increasingly centralized.
Aztec Empire | Government
In the middle of the first millennium CE, the first waves of tribes speaking the forefather language of the Nahuan languages migrated south into Mesoamerica. They were nomadic hunter-gatherers and arrived in a region that was already populated by complex societies at a highly advanced technological level. Under the influence of classic Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Teotihuacanos, the Maya, the Totonacs and the Huastecs the proto-Aztecs became sedentary agriculturalists and achieved the same levels of technology as their neighbouring peoples. They held on to their language, many of their religious systems, and probably aspects of their previous social customs.
Aztec society | Mesoamerican origins
Expansion of the empire was guided by a militaristic interpretation of Nahua religion, specifically a devout veneration of the sun god, Huitzilopochtli. Militaristic state rituals were performed throughout the year according to a ceremonial calendar of events, rites, and mock battles. The time period they lived in was understood as the "Ollintonatiuh", or Sun of Movement, which was believed to be the final age after which humanity would be destroyed. It was under Tlacaelel that Huitzilopochtli assumed his elevated role in the state pantheon and who argued that it was through blood sacrifice that the Sun would be maintained and thereby stave off the end of the world.
Aztec Empire | Ideology and state
With the decline of the Toltec civilization came political fragmentation in the Valley of Mexico. Into this new political game of contenders to the Toltec throne stepped outsiders: the Mexica. They were also a desert people, one of seven groups who formerly called themselves "Azteca", in memory of Aztlán, but they changed their name after years of migrating. Since they were not from the Valley of Mexico, they were initially seen as crude and unrefined in the ways of Nahua civilization. Through political maneuvers and ferocious martial skill, they managed to rule Mexico as the head of the 'Triple Alliance' which included two other Aztec cities, Texcoco and Tlacopan.
Pre-Columbian era | Aztec/Mexica/Triple Alliance civilization
Knowledge of Aztec society rests on several different sources: The many archeological remains of everything from temple pyramids to thatched huts, can be used to understand many of the aspects of what the Aztec world was like. However, archeologists often must rely on knowledge from other sources to interpret the historical context of artifacts. There are many written texts by the indigenous people and Spaniards of the early colonial period that contain invaluable information about precolonial Aztec history. These texts provide insight into the political histories of various Aztec city-states, and their ruling lineages. Such histories were produced as well in pictorial codices.
Aztecs | Sources of knowledge
With the destruction of the superstructure of the Aztec Empire in 1521, central Mexico was brought under the control of the Spanish Empire. Over the course of the succeeding decades, virtually all of Mesoamerica was brought under Spanish control, which resulted in a fairly uniform policies toward indigenous populations. Spaniards' established the fallen Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan as Mexico City, the seat of government for the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The great initial project for Spanish conquerors was converting the indigenous peoples to Christianity, the only permitted religion. This endeavor was undertaken by Franciscan, Dominican, and Augustinian friars immediately after conquest.
Mesoamerican chronology | Colonial Period, 1521-1821
Moctezuma II was, although many sources depict him otherwise, a notable warrior who extended the tributary system, and consolidated the conquests made by his predecessors as well as conquering new territories. His campaigns reached as far south as Tapachula in the Soconusco region and the Chontal Maya states of Xicallanco in Tabasco. Only the Aztec archenemies of Tlaxcala, Huexotzinco and the Purépecha remained undefeated, as well as the Mixtec kingdoms of Tututepec and Yopitzinco which didn't interest the Aztecs. Thus the Aztec Empire had its largest geographical extent when the Spaniards arrived in 1519. In some sources, it claims that Moctezuma II, and the Aztecs, believed the arriving Spanish to linked to the supposed return of an exiled god, Quetzlcoatl, who was supposed to return pale and bearded.
History of the Aztecs | The reign of Moctezuma II Xocoyotzin
Eduardo Noguera estimates that in later stages only 20% of the population was dedicated to agriculture and food production. The other 80% of society were warriors, artisans and traders. Eventually, most of the "mācehuallis" were dedicated to arts and crafts. Their works were an important source of income for the city. Macehualtin could become enslaved, () for example if they had to sell themselves into the service of a noble due to debt or poverty, but enslavement was not an inherited status among the Aztecs. Some macehualtin were landless and worked directly for a lord (), whereas the majority of commoners were organized into calpollis which gave them access to land and property.
Aztecs | Nobles and commoners
In recent decades the historicist position has fallen out of favor for a more critical and interpretive approach to the historicity of the Aztec mythical accounts based on the original approach of Brinton. This approach applies a different understanding of the word Toltec to the interpretation of the Aztec sources, interpreting it as largely a mythical and philosophical construct by either the Aztecs or Mesoamericans generally that served to symbolize the might and sophistication of several civilizations during the Mesoamerican Postclassic period. Scholars such as Michel Graulich (2002) and Susan D. Gillespie (1989) maintained that the difficulties in salvaging historic data from the Aztec accounts of Toltec history are too great to overcome.
Toltec | Toltecs as myth
By the time of the arrival of the Spanish in central Mexico, many of the diverse ethnic civilizations (with the notable exception of the Tlaxcaltecs and the Purépecha Kingdom of Michoacán) were loosely joined under the Aztec Empire, the last Nahua civilization to flourish in Central Mexico. The capital of the empire, Tenochtitlan, became one of the largest urban centers in the world, with an estimated population of 350,000 inhabitants. During the conquest of the Aztec Empire, the Spanish conquistadors, vastly outnumbered by indigenous peoples, made alliance with other ethnic groups in the Aztec Empire, including the Tlaxcaltecs. This strategy was found to be very effective as the Aztecs had a very bad reputation in the region for cannibalism and other inhumane practices.
Indigenous peoples of Mexico | Colonial era
It allowed them to expand an empire, bringing in tribute which consisted mostly of foods the Aztecs could not grow themselves. According to Bernardino de Sahagún, the Nahua peoples of central Mexico ate corn, beans, turkey, fish, small game, insects and a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, pulses, seeds, tubers, wild mushrooms, plants and herbs that they collected or cultivated.
Mexican cuisine | Pre-Hispanic period
Bronze was also used. The great victories over the Aztecs by the Tarascans cannot be understated. Nearly every war they fought in resulted in a Tarascan victory. Because the Tarascan Empire had little links to the former Toltec Empire, they were also quite independent in culture from their neighbors. The Aztecs, Tlaxcaltec, Olmec, Mixtec, Maya, and others were very similar to each other, however. This is because they were all directly preceded by the Toltecs, and they therefore shared almost identical cultures. The Tarascans, however, possessed a unique religion, as well as other things.
Pre-Columbian era | Tarascan/Purepecha civilization
Aztec society combined a relatively simple agrarian rural tradition with the development of a truly urbanized society with a complex system of institutions, specializations and hierarchies. The urban tradition in Mesoamerica was developed during the classic period with major urban centers such as Teotihuacan with a population well above 100,000, and at the time of the rise of the Aztec, the urban tradition was ingrained in Mesoamerican society, with urban centers serving major religious, political and economic functions for the entire population.
Aztecs | Urbanism
During this period there was an increment in the population and sedentarism, causing the origin of complex societies with intensive cropping systems. Some researchers said that agriculture forced societies to adopt sedentary lifestyle; others think that the reason was due to the increment in the population since agriculture could supply more food than hunting. The ancient cultures developed on that period had the tendency to manufacture and modernize ceramics. Ceramic was very important because it allowed a better transportation of materials as well as the use of ovens to create special handcrafts such as female figurines.
Economy of Prehispanic Mexico | The Pre-classic period in Mesoamerica (2500 B.C. - 200 A.D.)
Most of what is known about the ancient Aztecs comes from the few codices to survive the Spanish conquest. Their myths can be confusing not only because of the lack of documentation, but also because there are many popular myths that seem to contradict one another because they were originally passed down by word of mouth and because the Aztecs adopted many of their gods from other tribes, both assigning their own new aspects to these gods and endowing them with aspects of similar gods from various other cultures. Older myths can be very similar to newer myths while contradicting one another by claiming that a different god performed the same action, probably because myths changed in correlation to the popularity of each of the gods at a given time.
Five Suns | Variations and alternative myths
Anthropologist Susan Kellogg has studied colonial-era inheritance patterns of Nahuas in Mexico City, using Nahuatl- and Spanish-language testaments.
Tenochtitlan | Colonial era
Ortiz also points to the preponderance of human sacrifice during periods of food abundance following harvests compared to periods of food scarcity, the insignificant quantity of human protein available from sacrifices and the fact that aristocrats already had easy access to animal protein. Today many scholars point to ideological explanations of the practice, noting how the public spectacle of sacrificing warriors from conquered states was a major display of political power, supporting the claim of the ruling classes to divine authority. It also served as an important deterrent against rebellion by subjugated polities against the Aztec state, and such deterrents were crucial in order for the loosely organized empire to cohere.
Aztecs | Human sacrifice and cannibalism
In 1428, the Aztecs led a war of liberation against their rulers from the city of Azcapotzalco, which had subjugated most of the Valley of Mexico's peoples. The revolt was successful, and the Aztecs, through cunning political maneuvers and ferocious fighting skills, managed to pull off a true "rags-to-riches" story: they became the rulers of central Mexico as the leaders of the Triple Alliance.
Pre-Columbian Mexico | Aztec civilization
They were a forerunner of later cultures such as Teotihuacan, north of Mexico City, the Zapotecs in Oaxaca and the Mayas in southern Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. While empires rose and fell, the basic cultural underpinnings of the Mesoamerica stayed the same until the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. These included cities centered on plazas, temples usually built on pyramid bases, Mesoamerican ball courts and a mostly common cosmology.
Mexican art | Pre-Columbian art
Today the legacy of the Aztecs lives on in Mexico in many forms. Archeological sites are excavated and opened to the public and their artifacts are prominently displayed in museums. Place names and loanwords from the Aztec language Nahuatl permeate the Mexican landscape and vocabulary, and Aztec symbols and mythology have been promoted by the Mexican government and integrated into contemporary Mexican nationalism as emblems of the country. During the 19th century, the image of the Aztecs as uncivilized barbarians was replaced with romanticized visions of the Aztecs as original sons of the soil, with a highly developed culture rivaling the ancient European civilizations.
Aztecs | Legacy
After the arrival of the Europeans in Mexico and the conquest, indigenous populations declined significantly. This was largely the result of the epidemics of viruses brought to the continent against which the natives had no immunity. In 1520–1521, an outbreak of smallpox swept through the population of Tenochtitlan and was decisive in the fall of the city; further significant epidemics struck in 1545 and 1576. There has been no general consensus about the population size of Mexico at the time of European arrival. Early estimates gave very small population figures for the Valley of Mexico, in 1942 Kubler estimated a figure 200,000.
Aztecs | Population decline
The Aztec Empire ceased to exist with the Spanish final conquest of Tenochtitlan in August 1521. The empire had been composed of separate city-states that had either allied with or been conquered by the Mexica of Tenochtitlan, and rendered tribute to the Mexica while maintaining their internal ruling structures. Those polities now came under Spanish rule, also retaining their internal structures of ruling elites, tribute paying commoners, and land holding and other economic structures largely intact. Two key works by historian Charles Gibson, "Tlaxcala in the Sixteenth Century" (1952) and his monograph "The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule: A History of the Indians of the Valley of Mexico, 1519–1810" (1964) were central in reshaping the historiography of the indigenous and their communities from the Spanish Conquest to the 1810 Mexican independence era.
Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire | The Aztecs under Spanish rule
For example, the southern peripheral zones of Xoconochco were not in immediate contact with the central part of the empire. The hegemonic nature of the Aztec empire can be seen in the fact that generally local rulers were restored to their positions once their city-state was conquered and the Aztecs did not interfere in local affairs as long as the tribute payments were made. Although the form of government is often referred to as an empire, in fact most areas within the empire were organized as city-states (individually known as "altepetl" in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs). These were small polities ruled by a king or "tlatoani" (literally "speaker", plural "tlatoque") from an aristocratic dynasty.
Aztec Empire | Government
The ancient "Mexicans" counted their years by means of four signs combined with thirteen numbers, thus obtaining periods of 52 years, which are commonly known as "Xiuhmolpilli", a popular but incorrect generic name ; the most correct nahuatl word for this cycle is Xiuhnelpilli. We can see, below, the table with the current years :
Aztec calendar | Xiuhmolpilli
Most of the regional ethnicities of Mexico were represented in the city, such as Zapotecs from the Oaxaca region. They lived in apartment communities where they worked their trades and contributed to the city's economic and cultural prowess. Teotihuacan's economic pull impacted areas in northern Mexico as well. It was a city whose monumental architecture reflected a monumental new era in Mexican civilization, declining in political power about 650 CE—but lasting in cultural influence for the better part of a millennium, to around 950 CE.
Pre-Columbian era | Teotihuacan civilization
The mid-classical period ended in Northern Mesoamerica with the decline of Teotihuacan ca 700 CE. This allowed regional centers of power to flourish and compete for control of trade routes and the exploitation of natural resources. In this way the late Classic era commenced. As stated above, this was a time of political fragmentation during which no city had complete hegemony. Various population movements occurred during this period, caused by the incursion of groups from Aridoamerica and other northern regions, who pushed the older populations of Mesoamerica toward the south. Among these new groups were the Nahua, who would found the cities of Tula and Tenochtitlan, the two most important capitals of the Postclassical era.
Huapalcalco | Olmec-Xicalanca
The origin of the modern state is the reorganization of Aztec lands starting after the Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire. These lands were initially called the “audencia” of Mexico and included Mexico City, much of modern states of Guerrero, Morelos and Hidalgo. As the Spanish expanded their control west and south, the entirety was called “New Spain” with former Aztec lands being called “Mexico.” The organization of New Spain would change over the course of the colonial period, but the territory of the Aztecs would keep the name “Mexico”. After the Conquest in 1521, Hernán Cortés’ cousin Juan Altamirano was given dominion of the Toluca Valley.
State of Mexico | Spanish Colonial period
This is depicted in the twelfth book of the "Florentine Codex". This taunting is also depicted in an Aztec codex which relates the story, and the subsequent battles which led to the eventual capture of the city by the Spanish forces and their allies. During the stay of Cortes's expedition in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (initially as guest-captives of the Emperor Moctezuma II, before the battle which would lead to the conquest), they reported a wooden altar adorned with the skulls from recent sacrifices. Within the complex of the Templo Mayor itself, a relief in stucco depicted these sacrifices; the remains of this relief have survived and may now be seen in the ruins in the Zócalo of present-day Mexico City.
Tzompantli | Aztec era
In 1376 the Mexica elected their first tlatoani, Acamapichtli, following customs learned from the Culhuacan. These customs required cleaning daily nonstop as a ritual.
History of the Aztecs | Arrival in the Valley of Mexico
Mesoamerican civilization was a complex network of different cultures. As seen in the time-line below, these did not necessarily occur at the same time. The processes that gave rise to each of the cultural systems of Mesoamerica were very complex and not determined solely by the internal dynamics of each society. External as well as endogenous factors influenced their development. Among these factors, for example, were the relations between human groups and between humans and the environment, human migrations, and natural disasters. Historians and archaeologists divide prehispanic Mesoamerican history into three periods. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire (1519-1521) marks the end of indigenous rule and the incorporation of indigenous peoples as subjects of the Spanish Empire for the 300 year colonial period.
Mesoamerican chronology | Cultural horizons of Mesoamerica
The word "Aztec" in modern usage would not have been used by the people themselves. It has variously been used to refer to the Triple Alliance empire, the Nahuatl-speaking people of central Mexico prior to the Spanish conquest, or specifically the Mexica ethnicity of the Nahuatl-speaking peoples. The name comes from a Nahuatl word meaning "people from Aztlan," reflecting the mythical place of origin for Nahua peoples. For the purpose of this article, "Aztec" refers only to those cities that constituted or were subject to the Triple Alliance. For the broader use of the term, see the article onAztec civilization.
Aztec Empire | Etymology and definitions
In the Aztec culture, the Nahuatl word refers to a period of five intercalary days inserted between years of the Aztec calendar. Each of the 18 Aztec "months" had 20 days, for a total of 360 days. The accounted for the remaining 5 days of the approximate tropical year. According to the research by R. C. Tunnicliffe, the Aztecs dealt with the remaining fractional-day discrepancy with the true tropical year length by adding a (13 days) after each bundle of 52 years; these 13 days were not considered unlucky, but they were not characterized by the features (numbers and symbols) of the Aztec calendar.
Nēmontēmi | Introduction
The third segment details the Conquest and breaks with the traditional format of displaying the time and place of important events and only depicts the events themselves. This segment is thought to have once numbered, with the fourth, four two-page spreads. The final segment displays earlier colonial Mexican history and is broken into vertical columns that run from left to right. The glosses, in alphabetic Nahuatl, appear mostly in the migration segment to describe places and characters, though they occasionally help translate the year glyphs for readers not familiar with pre-Conquest Aztec writing. These glosses appear in small number in the Imperial segment, and then never again.
Codex Azcatitlan | Content
Even in the Aztec Triple Alliance which dominated the Aztec Empire, Tlacopan inherited the Azcapotzalco domains with a majority of Otomi people. However, the Otomi culture is hardly ever mentioned as protagonists of Mesoamerican prehispanic history, perhaps because the ethnic complexity of the Mexico plateau at that time does not permit distinguishing the contributions of the Otomi ancient from those produced by their neighbors. Only until recent years there seems to develop an interest on the role they played by the Otomi in the development of the Mexican plateau cultures, from the Mesoamerican preclassical period thru 1521 CE.
Huamango | History
However, there is little or no evidence that the Totonacs were the originators of the Classic era culture.
Classic Veracruz culture | Introduction
Prior to the conquest, the area that the occupies was open space, in the center of the Aztec capital . It was bordered to the east by 's "New Houses" or Palace (which would become the National Palace) and to the west by the "Old Houses", the palace of (1469–1481) where the Emperor , 's uncle and immediate predecessor also lived. A European-style plaza was not part of the conquered Aztec ; the old city had a sacred precinct or which was the absolute center of the city (and the universe, according to Aztec belief), but it was located to the immediate north and northeast of the modern-day .
Zócalo | Pre-conquest
Fathers admonished their daughters to be respectful and very clean, but not to use makeup, because they would look like "ahuianis". Mothers admonished their daughters to support their husbands, even if they turned out to be humble peasants. Boys were admonished to be humble, obedient and hard workers. Judging by their language, most of the "huehuetlatolli" seemed to have evolved over several centuries, predating the Aztecs and most likely adopted from other Nahua cultures.
Aztec society | Education
The central image is a large eagle with a serpent in its mouth which represents the Aztec culture. This symbol is now the main image that symbolizes modern Mexico. The left and right sides of the wall depict the colonial period. A Spanish Conquistador rapes an Indian woman. This part also illustrates Indians that supported the Spanish. They were traitors. Many of these were Indians who fought on the side of the Spanish were not Aztecs, but rather from other Indian tribes. They hated the Aztecs and wanted to overthrow them so they helped the Spanish and fought against the Aztecs.
The History of Mexico (mural) | West (main) wall
The Toltec culture () is a pre-Colombian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico in the early post-classic period of Mesoamerican chronology (ca. 900–1168 CE). The later Aztec culture saw the Toltecs as their intellectual and cultural predecessors and described Toltec culture emanating from "Tōllān" (Nahuatl for Tula) as the epitome of civilization; in the Nahuatl language the word "Tōltēcatl" (singular) or "Tōltēcah" (plural) came to take on the meaning "artisan". The Aztec oral and pictographic tradition also described the history of the Toltec Empire, giving lists of rulers and their exploits. Modern scholars debate whether the Aztec narratives of Toltec history should be given credence as descriptions of actual historical events.
Toltec | Introduction
However, as the conquerors often used such accounts to portray the Aztecs in a negative light, and thus justifying their colonization, the accuracy of these sources have been called into question. Martyr d'Anghiera, Lopez de Gomara, Oviedo y Valdes and Illescas, while not in Mesoamerica, wrote their accounts based on interviews with the participants. Bartolomé de Las Casas and Sahagún arrived later to New Spain but had access to direct testimony, especially of the indigenous people.
Human sacrifice in Aztec culture | Primary sources
Aztec culture and history has been central to the formation of a Mexican national identity after Mexican independence in 1821. In 17th and 18th century Europe, the Aztecs were generally described as barbaric, gruesome and culturally inferior. Even before Mexico achieved its independence, American-born Spaniards ("criollos") drew on Aztec history to ground their own search for symbols of local pride, separate from that of Spain. Intellectuals utilized Aztec writings, such as those collected by Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, and writings of Hernando Alvarado Tezozomoc, and Chimalpahin to understand Mexico's indigenous past in texts by indigenous writers. This search became the basis for what historian D.A.
Aztecs | The Aztecs and Mexico's national identity
Aztec religious life was organized around the calendars. As most Mesoamerican people, the Aztecs used two calendars simultaneously: a ritual calendar of 260 days called the "tonalpohualli" and a solar calendar of 365 days called the "xiuhpohualli". Each day had a name and number in both calendars, and the combination of two dates were unique within a period of 52 years. The tonalpohualli was mostly used for divinatory purposes and it consisted of 20 day signs and number coefficients of 1–13 that cycled in a fixed order. The "xiuhpohualli" was made up of 18 "months" of 20 days, and with a remainder of 5 "void" days at the end of a cycle before the new "xiuhpohualli" cycle began.
Aztecs | Calendar
According to legend, when the Mexica arrived in the Anahuac valley around Lake Texcoco, they were considered by the other groups as the least civilized of all, but the Mexica/Aztec decided to learn, and they took all they could from other people, especially from the ancient Toltec (whom they seem to have partially confused with the more ancient civilization of Teotihuacan). To the Aztec, the Toltec were the originators of all culture; "Toltecayotl" was a synonym for culture. Aztec legends identify the Toltecs and the cult of Quetzalcoatl with the legendary city of Tollan, which they also identified with the more ancient Teotihuacan.
Aztec mythology | Creation myth
The idea of the Aztecs has captivated the imaginations of Europeans since the first encounters, and has provided many iconic symbols to Western popular culture. In his book "The Aztec Image in Western Thought", Benjamin Keen argued that Western thinkers have usually viewed Aztec culture through a filter of their own cultural interests. The Aztecs and figures from Aztec mythology feature in Western culture. The name of Quetzalcoatl, a feathered serpent god, has been used for a genus of pterosaurs, "Quetzalcoatlus", a large flying reptile with a wingspan of as much as . Quetzalcoatl has appeared as a character in many books, films and video games.
Aztecs | In popular culture
Resultingly the foundations of "Aztec society" were developed as a synthesis between Mesoamerican societies and Aztec traditions, although today it cannot easily be discerned which parts come from where. Aztec society was not isolated from the larger Mesoamerican context, and in fact, most aspects of it were similar in structure to what existed in the surrounding societies.
Aztec society | Mesoamerican origins
Another Franciscan of great importance was Fray Juan de Torquemada, author of "Monarquia Indiana". Dominican Diego Durán also wrote extensively about prehispanic religion as well as a history of the Mexica. An invaluable source of information about many aspects of Aztec religious thought, political and social structure, as well as history of the Spanish conquest from the Mexica viewpoint is the Florentine Codex. Produced between 1545–1576 in the form of an ethnographic encyclopedia written bilingually in Spanish and Nahuatl, by Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún and indigenous informants and scribes, it contains knowledge about many aspects of precolonial society from religion, calendrics, botany, zoology, trades and crafts and history.
Aztecs | Sources of knowledge
The word is Nahuatl and was used by the Aztecs to refer to the skull-racks found in many Aztec cities; The first and most prominent example is the Huey (Great Skull-rack) located the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan and described by the early conquistadors. There were at least five more skull racks in Tenochtitlan but by all accounts they were much smaller. According to Bernal Díaz del Castillo's eye-witness account, the , written several decades after the event, after Hernán Cortés's expedition was forced to make their initial retreat from Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs erected a makeshift to display the severed heads of men and horses they had captured from the invaders.
Tzompantli | Aztec era
The empire extended its reach by a combination of trade and military conquest. It was never a true territorial empire controlling a territory by large military garrisons in conquered provinces, but rather dominated its client city-states primarily by installing friendly rulers in conquered territories, by constructing marriage alliances between the ruling dynasties, and by extending an imperial ideology to its client city-states. Client city-states paid tribute to the Aztec emperor, the "Huey Tlatoani", in an economic strategy limiting communication and trade between outlying polities, making them dependent on the imperial center for the acquisition of luxury goods. The political clout of the empire reached far south into Mesoamerica conquering polities as far south as Chiapas and Guatemala and spanning Mesoamerica from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceans.
Aztecs | Introduction
After the end of the Toltec empire in the 13th century and the decline of the city of Tula, the population shifted once again, this time to the lakes region of the valley. With this migration came the concept of a city-state based on the Toltec model. By the end of the 13th century, some fifty small urban units, semi-autonomous and with their own religious centers, had sprung up around the lakeshores of the valley. These remained intact with a population of about 10,000 each under Aztec rule and survived into the colonial period. All of these city-states, including the largest and most powerful, Tenochtitlan, with more than 150,000 inhabitants, claimed descent from the Toltecs.
Valley of Mexico | Aztec Empire