The Aztec were hunter- gatherers living on a small island in northwestern Mexico, when their god, Huitzilopochtli (wee tsee loh POCH tlee), told them to leave their homeland. He said: "Go where the cactus grows, on which the eagle sits happily…there you shall wait, there you shall meet a number of tribes and with your arrow or with your shield you shall conquer them." They journeyed through deserts and over steep mountains. They were hungry and thirsty, hoping at every turn to see the promised sign: an eagle sitting on a prickly pear cactus, eating a snake. There was no time to grow food, so they ate fly eggs and snakes to survive. There was no time to weave cloth, so they wore animal skins for clothing. 1 THE AWESOM E AZTECS
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The Aztec were hunter-gatherers
living on a small island in northwestern
Mexico, when their god, Huitzilopochtli
(wee tsee loh POCH tlee), told them to
leave their homeland. He said: "Go where
the cactus grows, on which the eagle sits
happily…there you shall wait, there you
shall meet a number of tribes and with
your arrow or with your shield you shall conquer them."
They journeyed through deserts and over steep mountains. They were
hungry and thirsty, hoping at every turn to see the promised sign: an eagle sitting
on a prickly pear cactus, eating a snake. There was no time to grow food, so they
ate fly eggs and snakes to survive. There was no time to weave cloth, so they wore
animal skins for clothing.
They journeyed through the lands of tribes
that were larger and stronger. These tribes called
them Dog People because of their barbarian ways.
They did not allow the Aztec to settle. Besides,
the Aztec still had not seen the sign.
Finally the Aztec came upon the promised
sign. They found the eagle eating the snake on a
cactus on a small, swampy island in Lake
Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico. After 200 years of wandering, they started to
build a powerful empire.
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THE AWESOME AZTECS
They named their new home Tenochtitlan, (tay nawch tee TLAN) "Place of
the Prickly Pear Cactus." No one knows exactly why the Aztec came to the
Valley of Mexico. But by the time the Aztec arrived in the early 1300s, powerful
tribes had already claimed the best farm lands in the area.
Building an Empire
So they settled on a soggy, uninhabited island in Lake Texcoco. The island
was about 12 miles square in size.
The future did not look good for the Aztec. Because the land on their island
was mostly swamp, they couldn't grow corn for food or cotton for clothing. Since
there wasn't much wood and stone on the small island to build huts, the Aztec used
grass and mud from the swamp to make their houses.
They caught and ate birds and fish that lived on the island or in the water
around it. They ate algae from the water too!
From the tribes around them, the Aztec learned a method of farming that
worked well in the swampy areas. It was
called chinampas, or "floating gardens."
Chinampas are narrow strips of land about
300 feet long and 15 to 30 feet wide,
almost completely surrounded by canals.
The Aztec built these floating gardens around their central city. Using
chinampas, Aztec farmers grew vegetables unknown in Europe: corn, squash, chili
peppers, beans, and tomatoes.
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The Aztec used canals to travel
by canoe to the city of Tenochtitlan
and nearby islands. They also built
roads to the mainland called
"causeways". One was over five
miles long.
Aztec neighbors were more
powerful and more civilized. They forced the Aztec to serve as soldiers in their
armies. They learned to be skilled warriors.
The empire they created covered
the southern third of Mexico and
included Guatemala, an area about 375
miles wide and 315 miles long.
As the number of Aztec warriors
increased, and so did their reputation.
They formed an alliance, or union,
with two other powerful tribes.
One of the greatest rulers of the empire was
Ahuitzotl (ah WEE soh tl). Ahuitzotl completed the
pyramid of the Great Temple, which he dedicated to the
god Huitzilopochtli. He made lightning-quick attacks
that took his enemies by surprise.
When Ahuitzotl died in 1502, his nephew
Moctezuma, became the new ruler. He too led his warriors into battles of
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conquest. Under his rule, the empire reached its greatest size, with a population of
about 25 million people.
LIVING IN THE EMPIRE4
As the empire expanded, Aztec society became more complex.
Social Classes - The four social classes in each Aztec town were: Commoners,
slaves, nobles, and merchants. Commoners made up the biggest group of the
Aztec population.
They farmed their
own land but also had
to farm the nobles'
land. Men worked in
the fields, women
cooked and made
cloth and cared for the younger children. At age 10, boys were sent to school,
where they learned Aztec religion and history. Aztec commoners had to pay tribute
(a kind of tax) in goods or services to the government. Tribute could be paid in
crops, in handmade items such as jewelry, or clothing, and by work on projects
such as temples or canals.
The nobles were the smallest class, but they controlled the other classes.
Being a noble was hereditary (passed down from one generation to the next). They
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were government officials, priests, and warriors. Nobles lived off tribute paid by
commoners and conquered peoples.
Aztec merchants traveled throughout the empire bringing back colored
feathers, jade, and cocoa for the nobles. Slaves carried heavy loads for trips of 250
miles or more. Merchants sold many of their goods in city markets throughout the
empire. The Spanish explorer Hernando Cortes later reported that more than
60,000 people visited the city market daily.
Slaves were the lowest of the Aztec society. Many slaves were captives of war.
Others had committed crimes or who had not repaid debts.
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Most of those living in the Aztec Empire were conquered peoples. Aztec
rule was harsh. Many tribes were forced to give up so much of their food as tribute
that they were nearly starving. These tribes were very angry at Aztec rulers.
The Aztec built fancy palaces,
temples, and government storehouses
out of stone and brick. Perhaps the
most important Aztec artifacts that
archaeologists have discovered are the
Aztec codices (a kind of book, with pages made from tree bark).
The pages open and
close like folding screens
with pictures that stand for
words. At one time there
were hundreds of these
books. Unfortunately, the
Spanish burned many of the
codices, and others simply
rotted in the humidity.
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Fighting for the gods
The everyday lives of all classes of Aztec society revolved around religion.
These are just a few of the 1,000 Aztec gods- most of them represented forces of
nature. The Aztecs believed in many gods and goddesses. Their deities were gods
of nature. They believed that the god of sun, for example, brought the sun up every
day. They truly believed that if they did not keep the sun god happy, he would not
bring up the sun, and the world would end.
Corn Water Fire
Food Mother Flowers
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Wind Moon Sun
Because the Aztec lived by farming, the two most important gods in the
Aztec world were the god of rain, and the god of the sun and war who could
destroy the world whenever he wanted.
Human sacrifice!
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When the Temple of the Sun in Tenochtitlan was dedicated to the sun and
rain gods, the Aztec sacrificed as many as 10,000 people! The Aztec priests
offered sacrifices to the gods to make their crops grow.
Most of the people sacrificed by the Aztec were captives of war. The Aztec
believed that sacrificing an enemy warrior especially pleased their gods. To keep
their many gods happy, the Aztecs believed they had to be fed and that the way to
feed their gods was to offer them human sacrifice. Since the Aztec gods were
always hungry, the Aztecs fed them as many people as they could capture.
Needless to say, other tribes did not especially like being fed to the hungry
Aztec gods. Whenever possible, they chased the Aztec tribe away. Because of this,
the Aztecs did not have a home of their own. Wherever they went, sooner or later,
the other tribes in the area would chase them away.
War and Religion
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The Aztecs also wanted to control the
Valley of Mexico, so they made war on any
tribes who resisted them. And they conquered
more and more tribes.
At schools, the boys learned ruthless
fighting methods and became strong warriors.
Aztec warriors fought without fear of death.
They believed that if they died in war, they
would go live with the gods in the heavens.
Warriors also fought hard because the
more captives they took, the higher their social rank would be. But their cruelty
led to deep anger among conquered tribes. Later, Spanish invaders would use this