FREE ESSAY ON AZTEC EMPIRE HISTORY

AZTEC EMPIRE HISTORY

The Aztec Empire History
The center of the Aztec civilization was the Valley of Mexico, a huge,oval basin about
7,500 feet above sea level. The Aztecs were formed afterthe Toltec civilization occurred
when hundreds of civilians came towards Lake Texcoco. In the swamplands there was only
one piece of land to farm on and it was totally surrounded by more marshes. The Aztec
families somehow converted these disadvantages to a mighty empire known as the Aztec
Empire. People say the empire was partially formed by a deeply believed legend. As the
legend went, it said that Aztec people would create an empire in a swampy place where
they would see an eagle eating a snake, while perched on a cactus, which was growing out
of a rock in the swamplands. This is what priests claimed they saw when entering the new
land. 
In addition, The mother of the Aztec creation story was called Coatlique, the Lady of the
Skirt of Snakes. She was created in the image of the unknown, decorated with skulls,
snakes, and lacerated hands. There are no cracks in her body and she is a perfect
monolith (a totality of intensity and self-containment, yet her features were sqaure and
decapitated). 
Coatlique was first impregnated by an obsidian knife and gave birth to Coyolxanuhqui,
goddess of the moon, and to a group of male offspring, who became the stars. Then one day
Coatlique found a ball of feathers, which she tucked into her bosom. Whe she looked for
it later, it was gone, at which time she realized that she was again pregnant. Her
children, the moon and stars did not believe her story. Ashamed of their mother, they
resolved to kill her. A goddess could only give birth once, to the original litter of
divinity and no more. During the time that they were plotting her demise, Coatlicue gave
birth to the fiery god of war, Huitzilopochtli. With the help of a fire serpent, he
destroyed his brothers and sister, murdering them in a rage. He beheaded Coyolxauhqui and
threw her body into a deep gorge in a mountain, where it lies dismembered forever. 
By the year 1325 their capital city was finished. They called it Tenochtitlan. - At its
height, the Aztec Empire included millions of people. Even though no one knows exactly
how many people there were, it seems clear that the Aztec Empire had a population equal
to the large European countries at the time! Tenochtitlfin alone, which may have had as
many as 200,000 people, was larger than any European city. Along the shores of Lake
Texcoco were other cities. These cities were connected to Tenochtitlfin by a system of
causeways, or raised earthen roads, built across the lake. Bridges on the causeways
allowed canoes to go from one part of the lake to another. In the capital city, aqueducts
were constructed, bridges were built, and chinapas were made. Chinapas were little
islands formed by pilled up mud. On these chinapas Aztecs grew their food. The Aztec
Empire included many cities and towns, especially in the Valley of Mexico. 
The early settlers built log rafts, then covered them with mud and planted seeds to
create roots and develop more solid land for building homes in this marshy land. Canals
were also cut out through the marsh so that a typical Aztec home had its back to a canal
with a canoe tied at the door. In the early 1400s, Tenochtitlan joined with Texcoco and
Tlacopan, two other major cities in the Valley of Mexico. Good farming practices helped
to support the large population of Tenochtitlan. For example, the Aztecs built irrigation
systems, constructed terraces on nearby hillsides, and enriched the soil with fertilizer.
They developed a completely new agricultural technique for making more farmland out of
the swampy land around the city by creating artificial islands, called chinampas, or
floating gardens. The chinampas were made by piling rich earth from the bottom of Lake
Texcoco onto rafts made of weeds. After awhile, the roots of plants and trees grew down
to the lake bottom, anchoring the rafts. These island gardens covered most of the
southern part of the lake and were planted with crops that produced large amounts of
food. Their crops included corn, which was their principal crop, various kinds of
vegetables (such as beans, squash, tomatoes, and peppers), and flowers. The Aztecs also
planted corn and other crops in the irrigated fields around Lake Texcoco. They raised
ducks, geese and turkeys, which were eaten by the rich nobles and merchants. They had
dogs, but did not use work animals or plows. Instead, they used pointed sticks to poke
holes for planting seeds in the soft soil 
Tenochtitlan became the most powerful member of the alliance. The Aztec Conquerors - The
Aztecs carried on constant wars with neighboring peoples. They fought with wooden swords
that had sharp stone blades. They also used bows and arrows as well as spears. Their
armor was padded cotton made into suits fitted to the body. This armor worked well
against the weapons of other Indians. However, it was little protection against the steel
swords, arrows, muskets, and cannons of the Spaniards. The main purpose of the Aztec wars
was to capture enemy soldiers so that thousands could be sacrificed, or offered, to the
gods. Captives were brought to. There they were led up the steps of a great pyramid on
the top of which stood a temple. In front of the temple stood the sacrificial altar.
While drums boomed, each unlucky captive was held down on the altar. The sharp knife of
an Aztec priest flashed in the sun, and in an instant the victim's chest was opened. The
priest then reached in, grabbed the heart, and held it aloft for all to see. In this
manner, the Aztecs sacrificed thousands of people each year.
Montezuma I ruled from 1440 to 1469 and conquered large areas to the east and to the
south. Montezuma's successors expanded the empire until it extended between what is now
Guatemala and the Mexican State of San Luis Potosi. Montezuma II became emperor in 1502
when the Aztec Empire was at the height of its power. In 1519, the Spanish explorer
Hernando Cortes landed on the East Coast of Mexico and marched inland to Tenochtitlan.
The Spaniards were joined by many of the Indians who were conquered and forced to pay
high taxes to the emperor. Montezuma did not oppose Cortes because he thought that he was
the God Quetzalcoatl. An Aztec legend said that Quetzalcoatlwas driven away by another
rival god and had sailed across the sea and would return some day. His return was
predicted to come in the year Ce Acatl on the Aztec Calendar. This corresponded to the
year 1519. Due to this prediction, Montezuma II thought Quetzalcoatl had returned when
Cortez and his troops invaded. He did not resist and was taken prisoner by Cortez and his
troops. In 1520, the Aztecs rebelled and drove the Spaniards from Tenochtitlan, but
Montezuma II was killed in the battle. Cortes reorganized his troops and resurged into
the city. 
Montezuma's successor, Cuauhtemoc, surrendered in August of 1520. The Spaniards, being
strong Christians, felt it was their duty to wipe out the temples and all other traces of
the Aztec religion. They destroyed Tenochtitlan and built Mexico City on the ruins.
However, archaeologists have excavated a few sites and have uncovered many remnants of
this society. Language: The Aztec spoke a language called Nahuatl (pronounced NAH waht
l). It belongs to a large group of Indian languages, which also include the languages
spoken by the Comanche, Pima, Shoshone and other tribes of western North America. The
Aztec used pictographs to communicate through writing. Some of the pictures symbolized
ideas and others represented the sounds of the syllables. Food: The principal food of the
Aztec was a thin cornmeal pancake called a tlaxcalli. (In Spanish, it is called a
tortilla.) They used the tlaxcallis to scoop up foods while they ate or they wrapped the
foods in the tlaxcalli to form what is now known as a taco. They hunted for most of the
meat in their diet and the chief game animals were deer, rabbits, ducks and geese. The
only animals they raised for meat were turkeys, rabbits, and dogs. Arts and Crafts: The
Aztec sculptures, which adorned their temples and other buildings, were among the most
elaborate in all of the Americas. Their purpose was to please the gods and they attempted
to do that in everything they did. Many of the sculptures reflected their perception of
their gods and how they interacted in their lives. The most famous surviving Aztec
sculptureis the large circular Calendar Stone, which represents the Aztec universe
Aztec priests are an example of specialization. The priests were supported by the efforts
of other people. They did not grow their own food or make their own clothes. Priests
enjoyed power and privilege. The priests formed part of the upper class.
Aztec society, like all complex societies, had different social classes. People at the
top - nobles, high priests, and people important in the military and government - had
lives of luxury, with fine houses, clothing, and jewelry. The largest class was made up
of commoners, such as farmers, servants, and craftspeople. In Aztec society, commoners
were organized into clans, or groups, made up of many different families. Each clan
joined people together throughout their lives. Members of a clan all lived in the same
district. Merchants formed yet another class in Aztec society, separate from the
commoners.
The Aztecs carried on a great deal of trade with other Indian nations. Traders, or
pochtecas (pohch TAY kahs), also acted as spies when they went to other Indian cities.
They brought back not only goods but also valuable information, such as any signs of
unrest in the Empire or possible danger to the Aztec traders. Like the commoners, traders
lived in their own district. However, traders were prosperous.
Religion was extremely important in Aztec life. They worshipped hundreds of gods and
goddesses, each of whom ruled one or more human activities or aspects of nature. The
people had many agricultural gods because theirculture was based heavily on farming. The
Aztecs made many sacrifices to their gods. When victims reached the altar they were
stretched across asacrificial stone. A priest with an obsidian knife cut open the
victim's chest and tore out his heart. The heart was placed in a bowl called a chacmool.
This heart was used as an offer to the gods. If they were in dire need,a warrior would be
sacrificed, but for any other sacrifice a normal person would be deemed sufficient. It
was a great honor to be chosen for a sacrifice to the gods. Furthermore, Religion was
ever present Each place and each trade had its patron deity: each day, and each division
of the day, was watched over by its own god. Priests were expected to live in chastity,
to mortify their flesh, and to understand astronomy, astrology, the complex rituals and
ceremonies, and the art of picture writing. Games also formed part of the religious
ritual. A popular ball game was lachtli, in which a small rubber ball had to be struck by
the hips or thighs and knocked across a special court In another ritual game, men attired
as birds and attached to ropes were slung in a wide circle around a pole. The official
state religion of the soldiers and noblemen was concerned primarily with the great and
powerful gods: the creators, the solar deities, the patrons of the warrior orders. By
contrast, the common people seem to have preferred the lesser, more accessible gods: the
patrons of the craft guilds, the protectors of local shrines, and the deities who looked
after the things of everyday life. For everyone, however, rich or poor, each month of the
Aztec calendar had its festival, with music, dancing, processions, and sacrifices. All
this came to an end with the Spanish conquest and the introduction of the Christian
religion.
Aztecs believed that the world had been created and destroyed several times. Ultimately,
they believed their world would again end in disaster. The Aztecs thought that their
special purpose in life was to delay that destruction. They sacrificed to the god of war
and the sun to keep the sun in the sky and avoid destruction for as long as possible.
Many other Aztec gods controlled natural forces. For example, there was a god of rain and
a god of wind. These gods also required attention, although they might not have demanded
human sacrifice. Life was very insecure, since the gods could cause all sorts of problems
if they became unhappy. It was important, therefore, to know what the gods wanted. The
priests supposedly had the ability to interpret signs of the gods' pleasure or
unhappiness. Priests had enormous power in the Aztec society.The priests also understood
the great ceremonial calendar. It told of holy days that called for happy celebrations
with song and dance. It also told of other days that were solemn and required fasting.
The Aztecs believed that the calendar, if properly understood, could foretell the
future.
Like all the Mexican peoples, the Aztecs worshipped a multitude of gods, each of whom
demanded offerings and sacrifices. Above all, the Aztecs considered themselves the chosen
people of HUITZILOPOCHTLI, the sun and war god, in whose name they were destined to
conquer all rival nations. Huitzilopochtli shared the main temple at Tenochtitlan with
TIaloc, the rain god, important to the farmers in a land where drought was a constant
threat Another important god was QUETZALCOATL, the feathered serpent, patron of arts and
crafts and the god of self-sacrifice.
The Aztec held many religious ceremonies to ensure good crops by winning the favor of the
gods and then to thank them for the harvest. Every 52 years, the Aztec held a great
celebration called the Binding up of the Years. Prior to the celebration, the people
would let their hearth fires go out and then re-light them from the new fire of the
celebration and feast. A partial list of the Aztec gods: CENTEOTL, The corn god.
COATLICUE,She of the Serpent Skirt. EHECATL, The god of wind. HUEHUETEOTL, The fire god.
HUITZILOPOCHTLI, The war/sun god and special guardian of Tenochtitlan. MICTLANTECUHTLE,
The god of the dead. OMETECUHLTI and his wife OMECIHUATL, They created all life in the
world. QUETZALCOATL, The god of civilization and learning. TEZCATLIPOCA, The god of Night
and Sorcery. TLALOC, The rain god. TONATIUH, The sun god. TONANTZIN, The honored grand
mother. XILONEN, Young maize ear, Maize represents a chief staple of the Aztecs.XIPE
TOTEC, The god of springtime and re-growth. Aztec dances: The Aztec Dance is known for
its special way of expressing reverence and prayer to the supernatural gods of the sun,
earth, sky, and water. Originally, the resources accessible to the native Indians were
limited, yet they were able to create lively music with the howling of the sea conch, and
with rhythms produced by drums and by dried seeds which were usually tied to the feet of
the dancers. 
Archeologists have learned about the Aztec gods and religious ceremonies from the artwork
found in the ruins of their cities. The images of the gods are represented in stone
sculptures and carved wall scuptures on the walls of the temples. The inside walls of the
buildings have remains of brilliantly colored paintings showing ceremonial events, such
as the human sacrifices. An especially famous Aztec sculpture is the enormous calendar
stone, a carved stone circle 12 ft. in diameter. The calendar represents the Aztec
universe with the face of the sun god in the center. He is surrounded by designs that
symbolize the days and months and the locations of heavenly bodies at different times of
the year.
The Aztec developed a writing and counting system based on pictographs in which each
picture represented an object or the sound of a syllable. Their counting system was based
on the number 20, in which one picture represented 20 items, another 20 x 20 ( = 400)
items and so on. Archaelogists have learned to decode some of their writings, which talk
about historical events and provide records of supplies and items for trade.
The Aztecs produced a variety of goods, some for the ruler and his noblemen, and some
that were sold in markets. Gold ornaments, brightly colored woven cloth and salt
harvested from the lake bed were luxury items that were traded with distant peoples to
the south. They were traded for other luxury items, such as tropical bird feathers and
jaguar skins (used for ceremonial garments), cotton, rubber, and cacao beans (for making
chocolate). Trading goods were carried by canoe and by long caravans of porters, since
the Aztecs had no wheeled vehicles or pack animals. Aztec warriors traveled with the
caravans and the merchants who led them to protect them in dangerous areas.
Aztec culter had a very complex structure in which there were lower class, middle class
and upper class peoples. They had a good system of transportation and irrigation through
the use of canals. They had a strong warfare system, which was seen by their conquering
of many lands. They also had their own language, and their own mathematical system. Their
scholars were also very intelligent, they had developed their own system of time
measurement and a calendar system that was very accurate. 
Work Cited
1) Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia Version 7.0.5 CD-ROM Grolier Inc.1995
2) Microsoft Encarta 96 CD-ROM Microsoft, 1996 3) 
Internet Addresses: 
I)http://www.mexicana.com/english/community/29nf-aztec.shtml
II)http://udgftp.cencar.udg.mx/ingles/Precolombina/Azteca/mexintro.html
III)http://www.rmplc.co.uk/eduweb/sites/wickham/topics/aztecs/aztecs.html