The Spanish Conquest of the Americas: Aztec Civilisation

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering Aztec religion, deities, temples, afterlife beliefs, and the chinampa farming system.

Polytheistic Religion

The Aztec religious system characterized by the worship of hundreds of gods in total.

Aztec Cosmology

The belief that the Earth was flat and that the Sun fought darkness each night in order to rise in the morning.

Tlaloc

The Aztec god of rain, water, and fertility, worshipped to ensure good harvests and honored at the Templo Mayor.

Xipe Totec

The Aztec god of fertility and rebirth, associated with skin and renewal.

Templo Mayor (Great Temple)

The main temple located in Tenochtitlán, dedicated jointly to Huitzilopochtli (god of war) and Tlaloc (god of rain).

Huitzilopochtli

The Aztec god of war, honored alongside Tlaloc at the main temple in Tenochtitlán.

Pyramid of the Sun

A massive temple situated in Teotihuacán, an important city that influenced the Aztecs.

Human Sacrifice (Aztec)

A ritual believed to please the gods, wherein priests removed the hearts of victims (often prisoners or slaves) and rolled their bodies down temple steps, with up to 20,000 people sacrificed per year.

Aztec Afterlife

The belief system where reaching heaven depended on how a person died: dying in battle or childbirth granted direct entry to heaven, while dying of old age required an initial journey through the underworld.

Chinampas

Small man-made islands or floating gardens constructed by fencing off an area and filling it with mud, sediment, and decaying vegetation until it rose above the water level for planting crops.

Tenochtitlán

The densely populated capital city of the Aztec Empire, situated on Lake Texcoco and featuring the Templo Mayor.

Lake Texcoco

The body of water where the Aztecs settled, which had limited farmland but provided water for chinampa irrigation, reducing dependence on rainfall.

Chinampa Agriculture Benefits

An agricultural practice that yielded multiple harvests per year, maximized space in Tenochtitlán, prevented soil erosion, kept soil fertile, and ensured food security with crops such as maize, beans, and squash.