Aztec Notes
Textbook:
- A.D. 1300s: Came to power in Mesoamerica
- Early Aztec were hunters and warriors
- A.D. 1200: Moved into central Mexico.
- For many years, searched for home believed to have been promised by sun god, Quetzalcoatl
- A.D. 1325: Took refuge on swampy island in Lake Texcoco
- Priests declared that gods demanded they build a great city on this spot
- Worked around the clock
- Bridges to the mainland with soil dug from lake bottom
- Floating gardens on lake surface
- Became known as the city of Tenochtitlan
- Next 100 years: built temples, palaces, and homes
- Center of a web to trade routes
- Relied on strong kings that claimed to be descendants from the gods
- Council of priests, nobles, and warriors usually named new emperor from the ruling family
- Wanted someone skilled in warfare to lead troops to battle
- Montezuma I
- Most powerful Aztec ruler
- Governed from A.D. 1440 to A.D. 1469
- Used armies to expand empire to Gulf of Mexico
- Built temples, aqueducts, and roads
- By A.D. 1500: armies conquered much of what is current Mexico
- Made up of independent territories governed by local leaders
- Leaders had the Aztec rulers support in return for tribute such as goods or money paid from the conquered peoples
- Emperor = top of Aztec society
- Nobles
- Commoners
- Majority
- Worked as farmers, artisans, or merchants
- Unskilled workers
- Enslaved people
- Boys were taught to be warriors
- Girls trained to work at home, weave cloth, and prepare for motherhoods
- Not equal to men
- Could own and inherit property
- Priests:
- Important role in society
- Sacrificed captives to please the gods
- Death considered honorable
- Those sacrificed would be rewarded in the afterlife
- Worked to preserve religion, history, and literature
- Recorded these in books
- Like the Maya: Developed two different calendars
- 260-day
- Religious calendar
- Used to track important ceremonies and festivals
- 365-day
- Everyday use
- When to plant and harvest crops
- Mexico not suitable for farming
- Overcame this issue with the use of irrigating and fertilizing the land
- Aztec trade
- Crafts, fruit, vegetables, and grain passed through markets and along trade routes
- Helped to make Aztec empire wealthy