Native America and Europe in
the New World
The Norton Anthology of World Literature
(1500-1650)
Volume C
Definitions to KNOW
• Nahuatl
– a member of any of various peoples of ancient origin ranging from
southeastern Mexico to parts of Central America and including the
Aztecs.
• Tenochtitlán
– the capital of the Aztec empire: founded in 1325; destroyed by the
Spaniards in 1521; now the site of Mexico City.
• Ethnographer
– A person who studies the branch of anthropology which deals with
the scientific description of individual cultures.
• Midwife
– a person trained to assist women in childbirth
Aztec Literature
• Florentine Codex
– Intended to preserve preconquest ethnography.
• Cantares Mexicanos
– Records the texts of a postconquest movement in which
new themes and ideas were grafted to old forms.
• Both offer a wealth of insight into the life and thought of
Tenochtitlán, a town founded (1325) in a small swampy island
in Lake Texcoco.
• Before and after the arrival of Cortés
– Spanish explorer and conquistador who conquered Aztec Mexico
for Spain.
The Aztec Empire, on the eve of the
Spanish Conquest.
Tenochtitlán, looking East. The mural painting at
the National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City.
Painted in 1930 by Dr. Atl.
Life of Aztec
• Empire promoted commerce and trade
• Several types of money were in regular use
– cacao beans
• a small rabbit was worth 30 beans
• a turkey egg cost 3 beans
• a tamale cost a single bean
– quachtli
• standardized lengths of cotton cloth were used for larger
purchases
• Decline due to small pox and other diseases
Mythology and Religion
• Aztecs made reference to at least two
manifestations of the supernatural:
• European scholars routinely mistranslated
them as "god" or "demon"
• see an eagle devouring a snake perched on a
fruit-bearing nopal cactus
– Coat of arms of Mexico
Aztec Mythology
• Worshipped hundreds of
Gods and Goddesses
• Mictlan (dead land: the
grim) - ordinary dead:
Dantesque underworld
whose inner precincts
were reached after a
perilous journey (4 years)
past mountains, deserts,
and guardian beasts.
• Tlalocan (the pleasant) evergreen abode of Tlaloc, the
rain god: those who died by
drowning
• Warriors paradise in the sky:
reserved for warriors slain in
battle, people who died when
hit by lightning, and women
who died in childbed.
– Brillant birds
– Flowers
– Music
Human Sacrifice
• The Great Speaker
Ahuitzotl reported that the
Aztecs sacrificed 84,400
prisoners over the course
of four days
• Ritual cannibalism was
also a feature of Aztec
culture but it is believed
that the practice was not
widespread.
Aztec Society
• Class structure
– The highest class were the pilli
or nobility
• Originally not hereditary
– The second class were the
mācehualli, originally peasants
– Slaves or tlacotin also
constituted an important class
• become slaves because of debts,
as a criminal punishment or as
war captives
• Children did not become slaves
•
Traveling merchants called pochteca
•
Small but important class
– Facilitated commerce
– Communicated vital information
across the empire and beyond its
borders
– Often employed as spies.
Aztec Society continued . . .
•
Eduardo Noguera in Annals of Anthropology estimates that in later stages:
– 20% of the population was dedicated to agriculture and food production.
– 80% of society were warriors, artisans and traders.
– Eventually, according to William T. Sanders, in his book Settlement Patterns in
Central Mexico. Handbook of Middle American Indians most of the mācehuallis
were dedicated to arts and crafts. Their works were an important source of income
for the city.
• Schooling:
– At 15, all boys and girls went to school. The Mexica, one of the Aztec
groups, were one of the first people in the world to have mandatory
education for nearly all children, regardless of gender, rank, or station.
• military studies
• calmecac for advanced learning in writing, astronomy, statesmanship,
theology, and other areas.
Aztec Government
• Kings or “speakers” (tlatoanime) of
Tenochtutlán and the inner city-states
• Eventually given the name gobernador
(governor)
– Implement colonial policy
– Jerónimo López (1608) - Last gobernador of
Tenochtutlán
Florentine Codex and
Cantares Mexicanos
• The two principal sources of 16th century Aztec literature
• Name given to 12 books created under the supervision of
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún (1499?-1590)
– ethnographer
• Created between approximately 1540 and 1585.
• Copy of original source materials which are now lost
• Thought to possibly be destroyed by the Spanish
authorities who confiscated Sahagún's manuscripts.
Aztec warriors as shown in the Florentine Codex.
Page 51 of Book IX from the Florentine Codex. The text is in Nahuatl.