The Aztec Empire
Great Empires
The Valley of Mexico
a
mountain basin 7,000
feet above sea level
 several large, shallow
lakes at its center,
accessible resources, and
fertile soil
 supported a population
between 5 and 15 million
people
Aztecs Build an Empire
 arrived
1200 A.D.
 the Mexica - a poor,
nomadic people from the
harsh deserts of northern
Mexico
Aztecs Build an Empire
 arrived
1200 A.D.
 the Mexica - a poor,
nomadic people from the
harsh deserts of northern
Mexico
 the sun god,
Huitzilopochtli, told them
to found a city of their
own
Aztecs Build an Empire
 “look
for a place where an eagle perched on a cactus,
holding a snake in its mouth”
Aztecs Build an Empire
Lake Texcoco
 1325
– founded Tenochtitlan on a small island in Lake
Texcoco, at the center of the valley
Tenochtitlan: A Planned City
by
early 1500s a large urban center
population of 200,000 people
larger than London or any other European capital
of the time
island connected to mainland by three raised
roads (causeways) over the water and marshland
A Voice from the Past
“When
we saw all those cities and villages built in
the water, and other great towns on dry land, and
that straight and level causeway leading to
Mexico, we were astounded. These great towns
and pyramids and buildings rising from the water,
all made of stone, seemed like an enchanted
vision. Indeed, some of our soldiers asked
whether it was not all a dream.”
BERNAL
DÍAZ,
The Conquest of New Spain
7 Steps to Controlling an Empire
3. demand
2. base power on
tribute from
military conquest
conquered people in
the form of gold, maize, labor
4. Exercise loose control
over much of the empire
5. let local rulers govern
their own regions as
long as
they pay
tribute
1. divide the
empire into
provinces
the early 1500s,
the Aztecs controlled a vast Mesoamerican
empire, which stretched from central
Mexico to the Atlantic and
Pacific coasts.
6. respond brutally
to local rulers who
fail to pay tribute
7. Destroy villages,
capture or
slaughter the
inhabitants if they
don’t pay
Problems in the Aztec Empire
 1502
– Montezuma II,
crowned emperor
 demands for tribute and
sacrificial victims from
the provinces created
unrest and rebellion
 Montezuma attempted
reforms with little
success
Problems in the Aztec Empire
 as
domestic problems
worsened, the Spanish
arrived
 many believed the
strangers from across the
sea to be the return of
the god Quetzalcoatl
 this legend foretold the
destruction of the Aztecs
The Arrival of Cortez
The Arrival of Cortez
The Arrival of Cortez
The Arrival of Cortez
Aztec Power and Decline