Aztecs 1450 - Fall of Tenochtitlan
1450
They had heavy rains for a
period of 5 years.
This caused massive
flooding.
This ruined the land so that they had
to deal with famine.
Famine: an acute (serious) shortage of
food.
They tried to please the gods through
massive offerings of human hearts.
They believed they had learned their
lesson from the years of Famine.
• Lesson Learned: Don’t ever displease
the gods again!
The people watching the sacrifice
would also practice bloodletting.
There were political benefits to this
sacrificial system.
• Invite the leaders of the tributary tribes to see
what would happen to them if they rebelled!
• Europeans killed the
warriors in battle.
• Aztecs killed the warriors
after the battle.
There is a story of 20,000 victims
being sacrificed in 4 days.
Is that possible?
• 1487 The dedication of the Temple Mayor
The Spanish are coming! The Spanish are
coming!
Cortez and The Route he took:
The entire world will change forever
after the Spanish find the Americas.
“New World”
Old World
The Americas
Europe, Asia and Africa
They call Mexico “New Spain”.
The Spanish will conquer the
Philippines about the same time they
conquer the Aztecs.
Resources that were transported
across the Atlantic Ocean after the
Americas were “found”.
chocolate Corn
Potatoes Turkey
Tomatoes
Chili pepper
Peanuts Vanilla
Squash GOLD
Pumpkin SILVER
Sweet Potato
Syphilis Tobacco
rubber
New World
Columbian
Exchange
Chicken Pox
influenza (flu)
measles
Tea
scarlet fever Rice
smallpox
wheat
cats
Chickens Cows
goats
horses
Rabbits
Pigs
Sheep
Pigeons
Old World
STD
Syphilis
It takes years
to die from the
bacteria.
It does damage
the brain and
heart.
It takes 7-10
days from the
time one is
exposed to
smallpox
until the virus
starts to
appear.
Estimated decline of the Native
Population of Mexico due to disease:
24 Million
20 Million
16 Million
12 Million
8 Million
4 Million
1 Million
1500
1540 1580 1620
Maya
Incas
Aztecs
<-------------------------------------------------
1000 I 600 I 200 0 200 I 600 I 1000 I 1200 I 1600 I 2000
Cortez arrives-->The siege of
Tenochtitlan
(It will take 2 years)
Montezuma II
Cortez
1.When Cortes, the
Spanish conquistador
arrived in 1519 with
his fleet of
galleons(ships), the
Aztecs thought that he
was the god Quetzalcoatl
returning . It was
predicted that he would
arrive in 1519.
It took 3 months for Cortez to
reach Tenochtitlan.
2. Montezuma then invited Montezuma and
his men in as guests.
3. Cortez captures Montezuma
and held him hostage in the
palace for 6 months.
Cortez was in trouble for disobeying the
Viceroy. ( He is kind of like a governor of the
area.)
5. He left Tenochtitlan.
6. His men attacked the priests for doing
their sacrifices.
7. They had to get
out of there quick!
Some died because they
Were trying to take the
Heavy gold with them.
8.There were many battles where
the Spanish were defeated.
During that time one man entered
Tenochtitlan with smallpox!
9.Finally, Cortez came back with 500
men and an army full of warriors
that were angry about paying tribute.
10.They circled Tenochtitlan and
cut off their supply of water and
food for 3 months(a siege).
11.The Aztecs were
weakened from
starvation and
disease.
When they did
finally fight, the
Spanish and the
tributary warriors
easily won.
FYI: The Aztecs had a calendar
that was modeled after the Mayan
Calendar (365 days).
>After a sacrifice the corpses would
then be carefully dis-membered.
>Different body
parts were
handed out to
the nobles
to be eaten.