• Around 1300 CE, a wandering
tribe of Indians wandered into
the Valley of Mexico. These
people were called the Aztecs.
When the Aztecs arrived in
the Valley of Mexico, other
tribes were already in
residence. They had already
taken the best land. The
Aztecs had to make due with
the swampy shores of Lake
Texcoco.
The Aztecs:
History
• But this did not bother the Aztecs. Not only
were they very clever people, but they had
every faith that their main god had sent them
to the swampy shores of Lake Texcoco, so
obviously this place was perfect for them.
The Aztecs: History
• They built canoes, so they
could fish and hunt birds
that lived near the water.
They created floating
gardens for growing food.
They created more land
for agriculture by filling in
the marshes. They built
dikes to hold back the
water.
• After they settled in, they
began to conquer the
neighboring tribes. They
conquered first one tribe, and
then another, and then
another.
• Each conquered tribe had to
pay tribute to the Aztecs in the
form of food, clothing, jewels,
and of course, captives to feed
the hungry gods. That made
the Aztecs very happy and very
rich.
• The Aztecs expanded and
expanded until they had built
an EMPIRE
• The Emperor
& Palace:
The Aztecs
The Aztecs:
Government
had an emperor, a king who ruled
over all the people. The emperor
lived in the imperial palace in the
capital city of Tenochtitlan. The
palace was huge. It even had its
own zoo. The ground floor of the
palace housed government offices
and the shops of the most talented
craftsman in the Aztec empire.
The Aztecs: City-states
• As the Aztec empire grew, under the direction of
government officials, Aztec engineers built many
fine cities. A noble family controlled each city.
the Aztecs, like the Mayas, were governed by
city-states.
The Aztecs: Home Rule / Crime and
Punishment
• With their own people,
the Aztec rulers were
quite severe. Aztec courts
decided on the
punishment those who
broke the law would
receive. Drunkenness
was the worse crime. The
punishment for being
drunk was death. Thieves
were put to death.
The Aztecs: Religion
• Aztec religion practiced by the
Aztec empire had elements of
human sacrifice in connection
with a large number of religious
festivals which were held
according to patterns of the Aztec
calendar.
• Aztec cosmology divided the
world into upper and nether
worlds, each associated with a
specific set of deities and
astronomical objects.
• Important in Aztec religion were
the sun, moon and the planet
Venus
The Aztecs: Clothing
• Aztec clothing was often
made of beautiful fabric,
though the extent of the
quality of the cloth was
generally dependent on
the wealth of the wearer.
With the art of clothes
making an important craft
of the ancient Aztecs,
however, it is no wonder
the Aztec clothes
contained vivid colors and
intricate designs.
The Aztecs: Clothing
• The Aztec women were held
responsible for making Aztec
clothing.
• Jewelry
was
also
an
important component of
Aztec dress. In fact, the
amount of decoration on
Aztec clothing indicated the
wealth of the wearer.
Favorite additions to Aztec
Indian clothing included
copper,
silver,
gold,
turquoise, emerald and jade.
The Aztecs: Legacy
• Most modern day Mexicans (and
people of Mexican descent in other
countries) are mestizos, of mixed
indigenous and European ancestry.
• The Nahuatl language is today spoken
by 1.5 million people, mostly in
mountainous areas in the states of
central Mexico. Some Nahuatl words
(most notably chocolate and tomato)
have been borrowed through Spanish
into other languages around the
world.
• Mexico City was built on the ruins of
Tenochtitlan, making it one of the
oldest living cities of the Americas.
Many of its districts and natural
landmarks retain their original Nahuatl
names.
• Mexican cuisine continues to be based
on and flavored by agricultural
products contributed by the
Mexican/Aztecs.
End of the Aztec civilization
• The Aztec civilization
ended when the
spaniards arrived to
Mexico and tried to
conquest all the territory.
• The Aztec capital
Tenochtitlan , was finally
destroyed on August 31,
1521