Aztec - The Empire

The Aztecs were a Mesoamerican people of central Mexico in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. They were a civilization with a rich mythology and cultural heritage. Their capital was Tenochtitlan, built on raised islets in Lake Texcoco – the site of modern-day Mexico City. Aztec - Terminology. In Nahuatl, the native language of the 'Aztec', "Azteca" means "someone who comes from Aztlán", a mythical place in northern Mexico. However, the Aztec referred to themselves as Mexica (IPA Including:

• Aztec - Terminology
• Aztec - Legends and traditions
• Aztec - Rise of the Aztecs
• Aztec - The Empire
• Aztec - Aztec society
• Aztec - Class structure
• Aztec - Slavery
• Aztec - Recreation
• Aztec - Tenochtitlan
• Aztec - Education
• Aztec - Diet
• Aztec - Human sacrifice
• Aztec - Poetry
• Aztec - Downfall
• Aztec - Sources

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The Aztec Empire is not completely analogous to the empires of European history. Like most European empires, it was ethnically very diverse, but unlike most European empires, it was more a system of tribute than a single system of government. Arnold Toynbee in War and Civilization analogizes it to the Assyrian Empire in this respect. Although cities under Aztec rule seem to have paid heavy tributes, excavations in the Aztec-ruled provinces show a steady increase in the welfare of common people after they were conquered. This pr ...

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Aztec, Aztec - Terminology, Aztec - Legends and traditions, Aztec - Rise of the Aztecs, Aztec - The Empire, Aztec - Aztec society, Aztec - Class structure, Aztec - Slavery, Aztec - Recreation, Aztec - Tenochtitlan, Aztec - Education, Aztec - Diet, Aztec - Human sacrifice, Aztec - Poetry, Aztec - Downfall, Aztec - Sources

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Aztec - Class structure. The society traditionally was divided into two social classes; the macehualli (people) or peasantry and the pilli or nobility. Nobility was not originally hereditary, although the sons of pillis had access to better resources and education, so it was easier for them to become pillis. Eventually, this class system took on the aspects of a hereditary system. The Aztec military had an equivalent to military service with a core of professional warriors; only those ...

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Aztec, Aztec - Terminology, Aztec - Legends and traditions, Aztec - Rise of the Aztecs, Aztec - The Empire, Aztec - Aztec society, Aztec - Class structure, Aztec - Slavery, Aztec - Recreation, Aztec - Tenochtitlan, Aztec - Education, Aztec - Diet, Aztec - Human sacrifice, Aztec - Poetry, Aztec - Downfall, Aztec - Sources

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In Nahuatl, the native language of the 'Aztec', "Azteca" means "someone who comes from Aztlán", a mythical place in northern Mexico. However, the Aztec referred to themselves as Mexica (IPA [meˈʃihkah]) or Tenochca and Tlatelolca according their city of origin. Their use of the word azteca was like the modern use of Latino, or Mediterranean: a broad term that ...

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Aztec, Aztec - Terminology, Aztec - Legends and traditions, Aztec - Rise of the Aztecs, Aztec - The Empire, Aztec - Aztec society, Aztec - Class structure, Aztec - Slavery, Aztec - Recreation, Aztec - Tenochtitlan, Aztec - Education, Aztec - Diet, Aztec - Human sacrifice, Aztec - Poetry, Aztec - Downfall, Aztec - Sources

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For more on the conquest of Mexico by Spain, see also Hernán Cortés. The Aztecs were conquered by Spain in 1521, when after long battle and a long siege where much of the population died from hunger and smallpox, Cuauhtémoc surrendered to Hernán Cortés (a.k.a. "Cortez"). Cortés, with his up to 500 Spaniards, did not fight alone but with as many as 150,000 or 200,000 allies from Tlaxcala, and eventually from Texcoco, who were resisting Aztec rule. He defeated Tenocht ...

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Aztec, Aztec - Terminology, Aztec - Legends and traditions, Aztec - Rise of the Aztecs, Aztec - The Empire, Aztec - Aztec society, Aztec - Class structure, Aztec - Slavery, Aztec - Recreation, Aztec - Tenochtitlan, Aztec - Education, Aztec - Diet, Aztec - Human sacrifice, Aztec - Poetry, Aztec - Downfall, Aztec - Sources

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Aztec culture is generally grouped with the cultural complex known as the Capulli because of the common language they shared. According to legend, the various groups who were to become the Aztecs arrived from the north into the Anahuac valley around Lake Texcoco. The location of this valley and lake of destination is clear – it is the heart of modern Mexico City – but little can be known with certainty about the origin of the Aztec. In the legend, the ancestors of the Aztec came from a place in the north called Aztlán, the ...

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Aztec, Aztec - Terminology, Aztec - Legends and traditions, Aztec - Rise of the Aztecs, Aztec - The Empire, Aztec - Aztec society, Aztec - Class structure, Aztec - Slavery, Aztec - Recreation, Aztec - Tenochtitlan, Aztec - Education, Aztec - Diet, Aztec - Human sacrifice, Aztec - Poetry, Aztec - Downfall, Aztec - Sources

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Main article: Human sacrifice in Aztec culture For milenia, the practice of human sacrifice was widespread in Mesoamerica and South America, including within the Inca Empire, the Aztecs however practiced it on a particularly large scale. Not all sacrifices involved human offerings, the sacrifice of specially bred dogs by the Aztecs was common. Objects also were sacrificed, broken and offered to their gods. All this prepared people for the ultimate sacrifice of human life. In the most common form to perform the ritual, th ...

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The Aztec created artificial islands or chinampas on Lake Texcoco, on which they cultivated crops. The Aztec staple foods included maize, beans and squash. Chinampas were a very efficient system and could provide up to seven crops a year, on the basis of current chinampa yields, it has been estimated that 1 hectare of chinampa would feed 20 individuals, with about 9,000 hectares of chinampa, ther ...

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Aztec, Aztec - Terminology, Aztec - Legends and traditions, Aztec - Rise of the Aztecs, Aztec - The Empire, Aztec - Aztec society, Aztec - Class structure, Aztec - Slavery, Aztec - Recreation, Aztec - Tenochtitlan, Aztec - Education, Aztec - Diet, Aztec - Human sacrifice, Aztec - Poetry, Aztec - Downfall, Aztec - Sources

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There were twelve rulers or tlatoque (singular: tlatoani) of Tenochtitlan: Legendary Founder: Tenoch 1375: Acamapichtli 1395: Huitzilihuitl 1417: Chimalpopoca 1427: Itzcoatl 1440: Moctezuma I (or Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina) 1469: Axayacatl 1481: Tizoc 1486: Auitzotl 1502: Moctezuma II (or Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, the famous "Montezuma", a.k.a. Motecuhzoma II) 1520: ...

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Aztec, Aztec - Terminology, Aztec - Legends and traditions, Aztec - Rise of the Aztecs, Aztec - The Empire, Aztec - Aztec society, Aztec - Class structure, Aztec - Slavery, Aztec - Recreation, Aztec - Tenochtitlan, Aztec - Education, Aztec - Diet, Aztec - Human sacrifice, Aztec - Poetry, Aztec - Downfall, Aztec - Sources

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Until the age of fourteen, the education of children was in the hands of their parents, but supervised by the authorities of their calpulli. Periodically they attended their local temples, to test their progress. Part of their education was a collection of sayings, called huehuetlatolli ("The sayings of the old"), that represented the Aztecs' ideals. It included speeches and sayings for every occasion, the words to salute the birth of children, and to say farewell at death. Fathers admonished their daughters to be very c ...

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Aztec, Aztec - Terminology, Aztec - Legends and traditions, Aztec - Rise of the Aztecs, Aztec - The Empire, Aztec - Aztec society, Aztec - Class structure, Aztec - Slavery, Aztec - Recreation, Aztec - Tenochtitlan, Aztec - Education, Aztec - Diet, Aztec - Human sacrifice, Aztec - Poetry, Aztec - Downfall, Aztec - Sources

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Poetry was the only occupation worthy of an Aztec warrior in times of peace. A remarkable amount of this poetry survives, having been collected during the era of the conquest. In some cases, we know names of individual authors, such as Netzahualcoyotl, Tolatonai of Texcoco, and Cuacuatzin, Lord of Tepechpan. Miguel León-Portilla, the most renowned translator of Nahuatl, comments that it is in this poetry where we can find the real thought of the Aztecs, independe ...

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Aztec, Aztec - Terminology, Aztec - Legends and traditions, Aztec - Rise of the Aztecs, Aztec - The Empire, Aztec - Aztec society, Aztec - Class structure, Aztec - Slavery, Aztec - Recreation, Aztec - Tenochtitlan, Aztec - Education, Aztec - Diet, Aztec - Human sacrifice, Aztec - Poetry, Aztec - Downfall, Aztec - Sources

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