An Overview of The Aztecs and Their Culture

Everyone knows about the Aztecs, right? Well how much do you know about them? The Aztecs, after traveling for many months finally found the spot where they were supposed to build their city in the middle of a lake. On that lake they grew extremely advanced and fought for land and did rituals. The historical sources of the Aztecs tell us that they were highly advanced and how they took over such a big piece of land. The city of Tenochtitlan was the Aztecs first started their expansion from. The evidence shows that the Aztec empire was very advanced. “The Aztecs buildings are very precise and orderly. Tenochtitlan is a very large city and it was built on a large lake, where modern day Mexico City is built on now. The city had four major roads that all lead to the center.” The evidence that supports this thesis by showing how advanced the Aztecs were. The Aztecs also had an agricultural system also known as Chinampas. Chinampas was soil in boats on top of the water which was their way of growing crops. This system proved to be very successful because they could get four corn crops a year from the boats. The Aztecs were very advanced at using all the resources that were given to them. I will talk about the aggressiveness the Aztecs have had against other tribes. The Aztecs often fought and took other lands around the lake they built their city on. “The Aztecs were distrusted and disliked because they tended to push others out of their way.” Evidence shows that they often push others out of their way so that they could get what they needed to accomplish their goals. They had several Indian territories under their control. The Aztecs grew fast in size due to the fact that they were vicious toward any other tribe. Of course, when the Aztecs fell they lost everything. The Indians in the territory were quick to join forces with the opposite side than the Aztecs. The Aztecs were very aggressive.

Lastly, I will talk about the Aztecs and their rituals. In the source, it explains the Aztecs rituals, and what they did and who they did it for. The Aztecs had several gods, but one was more important than the rest. “Huitzilopochtli needed strength in order to carry out his duties and the Aztecs believed that human blood and hearts provided the necessary nourishment.” The Aztecs would often sacrifice people in order to feed their gods. The most important god, whose name is Huitzilopochtli, and he did most of the gods work. But of course, the god needed strength and nourishment to keep doing those duties, and the Aztecs believed that human blood and hearts would be enough to fuel him. They would often sacrifice the people in the territories that they conquered to feed the god. The Aztecs were very aggressive and they would often sacrifice people to their gods. The historical sources of the Aztecs tell us that they were highly advanced and aggressive, and performed rituals. The Aztecs, while they were advanced, were very aggressive. They had intelligent agriculture systems and very beautiful and precise buildings. They often fought for land and would kill and take other territories by force. They would use human blood and hearts to fuel their most important gods. The Aztecs were very advanced and aggressive. But they didn't give up, and neither should you, who knows, you may start an advanced empire and sacrifice people to a god. They lived in present day New Mexico. They lived in a city for their daily lives to celebrate their tradition and build new things such as there Chinampas and their defense against the European but still fell in the war. Historical sources for Tenochtitlan tell that Aztec were good at Agriculture also on their traction to get to the Lake of Texcoco and the war against Europeans.

Aztec where a tribe that had to travel and they did so they could find a new place to live and then did near a lake. “The Aztecs first migrated to the shore of lake Texcoco around 1100” this was found in “Inquiry Unit : Aztecs”. The place where this evidence was found was in an essay where they talk about the empire and what they did to get there and more. This evidence shows what happened to get there and when they get there with again was 1100 CE. The Aztec Empire was a smart group of people with good ideas to create their temple after they got there and their Chinampas and more. The Aztecs had a very smart way of building there Chinampas as well there food that they grew to help then as well. There are maps to show what it looks like and also how they made it also had models to show a close up look at the floating gardens. They have one out lay to show what they look and this was on “supporting question three source C” this also tells you how they built it with the tree used the roots to anchor the soil. The evidence shows that they were smart with what they did and what they had a purpose to it as well to create food. The Aztec were smart with what they did so they never had their farms out of place.

Then they came to a point where they fell and so did the empire when they were invaded by European. The evidence that I found states how it happened and how they did it. They fell because “of forces that works against them” witch the calendar that the Aztec made that was called the Tonalamatl that stated that there was a time coming of their destruction. Also another reason they lost is because of that fake they had better weapons that they did not know about their disease. This evidence shows how they lost and the big reason is because of the European diseases. This may be the downfall of the Aztec but they had great ideas but they will always have their history as well. The thing I used to tell the story of the Aztec was their adventure to get there also their Agriculture also their war against the Europeans. First they were super smart with what they did to make their Chinampas. Next is that they migrated to the place called lake of Texcoco in 1100 C.E. Last was the fall of the empire to the Europeans in 1618 but they lost because of their advanced weapons and their disease they had. These are parts of the Aztec and what they did as a smart tribe and how they got there the last fall of the great Aztec.

Next, I'll talk about ancient artifacts that the Aztecs created. First The Coyolxauhqui is a stone that the Aztecs created in the 15th century. This stone represented one of their gods the moon goddess Coyolxcauhqui. The story is about Coyolxauhqui and her mother, Coatlicue. Coatlicue is pregnant with a baby and Coyolxauhqui is jealous of her mother. Then Coyolxauhqui tries to kill her mother out of jealousy and calls upon her 400 brothers to attack their mother. Although the mother gave birth to an adult warrior god, Huitzilopochtli who defeated all 400 of his brothers and dismembered Coyolxauhqui. The Coyolxauhqui stone was used an entry stone at the Templo Mayor.

Second, the Tzompantli is a skull rack that was made around 500 years ago. The Tzompantli was a skull rack that the Aztecs created close to 500 years ago, it was made to represent various prisoners, Aztecs that were sacrificed for their gods in order to give the Gods strength, and Aztecs that died in any wars. The Tzompantli was unearthed during the excavations of the Templo Mayor that have been going for the past 30 years +. The Tzompantli was comprised of at least 60,000 skulls, and the total configuration was an estimated 60 meters long and 30 meters wide.

And finally last, the Tonamtl is an Aztec calendar stone that was almost 12 feet in diameter, and was almost 3 feet in width and weighs 24 tons. The stone was founded in 1790 during renovations on the Mexico National Cathedral near the Templo mayor. In the center of the stone was a depiction of the son god, The name of the son god was Tonatiuh and at the center of the calendar he was with his mouth open. The second circle around the son god was what represented the different ages that had collapsed. The Aztecs believed the world was destroyed 4 times before the establishment of The Aztec Empire. The next two circles in the stone had addressed two time cycles. The first cycle was the 365 day cycle called the xiuhpohualli is believed to be a sacred calendar because it divided days and rituals among the gods.