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The Rise of the Aztec Empire

The Rise of the Aztec Empire. The Aztecs , or Mexica , were a small group of people who migrated into the Valley of Mexico from the north, establishing Tenochtitlán as their capital around 1400 B.C.

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The Rise of the Aztec Empire

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  1. The Rise of the Aztec Empire • The Aztecs, or Mexica, were a small group of people who migrated into the Valley of Mexico from the north, establishing Tenochtitlán as their capital around 1400 B.C. • (have elements from Teotihuacan and Oaxaca Valley cultures – also from the Toltec people of Central Mexico (A.D. 900-1150) – very militaristic

  2. Aztec Empire Many competing small empires war ends in 1428 Triple Alliance (Texcoco, Tlacopan, and Tenochtitlan) btw 3 states to form the Aztec Empire Aztec Empire 1428-1520

  3. Tenochtitlan (tee-noch-tit-lan)

  4. ISLAND IN LAKE TEXCOCO = capital with causeways to mainland

  5. TENOCHTITLAN 200,000- 250,000 in city (4x pop. of London in 1500)

  6. DRAWBRIDGES FOR protection Aqueducts for freshwater Clean Temples, plazas

  7. Daily markets – up to 20,000 shoppers Cacao beans, woven capes, copper axes with “value” (including counterfeit cacao beans)

  8. Aztec Subsistence • surplus agricultural products from local farmers • American trilogy, fruit, cactus (pulque) • built ag. terraces, irrigation, converted swamps • turkey • fishing, algae, insect larvae from lakes • hunting – hides, meat, feathers

  9. Chinampas – raised garden plots

  10. Aztec Daily Life • The Aztec Empire in the Valley of Mexico was home to 800,000 to 1.25 million people in the early 1500’s • Aztec city-states were incorporated into the empire as semiautonomous administrative units • Markets, plazas, temples, residences, and full-time craft specialists were a part of each city-state • Have texts, codices of life, tribute, war • Ritual almanacs that priests used

  11. Tributary provinces (obsidian, jade, flint, alabaster)

  12. Modern Mexico City and the Zocalo – central plaza

  13. TEMPLE MAYOR Major temple 1978 found in Mexico City

  14. Private inner space – drains, altars

  15. SKULL RACK

  16. 100’s of named gods and goddesses spirits or forces many were transformations Feathered Serpent Quetzal bird and snake Quetzal god

  17. Rain god Tlaloc War god Huitzilopoctli (wee-zil-o-poch-tli

  18. War god – needed to be fed every day Tonalli = animating spirit is located in the blood blood concentrates in the heart when scared Without sacrifice all MOTION Stops Sun would not rise World would come to an end sacrifice kept world in balance

  19. Human sacrifice Dresden Codex Spanish observations war captives, slaves, youths, maidens Why? intimidation, power, world was unstable, (protein??)

  20. Aztec Militarism

  21. The End of the Aztec Empire • Aztec expansion grew to incorporate much of central and southern Mexico • Aztec policy was one of expansion, not consolidation (military and commercial) • nearly impossible to administer • Spanish conquest - Cortez 1520 has help from “dispossessed” conquered peoples • Overthrows Montezuma

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