Emilio Hernandez Mr. Belmont College Composition 1 19 September 2016 Exemplification Aztec Empire The Aztec empire was a great empire because of its occupied area, architecture and communication. They were the most powerful Mesoamerican kingdom of all time (houstonculture.org). Formed from what is now known as the “triple Alliance” between the cities of Texcoco, Tlacopan and Tenochtitlan which soon became more powerful than the other cities and became the heart of the Aztec civilization (Aztec-history.com). They are dated back to the 12th century and roughly ended around the 15th century due to the invasion of the Spanish conquistadors led by Hernan Cortes in 1519. The Aztec empire controlled 80,000 square miles of what is now central and …show more content…
A warrior was a glorified position in this empire and was often the vocation of choice for many young Aztecs. This position also offered many rewards for the successful warrior. Training for an Aztec warrior would begin around the age of 17, this was when a boy became a man. Before this boys in the empire would be given a good education no matter what vocation of career they wanted to take. Depending on social status commoners that joined would often start low in the ranks of the Aztec army. Official training would be complete when they captured there first prisoner. This was also the only way that an Aztec warrior could rise through the ranks of the army, which would also earn the warrior rewards. The most valuable of these rewards was land, this land was tax-free and could be passed down from generation to generation, and any profit earned on this land was his to keep. The highest ranking warriors were known as the Jaguars and Eagles (Aztec-history.com). Men in these ranks would were uniforms representative of these animals (Aztec-history.com). Although the perks of being an Aztec warrior at this time was fruitful it was often short lived …show more content…
The Aztecs capital city of Tenochtitlan is the empires most architecturally impressive cities ever built. This city was built on top of Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico (ushistory.org). The outer edges of the city were surrounded by chinampas to provide this large city with food. Three causeways connected this city to the shore (ushistory.org). This city sustained around 80,000 to 130,000 people and covered eight square kilometers (newworldencylcopedia.org). The city was divided into four zones and each zone into twenty districts. The emperor’s palace contained one hundred rooms each with their own bath, it also contained two zoos where it held in one birds of prey and in the other birds, mammals and reptiles (newworldencyclopedia.org). The city also had about one thousand men dedicated to cleaning the city’s streets of garbage. Templo Mayor was the largest temple in Tenochtitlan and was unique in that it was a double headed temple to the god Huitzilopochili and Tlaloc. It was 197 feet high and was built out of stone and covered in stucco and polychrome paint