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The Aztec Empire: The Valley Of Mexico

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When Spanish ships landed in Mexico in 1519 the tremendous Aztec empire was at the top of its power from their capital Tenochtitlan the Aztecs controlled much of America ruling 15 million people. Aztec Palaces were as big and elaborate as those in Europe and their temples rivaled the Egyptian pyramids but within just 2 years the Aztec empire perished. The center of the Aztec Empire was the Valley of Mexico, where the capital of the Aztec Triple Alliance was built upon raised islets in Lake Texcoco.
The exact origins of the Aztec people are uncertain, but they are believed to have begun as a northern tribe of hunter-gatherers whose name came from that of their homeland, Aztlan. The Aztecs were also known as the Tenochca (from which the name …show more content…

Typical Aztec crops included maize, beans, squashes, potatoes, tomatoes and avocadoes; they also supported themselves through fishing and hunting local animals such as rabbits, armadillos, snakes, coyotes and wild turkey. Their relatively sophisticated system of agriculture and a powerful military tradition would enable the Aztecs to build a successful state, and later an empire.
The Aztec language, Nahuatl, was the dominant language in central Mexico by the mid-1350s. Numerous Nahuatl words borrowed by the Spanish were later absorbed into English as well, including chili, avocado, chocolate, coyote, peyote, guacamole, ocelot and mescal.
Aztec religion developed from the worship of animistic spirits symbolizing natural forces in constant conflict while seeking balance. The cycle of life and death encouraged acceptance of the Toltec belief that the gods required human sacrifice to sustain nature and continuing life.
The Aztecs conceptualized their sun deity Huitzilopochtli as a blood-thirsty war god with an appetite for brave warriors captured in battle. In every Aztec city, they built pyramids, topped with temples to the sun. They honored Huitzilopochtli in great public ceremonies, when priests at the high shrine tore out the living hearts of victims and held up the trembling organs to the

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Tenochtitlán was the capital city of the Aztec civilization. It was founded in AD 1325 by the Mexica people. This city was built on a cluster of small natural islands on Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico. The small island was gradually enlarged as Tenochtitlán grew. It became one of the largest and most powerful cities in Mesoamerica.

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Outsiders may look upon Aztec human sacrificial practices as disturbing, but to the Aztecs, it was a beautiful, worthy, and prideful thing to do. In fact, it was considered an honor to be a human sacrifice, and as described by one 17 year-old boy watching a sacrificial ceremony, he described that he felt “amazed by the physical beauty of the enemy warrior who was killed at the end of the festival.” In the time before one is sacrificed, he is given all the finest luxuries from the nobles' storehouses, including foods, clothes, teachers, women, and instruction. He walks among the Aztec people as “a living god.” There have been many works of art depicting the sacrifice, which are direct references that historians can refer to for Aztec culture and history.

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As Cortes and his men travelled through Mesoamerica, they heard tales of a great city in the middle of a lake where the emperor ruled out of. He knew that if he were to be able to conquer the nation he would have to start there, so the Spanish set off towards Tenochtitlan encountering civilisation after civilisation so wonderful and different from the home they came from. One of these places was Tlaxcala, in the time that Cortes was there, he struck an alliance with the Tlaxcalan’s against the Aztecs and these warriors would eventually help him sway the tides and defeat the mighty Aztecs.

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Soon, they came to find where they knew they had to be by a symbol from their god, an eagle with a snake in its mouth. Here, they established a magnificent kingdom. The Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, was an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico. There were many people in this capital, nearly 150,000 which was more than many of the cities in Europe. The leader of the

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The Mexica people of Tenochtitlan, situated on an island in Lake Texcoco and the inhabitants of Tenochtitlan’s two principal allied city-states, the Acolhaus of Texcoco and the Tepanecs of Tlacopan, formed the Aztec Triple Alliance which has also become known as the “Aztec Empire”. Henan Cortes, along with a large number of Nahuatl speaking indigenous allies, conquered Tenochtitlan and defeated the Aztec Triple Alliance under the leadership of Moctezuma II. In the series of events often referred to as “The Fall of the Aztec Empire”. Subsequently the Spanish founded the new settlement of Mexico City on the site of the ruined Aztec capital.

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