The Aztec Empire
By Niko Schmieder
Aztec Religion
The Aztec were polytheistic ( Worship or praise of more than one god). Some of the gods they worshipped were the sun and rain god. The Aztec would use humans to sacrifice to the many gods that they had. They believed that a blood sacrifice to the gods would keep the world in balance. The Aztec would slash open the human and take the still beating heart in hand.
Aztec Society
The Aztec social structure was based on an upper and lower class. At the top of the list was the emperor or a high priest. Under the emperor is the council. The council are often made up of the royal family. The third party on the structure are the nobles. The nobles are usually the emperor sons. the 4th party was the artisans or the merchants. The last step are the farmers and the slaves
Aztec Locaton
Aztec Empire Location
The Aztec Empire lived on an island 5 times bigger than London. The Aztec lived on the island because of an old myth. the myth was that if the saw an eagle eating the fruit of a cactus they had to live were they saw that sign. Were they saw that was on an island in lake Texcoco soon to become Tenochtitlan. Tenochtitlan was a very swampy island.
Aztec farming
Tenochtitlan was a very swampy island but the Aztec improvised. They built floating gardens called chinampas. they were built out of mud from the bottom, with logs for the flotation. The chinampas were about the size of a football field.
The Aztec do not have the technology that we have today to build their elaborate temples. The Aztec building were very precise so they would all fit together like a puzzle piece. The Aztec had many varieties of buildings and sculptures.
What made the Aztec So powerful?
The Aztec had a very big empire and they were very powerful. The Aztec were very powerful because of 3 main words War, Tribute, and Trade. The Aztec traded through the empire to others because on region might not have the same supplies as the other. Also, the Aztec Conquered many cities around them expanding their empire to the fullest. Finally, the Aztec had many blood tributes to the gods. They beloved that blood was the symbol of life and they had to give their life to the gods.
The Aztec fall
In 1519 Hernan Cortes (leader of the Spanish conquistadors) Arrived in The capital city of the Aztec empire, Tenochtitlan. When Cortes arrived the emperor greeted him with many riches. What the Aztec believed was that Cortes was Quetzalcoatl because Cortes was a light skinned would return in the Aztec legend. Cortes took advantage of that and had killed many of the thousands of Aztec people. Lack of weaponry and disease was in cortes's favor. Cortes had canons and guns to defeat the Aztec because the Aztecs only had blowguns and wooden spears. At last the Aztec were defeated and he end of the empire was in 1521.