Aztecs

Aztecs• Lake Texcoco in Central

Mexico

• Tenochtitlan (capital) on a swampy island

• canals linking parts of the city

• surrounded by mountains (cool climate)

Aztec Architecture

• used grass and mud to build houses

• built roads called causeways

• built stone & brick sculptures, palaces, temples & government storehouses

Aztec Language• glyphs / pictograms

(pictures)

• codices (book with pages made from tree bark)

Aztec Leisure Activities• patolli (patole) a

board game

• art, writing, music and dancing

Aztec Scientific

Knowledge• chinampas (floating gardens)

• accurate calendar

• medicine based on spiritual & herbal healing

Aztec Religious Beliefs• priests offered human

sacrifices to make their crops grow and to save the universe

• most gods represented forces of nature (sun, corn, water, fire, mother, etc)

corn

water

rainsun

Aztec Government• emperor ruled (nobles and priests helped)

• Fierce warriors defended the empire and conquered and forced others to work as their slaves

• had to pay tribute (a kind of tax) to the government in goods or services

• war and tribute gained territory & economic power

Aztec Economic Activities• tribute to the government in goods

or services (jewelry, clothes, crops or working on projects)

• manufacturing and trade

• mostly based on agriculture

Harvesting wheat

Aztec market

A strong system of laws governed the economic operations of the Aztec Empire. The main sources of income for the empire were tribute and taxation. The conquered regions paid tribute to the emperor and the Aztec citizenry paid taxes (with the exception of priests, nobles, minors, orphans, invalids, and beggars). Merchants paid taxes on the goods that they sold, artisans paid taxes based on the value of their services, and barrios paid taxes through the crops that they produced. Failure to pay taxes was punishable through slavery or the confiscation of property.

Tribute System

The city of Tenochtitlan at the height of its glory and power

Aztec Downfall In 1519, a Spanish conquistador or explorer named Hernándo Cortés heard of the gold and great wealth of the Aztecs. He sailed with about 500 soldiers, some horses, and a few cannons to the area where they lived. Along with 10,000 Indian allies, Cortés attacked the Aztec capital. They took the last emperor, Montezuma, prisoner and later killed him. In the summer of 1521, the Aztecs were defeated.

What else did you learn about the Aztecs?