“Siguense veynte y seis addiciones desta postilla” (1560–79; “A Sequence of Twenty-six Additions to the Admonitions”) by Franciscan Bernardino de Sahagún. This description is based primarily on written documents from the 16th century but also includes some archaeological data. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again. Some historians, like Brian Fagan and Nadia Durrani, say that the Empire would have fallen apart even if the Spanish had never come. Indeed, the word ‘Teotihuacan’ is Nahuatl language for ‘birthplace of the gods’.Aztec gods were divided into groups, such as for the weather, agriculture and warfare. Tlaloc, the god of rain, and Quetzalcoatl, the god of knowledge and wisdom are other prominent gods common in art and stonework.An Aztec pot paying homage to the rain god Tlaloc, housed in the Templo Mayor Museum in Mexico City.
Click to Enlarge. PxHere. This website uses cookies to provide you with the best browsing experience.This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. The tile mosaic is located in Mexico City.Map of the Valley of Mexico on the eve of the Spanish conquestConquistadors and their Tlaxcalan allies enter TenochtitlanModel depicting the first lake battle between Spanish and Aztecs After the Spanish sacked Tenochtitlan, they destroyed the central temple complex, built houses over it and later used it as a rubbish dump. Tens of thousands of Tlaxcallan and Native allies deadThe Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was devastating to the Ten months later, Cortés came back to Tenochtitlan with more Spanish There were many different reasons why the Spanish were able to take over the Aztec Empire.None of these weapons could compare to the conquistadors' As early as 1528, reports have said that Motecuhzoma II thought Hernán Cortés was the As historian David Carrasco explains: Motecuhzoma II is welcoming "Quetzalcoatl-Cortes ... back to his city in order to reoccupy the Because of these things, many people in the Aztec Empire were unhappy. The Aztecs worshipped over 200 gods, each ruling over one domain of life, the world, or the cosmos. The Aztec Empire ruled over 5 to 6 million people at the time of the Spanish Conquest. That was also the time that Spanish adventurers were swarming by the hundreds to the West Indies, following the discovery of the Americas in 1492 by Christopher Columbus. The Spanish Conquest. Soil from the bottom of the shallow Lake Texcoco was piled up to create ridges between ditches, and small rectangular fields were formed.Cultivation of maize as shown in the Florentine Codex.Maize (corn) was the staple of the Aztec diet – similar to rice in Asia or Wheat in Europe. In this photo, the huge Pyramid of the Sun is shown next to the 3km long Avenue of the Dead. This well preserved site was one of the world’s biggest cities in 500 AD, but fell into decline around 250 years later and was abandoned. A few nobles managed to climb the walls of the temple complex and bring news of the massacre to the rest of the city, but the vast majority of them died trapped inside. The Aztec empire reached its height in the early 16th century, under Emperor Moctezuma. When he came to power he continued the campaigns of conquest and expanded the Aztec Empire even further than it had already in the previous decades.
The term Aztec is at times used to refer to the Nahuatl-speaking people of central Mexico. 20. Photo by the author.The defense of Tenochtitlan was severely hindered by smallpox, a disease from which Europeans were immune. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences.
He was definitely not lacking in pomp and splendor. Spanish sources are almost certainly exaggerated.Aztec human sacrifice Human sacrifice as shown in the Codex Magliabechiano.In terms of military technology, the peoples of the Mexico region were a long way from the Europeans at the time – they had not developed either bronze or iron for widespread battle use and most metalwork was for jewellery or small ornaments.Most Aztec weaponry was based on a volcanic glass called obsidian, which was sharp and strong enough to fashion primitive weapons. Photo by the author.For centuries prior to the Aztec arrival the Valley of Mexico had complex irrigation systems called chinampas. The writings preserve a record of the Aztec culture and Nahuatl language.Aztec priest performing a sacrificial offering of a living human heart to the war god Huitzilopochtli, illustration from a reproduction of the Codex Magliabecchi.