Aztecs

Aztecs

The Aztec Empire was a Native American state that ruled much of what is now
Mexico from about 1427 until 1521, when the empire was conquered by the
Spaniards. The empire represented the highest point in the development of the
rich Aztec civilization that had begun more than a century earlier. At the height of
their power, the Aztec controlled a region stretching from the Valley of Mexico in
central Mexico east to the Gulf of Mexico and south to Guatemala.
The Aztec built great cities and developed a complex social, political, and
religious structure. Their capital, Tenochitlan, was located on the site of
present-day Mexico City. An elaborate city built on islands and marsh land,
Tenochtitlán was possibly the largest city in the world at the time of the Spanish
conquest. It featured a huge temple complex, a royal palace, and numerous
canals.
After the Spanish conquest, the empire of the Aztec was destroyed, but
their civilization remained an important influence on the development of Mexican
culture. Many present-day Mexicans are descended from the Aztec, and more
than 1 million Mexicans speak Nahuatl, the native Aztec language, as their
primary language. In Mexico City, searches continue to uncover temple
foundations, statues, jewelry, and other artifacts of the Aztec civilization.
Aztec refers both to the people who founded the empire, who called
themselves Mexica, or Tenochca, and, more generally, to all of the many other
Nahuatl-speaking ethnic groups that lived in the Valley of Mexico at the time of
the Spanish conquest. The name Aztec is derived from Aztlan, the mythical
homeland of the Mexica; according to tradition, Aztlán was located northwest of
the Valley of Mexico, possibly in west Mexico. The name Mexico is derived from
Mexica.
Long before the rise of the Aztec, the Valley of Mexico was the center of a
highly developed civilization. A fertile basin, the valley was located 7800 ft above
sea level. In its center lay five interconnected lakes dotted with marshy islands.
From about AD 100 to 650 the valley was dominated by the city of Teotihuacan,
center of a powerful religious, economic, and political state.
After the decline of Teotihuacán, the Toltec people migrated into central
Mexico from the north and established a conquest state there. The Toltec
civilization reached its height in the 10th and 11th centuries. In the 13th century
wandering bands of Nahuatl-speaking warriors, often called Chichimec, invaded
the valley. They took over Toltec cities, such as Atzcapotzalco, and founded new
ones, such as Texcoco de Mora. The Chichimec combined their own cultural
traditions with those of the Toltec to form the early Aztec civilization, whose
social structure, economy, and arts would reach their height under the rule of the
later empire.
The group that eventually founded the Aztec Empire, the Mexica,
migrated to the Valley of Mexico in the middle of the 13th century. As late
arrivals, the Mexica, a hunter-gatherer people, were forced by other groups in the
valley to take refuge on two islands near the western shore of Lake Texcoco
(one of the five lakes in the area). The Mexica believed in a certain legend, which
held that they would establish a great civilization in a marshy area, where they
would first see a cactus growing out of a rock with an eagle perched on the
cactus. After the Mexica arrived at the swampy site on the shore of Lake
Texcoco, their priests proclaimed that they had seen the promised omen. The
site turned out to be a strategic location, with abundant food supplies and
waterways for transportation.
The Mexica began farming for a living, and in 1325 they founded the city
of Tenochtitlán on one of the lake islands. For the next 100 years they paid
tribute to stronger neighboring groups, especially the Tepanec of the city-state of
Azcapotzalco, whom they served as mercernaries.
As the Mexica grew in number, they established superior military and civil
organizations. Gradually, they revolted against the Tepanec and won control of
some territory on the mainland. In about 1427 the Mexica of Tenochtitlán formed
a triple alliance with the city-states of Texcoco and Tlacopan (now Tacuba).
Under the Mexica ruler Itzcoatl, his successor Montezuma I, and the Texcocan
ruler Netzahualcoyotl, the three states began a series of conquests. They
eventually established an empire that extended from central Mexico to the
Guatemalan border and included many different states and ethnic groups, who
were forced to pay tribute to the alliance. Tenochtitlán became the dominant
power within the alliance.
Aztec society was highly structured, based on agriculture, and guided by a
religion that pervaded every aspect of life. The Aztec worshipped gods that
represented natural forces that were vital to their agricultural economy. Aztec
cities were dominated by giant stone pyramids topped by temples where human
sacrifices were dedicated to the gods. Aztec art was primarily an expression of
religion, and even warfare, which increased the empire's wealth and power,
served the religious purpose of providing captives to be sacrificed.
The basic unit of Aztec society was the calpulli, sometimes, at least for
early Aztec history, thought of as a clan, or group of families who claimed
descent from a common ancestor. Each calpulli regulated its own affairs,
electing a council and officers to keep order, lead in war, dispense justice, and
maintain records. Calpulli ran schools in which boys were taught citizenship,
warfare, history, crafts, and religion. Each calpulli also had a temple, an armory
to hold weapons, and a storehouse for goods and tribute that were distributed
among its members. Within each calpulli, land was divided among the heads of
families according to their needs. Each family had a right to use the land but
owned only the goods that it produced.
In Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital, calpulli fulfilled the same functions but
somtimes took a different form. As the city grew large and complex, the calpulli
were no longer based on family relationships, but became wards, or political
divisions, of the city. Each calpulli still had its own governing council, school,
temple, and land, but its members were not necessarily related. There were 15
calpulli in Tenochtitlán when the city was founded in 1325; by the 16th century
there were as many as 80.
In Tenochtitlán and other Aztec city-states, the most capable leaders of
each calpulli together composed a tribal council, which elected four chief
officials. One of these four officials was selected as the tlatoani (ruler). After
Tenochtitlán became the center of Aztec civilization, its ruler became the
supreme leader of the empire, to whom lesser rulers paid tribute. This ruler was
considered semidivine, a descendant of the Aztec gods, and served as both
military leader and high priest. His title was huey tlatoani, meaning great lord or
great speaker.
The ruler was supported by a noble class of priests, warriors, and
administrators. Below these nobles were the common people, including
merchants, artisans, soldiers, peasant farmers, and laborers. Aztec merchants
formed a hereditary class, called pochteca. They lived in special quarters in the
cities, formed guilds, and had many privileges.
Aztec rulers and nobles owned land on private estates. Most land for
commoners was owned by a calpulli, which assigned its members plots to use.
Landholders paid tribute to the empire in agricultural products, which were used
to finance public projects. All able-bodied men owed military service to the
empire. Citizens could also be drafted to work on public lands or build temples,
dikes, aqueducts, and roads.
Although Aztec society had strict classes, a person's status could change
based on his or her contribution to society. Commoners could improve their rank,
especially by performing well in battle, and become prosperous landowners.
Young people of some classes could study to become priests or warriors.
Warriors who captured many prisoners gained prestige and wealth and might be
admitted into one of several elite military orders. A person who committed a
crime or did not pay his debts became a slave; however, such slaves could
eventually regain their freedom, and their children were born free.
Tenochtitlán was the center of the Aztec world. The marvels of the island
city were described at length by the Spanish conquerors, who called it the
Venice of the New World (in reference to Venice, Italy) because of its many
canals. At its height, the city had a population of more than 200,000, according
to modern estimates, making it one of the most populous cities in the ancient
world.
Tenochtitlán was connected to the mainland by three well-traveled
causeways, or raised roads. During the rainy season, when the lake waters rose,
the causeways served as protective dikes. Stone aqueducts brought fresh
drinking water into the city from the mainland. Tenochtitlán's canals served as
thoroughfares and were often crowded with canoes made from hollowed logs.
The canoes were used to carry produce to the public market in the city's main
plaza.
At the center of Tenochtitlán was a ceremonial plaza paved with stone.
The plaza housed several large government buildings and the palace of the
Aztec ruler, which was two stories high and contained hundreds of rooms. The
most important structure in the plaza was a large, terraced pyramid crowned with
two stone temples dedicated to the most important Aztec gods—the sun god
(also the god of war) and the rain god. A surrounding enclosure contained
buildings for priests and elite military groups, courts for sacred games, and
smaller pyramids topped by temples where incense and sacrificial fires burned
before enormous idols. Other temple pyramids were built in every section of the
city.
Residents of Tenochtitlán lived in houses built around open courts, or
patios. Houses of the nobility were made of plastered brick or stone and painted
bright shades of red or white. The houses of the common people were smaller,
made of interwoven twigs and mud, and thatched with grass.
Farming provided the basis of the Aztec economy. The land around the
lakes was fertile but not large enough to produce food for the population, which
expanded steadily as the empire grew. To make more land suitable for farming,
the Aztec developed irrigation systems, formed terraces on hillsides, and used
fertilizer to enrich the soil. Their most important agricultural technique, however,
was to reclaim swampy land around the lakes by creating chinampas, or artificial
islands that are known popularly as floating gardens. To make the chinampas,
the Aztec dug canals through the marshy shores and islands, then heaped the
mud on huge mats made of woven reeds. They anchored the mats by tying them
to posts driven into the lake bed and planting trees at their corners that took root
and secured the islands permanently. On these fertile islands they grew corn,
squash, vegetables, and flowers.
Aztec farmers had no plows or work animals. They planted crops in soft
soil using pointed sticks. Corn was their principal crop. Women ground the corn
into a coarse meal by rubbing it with a grinding stone called a mano against a flat
stone called a metate. From the corn meal, the Aztec made flat corn cakes
called tortillas, which was their principal food. Other crops included beans,
squash, chili peppers, avocados, and tomatoes. The Aztec raised turkeys and
dogs, which were eaten by the wealthy; they also raised ducks, geese, and quail.
Aztec farmers had many uses for the maguey plant (also known as the ),
which grew in the wild to enormous size. The sap was used to make a beerlike
drink called pulque, the thorns served as needles, the leaves were used as
thatch for the construction of dwellings, and the fibers were twisted into rope or
woven into cloth.
In the Aztec empire, some manufactured goods were produced for the
ruler or sold in the local markets. These included pottery, tools, jewelry, figurines,
baskets, and cloth. Other goods, especially prized luxury items such as lake salt,
gold ornaments, and rich garments, were carried by traveling traders to distant
peoples in the lowlands along the Gulf coast and south toward what is now
Guatemala. There they were exchanged for luxury items native to those regions,
such as tropical-bird feathers, jaguar skins, cotton, rubber, and cacao beans for
chocolate. The Aztec had no metal coins. They used cacao beans, cotton cloth,
and salt as a form of money.
The Aztec had no wheeled vehicles or draft animals, so trading goods
were carried by canoe or on the backs of porters, who marched in long caravans
led by merchants. In dangerous areas, Aztec warriors would protect the
caravans. Merchants would often act as spies for the empire when trading in
towns that had not been conquered by the Aztecs.
As an agricultural people, the Aztec depended heavily on the forces of
nature and worshiped them as gods. Most important was their patron deity, the
sun god, Huitzilopochtli, who was also considered to be the god of war. Other
important gods were Tlaloc (the god of rain) and Quetzacoatl, the plumed
serpent (the god of wind and learning, also associated with resurrection). The
Aztec believed that the compassionate gods must be kept strong to prevent the
evil gods from destroying the world. For this purpose they conducted human
sacrifices. Victims of sacrifice were usually prisoners of war, although Aztec
warriors would sometimes volunteer for the more important sacrificial rituals. The
god Tlaloc was believed to prefer children as sacrificial victims.
The sacrificial rituals were elaborate in form, calculated according to the
stars to please specific gods at specific times. A victim would ascend the steps of
the pyramid. At the top, a priest would stretch the victim across a stone altar and
cut out the victim's heart. The priest would hold the heart aloft to the god being
honored and then fling it into a sacred fire while it was still beating. Often many
victims were killed at once. In 1487, according to legend, Aztec priests sacrificed
more than 80,000 prisoners of war at the dedication of the reconstructed temple
of the sun god in Tenochtitlán.
Aztec priests sought to win favor with the gods by fasts and self-inflicted
bloodletting. Some of them ran schools called calmecacs in which they taught
religious rituals to boys studying for the priesthood. One of the most important
functions of the priests was to determine which days would be lucky for engaging
in activities such as war and baptism. A religious calendar of 260 days provided
this information. The dates of ceremonies to honor the gods were determined by
a solar calendar of 365 days. Variants of both calendars were developed by
earlier Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Olmec, Maya, and Zapotec. The
meshing of the two calendars produced a 52-year cycle, at the end of which the
Aztec would let their hearth fires go out. To begin the next cycle, they would hold
the important new fire ceremony, in which priests lit a sacred fire in the chest
cavity of a sacrificial victim, and the people rekindled their hearth fires and began
feasting.
Most of the art produced by the Aztec expressed aspects of their religion.
Brilliantly colored paintings, done mainly on walls and amatl (paper made of
pounded bark), depicted religious ceremonies and stiff, angular gods. The Aztec
carved freestanding idols and bas-relief wall sculptures on their temple-pyramids.
Stone sculptures were often made to represent gods and sacrificial victims.
One of their most famous surviving Aztec sculptures is the so-called
calendar stone, which weighs 22 metric tons and measures 3.7 m (12 ft) in
diameter. The calendar stone represents the Aztec universe. The face of the
Aztec sun god is carved in the center. Surrounding it are circular bands of
designs that symbolize the days and the heavens. The Aztec also carved small,
realistic figures of people and animals out of quartz, obsidian (volcanic glass),
and jade.
The Aztec wrote in pictographs, or small pictures symbolizing objects or
the sounds of syllables. They also used pictographs in their counting system,
which was based on the number 20. A picture of a flag indicated 20 items; a fir
tree represented 20 times 20 items, or 400; and a pouch indicated 400 times 20
items, or 8000. Pictographs could not express abstract ideas but were useful for
recording history, conducting business, and maintaining genealogy and
landholding records.
Although the Aztec had only simple hand tools to work with, they were
expert craftspeople. Women spun cotton and maguey fibers into thread by
twisting them onto a stick weighted by a clay spindle whorl. They dyed the thread
in vivid colors and wove it into cloth with elaborate geometric designs. From this
cloth they made clothing—loincloths and capes for men and long skirts and
sleeveless blouses for women. Specially trained craftsmen knotted feathers into
webs to make mantles (cloaks), headdresses, and banners.
The Aztec layered strips of clay to make storage jars, griddles, goblets,
and other kinds of vessels, which were fired in open kilns. These clay vessels
were generally red or white, with finely drawn black-and-white geometric designs.
Unlike the early civilized peoples of the Middle East, the Aztec had no iron or
bronze. Their cutting tools were made of obsidian and chert, and by the time of
the Spanish conquest, they had begun to experiment with tools made of copper.
The Aztec fashioned jewelry using gold, silver, copper, emerald, turquoise, and a
kind of jade that they prized above all other materials. They cut stone for use in
construction using rawhide cord and an abrasive of sand and water. Axes were
made of blades of stone or copper, set in wooden handles. Drills were made of
bone or reed.
In 1519 Spanish explorer Hernan Cortesand more than 500 Spaniards
landed in eastern Mexico in search of land and gold. Advised by Malinche, his
Native American mistress, Cortés formed an alliance with one of the rivals of the
Aztec, the Tlaxcalans, and set out for Tenochtitlán. After wavering about how to
respond to the Spanish force, Aztec ruler Montezuma II allowed Cortés to enter
the city in order to learn more about him and his intentions.
Finding large amounts of gold and other treasure, and fearful that the
Aztec would attack his vastly outnumbered Spanish force, Cortés seized
Montezuma as a hostage. The Spaniards melted down the intricate gold
ornaments of the Aztec for shipment to Spain and forced Montezuma to swear
allegiance to the king of Spain. The Spaniards remained in the city without
opposition until about six months later, when, in Cortés's absence, Spanish
officer Pedro de Alvarado massacred 200 Aztec nobles who had gathered for a
religious ceremony. After Cortés returned, the Aztec rebelled, fighting to drive the
Spaniards out of Tenochtitlán. The Aztec warriors tore up the city's bridges and
chased the Spaniards into the canals, where three-fourths of them, weighted
down with stolen gold, quickly drowned. Montezuma was killed during the revolt.
Montezuma's successor, Cuitlahuac, ruled only a few months before dying of
disease. Montezuma's nephew Cuauhtemoc, who had helped lead the revolt
against the Spaniards, became the next Aztec ruler.
Cortés retreated to Tlaxcala and gathered more Native American allies for
a siege of Tenochtitlán. The Aztecs' crude weapons were no match for the iron,
steel, and gunpowder of the Spaniards, who also had the advantage of a large
number of indigenous allies. After five months of desperate and bloody fighting,
Cuauhtémoc surrendered in August 1521. Cortés tortured and hanged him while
on an expedition to Honduras in 1525. The Spaniards conquered the remaining
Aztec peoples and took over their lands, forcing them to work in gold mines and
on Spanish estates.
The fall of Tenochtitlán marked the end of the Native American
civilizations that had existed in Mesoamerica since the first human settlement of
the region. On the ruins of Tenochtitlán, the Spaniards built Mexico City. The
city's present-day cathedral rises over the ruins of an Aztec temple, and the
palace of the Mexican president stands on the site of the palace of Montezuma.

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