THE AZTECS

THEIR LOCATION The Aztecs were a great nation of nomadic warriors who traveled Mexico about 700 years ago in search of a land to call their own.

THE EAGLE AND THE SNAKE The Aztec chief had a dream in which their god appeared to him and declared that the Aztecs would build a great nation where the eagle with a snake in its talons lands on a cactus.

THE ISLAND IN THE LAKE The warriors searched for many days and came upon a lake. They were tired and hungry. They gazed out upon the lake and saw a huge eagle swoop down, grab a snake in its talons and land on a cactus that was on an island in the middle of the lake.

GREAT BUILDERS The Aztecs began to build a great nation in the middle of a huge lake. They named their city, Tenochtitlan. It has been compared to Venice because of its great gardens and streams. They traveled by boat much like in Venice. It was a city built of gold.

THE AZTEC EDUCATION The Aztecs were very well educated. They were the first to create an advanced calendar that is more accurate than our own. They performed brain surgery. They were great in mathematics, architecture, building, astronomy, medicine, surgery, and farming.

THE AZTEC RELIGION The Aztecs were very religious people. They were polytheistic. They had a god for almost everything. The Aztecs believed that the moon and the sun were gods. They thought that the moon and the sun did battle every night and day.

THE AZTECS GODS The Aztecs believed that in order to give the Sun power to defeat the moon and rise each morning the Sun must have a blood sacrifice. They believed they must sacrifice a beating heart everyday.

THE AZTEC SACRAFICES The Aztecs were forced to be at constant war to obtain prisoners to sacrifice. They never killed their enemies. They captured them and held them for daily sacrifice. They were placed on a bench and their heart was cut out and placed in a stone statue of Chac-mool.

THE AZTEC WARFARE The Aztecs were feared and hated by all of the other Indian tribes of Mexico.

THE ARRIVAL OF THE SPANISH A man by the name of Hernán Cortes had heard of the infamous Aztecs. The Spanish were experiencing gold fever and Hernán Cortes agreed to come to the Americas and conquer the Aztecs and steal their gold.

THE CONQUEST OF THE AZTECS The Spanish conquistadors landed in Mexico with approximately 300 men and 40 horses. They traveled Mexico and met with the Indians. Upon hearing how fierce the Aztecs were, Cortes’s men became scared and wished to return to Spain. Cortes became more greedy and burned his ships. This forced his men to fight or die.

THE AZTEC TRAITOR Another Indian tribe gave Cortes a woman slave by the name of Malintzin. She had been captured as a child by the Mayas. She was an Aztec and spoke many different languages because she had been traded by many different Indian tribes.

THE COMING OF THE AZTEC GOD Malintzin became infatuated with Cortes because he was the first person to treat her nicely in many years. She told Cortes that the Aztecs were awaiting their god Quetzalcoatl to return this year.

THE MEETING According to Aztec legend a tall white man had appeared and ruled and left the Aztecs after promising to return in 100 years to rule them again. Hernán Cortes was Spanish. He was a tall white man and he came to Tenochtitlan that exact year.

MOCTEZUMA Hernán Cortes presented himself to the Aztec leader Moctezuma and claimed to be their returning God.

THE END OF THE AZTECS Moctezuma gave the Spaniards gifts of gold and welcomed them to his city. The Aztecs had never before seen horses and guns and wept with fear. They believed Hernán Cortes to be their long lost god.

HERNAN CORTES Hernan Cortes and his men killed Moctezuma. The Aztecs were horrified. They had given an enemy a key to the city. As they debated on whether Hernan was actually a god, disease spread throughout Tenochtitlan. One third of the Indians were stricken and died of small pox. The great Indian nation was weakened by disease and without a leader.

THE GREAT BATTLE The Aztecs decided to kill the Spaniards. However, they were sick with disease and without a leader. Still the Spaniards were out numbered one thousand to one. The Spanish then sent out messages to the other Indian tribes who hated the Aztecs, telling them that they had conquered the city and killed the leader. The other Indian tribes saw this as an opportunity to be rid of the Aztecs and came to help.

WHAT TO DO WITH THE GOLD? The Aztecs quickly realized that they had no leadership. They were becoming sick with small pox and other Indian tribes were coming to help the Spanish. While some were fighting the Spaniards, the Aztecs men, women, and children worked and gathered up the gold throughout the city and piled it into boats. One by one they sunk those boats into the lake.

MEXICO CITY The bulk of the Aztec gold was lost to the world. The great Aztec empire fell. Mexico then built a great city on the site which used to be Tenochtitlan. Mexico City stands where the great Aztec city once lay. The gold is underneath Mexico City which is currently the 2nd largest city in the world. The Aztec symbol is proudly flown on the Mexican flag and today the Mexican people view the Aztecs and not Cortes as national heroes.