1. 1325 CE to 1519 CE Blood, sacrifice, and the end of the world.
Aztec Empire
1325 CE to 1519 CE
Blood, sacrifice, and the end of the world.

2. Aztec Empire Height of influence from 1325 CE to 1519 CE
Location: valley of Central Mexico
Mexica (popularly known as the Aztecs) migrate into north- central Mexico around 1325 CE
Aztec Empire comprised of a number of city-states
Capital city-state was Tenochtitlán (Mexico City is now on top of it)
Other major city-states were Texcoco and Tlacopan (combined with Tenochtitlán, these were called the “Triple Alliance”)

3. Aztec Empire: Government
Basic Structure
Emperor (literally, “The Great Speaker”)– ruled empire from Tenochtitlan
Elected from one royal family by all of the rulers of all Aztec city-states
Advised by other members of the nobility who served in various councils
Each Aztec city-state ruled by a hereditary ruler
Cities divided into clan-based neighborhoods called calpulli, each was
ruled by a hereditary “chief”
had its own local temple and school
Tribute
Conquered city-states were allowed to keep their own ruler and government, as long as they paid their tribute
Commoners of the empire were also required to pay tribute (taxes) to the nobles of their city-state

6. Aztec Empire: Record Keeping
Spoken language called Nahuatl
Some basic symbols (mostly related to numbers and dates)
But no fully-developed independent system of writing (most written sources are from outside, non-Aztec groups)
Limited written sources BY Aztecs mean that reading about Aztecs tends to be very complicated. Watch for POV in documents about the Aztec.

7. Aztec Empire: Social Order
Social Classes
Nobility
“Speakers” = leaders of city-states of the empire
Chiefs = ruled over districts within cities and served in high positions in army and government
Non-noble elites
Pochteca – hereditary merchant/spy class comprised of long- distance traders
Artisans who made luxury items
Commoners
free commoners – farmers, artisans
rural tenants – who lived on/worked nobles’ lands
Slaves (largely prisoners of war)

9. Aztec Empire: Subsistence
Food Crops = Corn, beans, squash, amaranth, chia, tomatoes, peppers
Other Crops
cacao – beans used as money and to make a drink for high status people (xocolatl)
cotton – for clothing
Domesticated Animals = dog, turkey
No beasts of burden!
Hunting/fishing to supplement protein
Chinampas

11. Chinampas were man-made floating islands 17’ long x 100’ to 300’ feet wide. Aztecs built over 20,000 acres of chinampas.

13. Aztec Empire: Religion
Polytheistic Belief System
Each calpulli had a patron god/goddess
Some of the Major Deities:
Huitzilopochtli – sun god
Quetzalcoatl – feathered serpent and ancestor of royal family
Tlaloc – rain god
Human Sacrifice
Mostly killing of POWs (xochiyaoyotl or “Flowery War”)
Done to “feed” the sun god and maintain the world
Sometimes involved ritual cannibalism
Priestly Class – performed ceremonies and sacrifices
Women could be priestesses
Priests performed auto-sacrifice (bloodletting, scarification, etc.)
Center of cities were ceremonial districts with pyramid temples and courtyard groupings

18. Aztec Empire: Collapse
By about 1500, many tributary states were unhappy and planning rebellion
Conquest by the Spanish in 1519
Assisted by rebellious city-states
Spread of smallpox and the execution of last Emperor, Montezuma II
More details on this later in Unit Four. 