1. The Aztecs

2. Capital City 1300s: Aztecs settled around Lake Texcoco (tay-SKOH-koh)
Tenochtitlán: Aztec capital (Today: Mexico City)
On an island in the middle of the lake
Causeways: raised roads made of packed earth
Sun God: “warriors of the sun”

3. Aerial View of Tenochtitlán

4. Tenochtitlan vs. Mexico City

7. An Empire of Great Status
“Who could conquer Tenochtitlán? Who could shake the foundation of heaven?”-Aztec Poet
1500 Ad: A huge empire-stretched fromGulf of Mexico to the Pacific Coast
Heavy Taxes
Sacrifice of huge numbers of prisoners of war
Warriors could become nobles by killing or capturing the enemies

8. Daily Life Foundations: 3-4 inches wooden polls
Aqueducts: bring fresh water into the city
Bridges
1428: War with the overlords, the Tepenacs
Cut out heart, sprinkled blood of leader into Lake Texcoco
Hygiene: rulers bathed twice a day while plague was ravishing Europe
1449: 15 million people (Aztecs)

9. Chinampas An Aztec farming technique
Small, rectangular, fertile areas of land created by reeds and mud
Grow crops in shallow lake beds

11. Altar Sacrifices
Roadways: relay runners were posted along these roads for an express postal service
Temple Mayor: Great Temple
117 steps on two staircases that climbed 200 feet
Twin temples to honor the gods of rain and war
Sense of reciprocity to the gods: valued blood and human sacrifice
Aztecs called blood “precious water”
Institutionalized sacrificial killing: religious and political statement/intimidation

14. Moctezuma II

15. Moctezuma II-(reign: 1502-1520)
Outwardly ruthless: slaughtered entire towns that would not submit to his will
Revered the supernatural: Comet-impending doom
True threat: Spanish ships in the Gulf of Mexico
Spanish: 500 men and 50 horses landed
Aztecs: costumes for war
Knights dressed as jaguars or eagles
1519: Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes reaches Technotitlan
Moctezuma becomes “puppet” for Cortes after he is captured
Spring 1520: Spanish soldiers interrupt sacrifice and kill those involved; the Aztec people become enraged; pelt stones at Moctezuma (dies)

16. La Noche Triste
Cortes, the Spanish conquistadors, and Native allies try to escape during the night
Are weighed down by the plunder and riches
Are attacked by Aztec warriors
400 Spanish die: known as “La Noche Triste” (“The Sad Night”)
Afterward, Cortes escapes, cuts off aqueduct and food supply to Technochtilán
Reassembles ships, launches them into the lake; eventually the Aztecs fall
90% of native population decimated by diseases (smallpox and others) brought in by the Spanish

17. The Fall of Tenochtitlán

18. Neil Young, “Cortez The Killer” 1975 album Zuma
"Cortez The Killer" He came dancing across the water With his galleons and guns Looking for the new world In that palace in the sun. On the shore lay Montezuma With his coca leaves and pearls In his halls he often wondered With the secrets of the worlds. And his subjects gathered 'round him Like the leaves around a tree In their clothes of many colors For the angry gods to see. And the women all were beautiful And the men stood straight and strong They offered life in sacrifice So that others could go on. Hate was just a legend And war was never known The people worked together And they lifted many stones. They carried them to the flatlands And they died along the way But they built up with their bare hands What we still can't do today. And I know she's living there And she loves me to this day I still can't remember when Or how I lost my way. He came dancing across the water Cortez, Cortez What a killer.