1. Objective
SWBAT explain how the Aztec Empire arose.

2. The Aztecs inspired the design of the Mexican flag
The Aztecs inspired the design of the Mexican flag! In your notes, write a short poem about the legend of the founding of Tenochtitlan! Be sure to use the words eagle, cactus, snake, and Tenochtitlan.

3. Objective
SWBAT explain how the geography of the Aztec Empire affected its economy.

4. Where did the Aztecs find an eagle with a snake in its mouth on a cactus?
Page 10 of your notes

5. Where did the Aztecs find an eagle with a snake in its mouth on a cactus? Page 11 of your notes
Does this sound like a good place to live?

6. Living on a swampy island led to many problems…
…but fortunately the Aztecs had smart solutions!

7. Problem
Solution
Aztec buildings sunk into swampy land.
Aztecs used wood pilings and volcanic stone to make a more solid foundation.
See YouTube video

8. Problem
Solution
Living on an island, the Aztecs were too isolated.
Aztecs built causeways to connect the island with the mainland.
See YouTube video

9. Aztecs built an aqueduct.
Problem
Solution
Aztecs did not have enough fresh water for 200,000 people.
Aztecs went to war with the Tepanecs in order to control the Chapultepac springs.
Aztecs built an aqueduct.
See YouTube video

10. Problem
Solution
Lake Texcoco flooded.
Aztecs built a dike.
See YouTube video

11. Problem
Solution
Aztecs did not have enough land for growing crops.
Aztecs built chinampas (“floating gardens”).

12. Homework: Draw the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan
Read section 24.3.
Draw and label a colorful diagram of Tenochtitlan.
Use all of the following vocabulary:
canal, chinampas (“floating gardens”), Coatepantli (“snake wall”), plaza, Great Temple, shine to Huitzilopochtli, shrine to Tlaloc, tzompantli (“skull rack”), ritual ball court, palace, aviary, zoo, marketplace, bridges, causeway, aqueduct, Chapultepec springs, dike
Awards for best work:
1st place: 3 merits; 2nd place: 2 merits; 3rd place: 1 merit
Anyone who beats my drawing gets 5 merits!

13. Objective
SWBAT describe family life of the Aztecs.

14. Some of you asked… Is this stuff true??? Let’s find out!
We need to consult some primary source documents.

15. Primary Source vs. Secondary Source
Primary source: an object created during the historical event being studied
Examples: fossils, artifacts
Secondary source: an object created after the historical event being studied; analyzes and interprets the event
Examples: History Alive!, Horrible Histories

16. Mendoza Codex
Today, we will study a primary source document called the Mendoza Codex.
codex: a handwritten book
This codex gives us a lot of information about daily life in the Aztec Empire!
he founding of Tenochtitlan ("Prickly Pear Cactus Growing on a Stone"), capital city of the Aztec empire, on a rock at the centre of a crossway of clear water in an otherwise marshy region.The eagle, still the national emblem of Mexico, is an Aztec symbol for the sun. In the four quadrants (? wards of the city) are depicted the city's ten founders, including their leader Tenuch ("Stone Cactus Fruit") on the left nearest the centre. Below are two standard conquest scenes, each with a pyramid temple toppled and burning. Around the margin is the 51-year count of Tenuch's rule, calculable as 1325 to 1375.The signature and title of André Thevet, the manuscript's earliest owner in Europe, are added at the top.

17. A newborn Aztec baby: the earliest ceremonies and life-decisions made for it. At top left, the mother addresses her baby in its cradle. After four days, the midwife takes the baby for ritual bathing and naming (top right). On the right of this scene, three boys call out the name of the infant, and above and below it are symbols of possible future careers for boys and girls.

18. The baby in its cradle is again depicted at lower centre
The baby in its cradle is again depicted at lower centre. On the left are its father and mother; the two male figures on the right represent its educational options, ‘the head priest’ who would train future priests and priestesses or (lower right) the secular ‘master of youths and boys’.

21. Training of Aztec boys and girls from ages seven to ten
Training of Aztec boys and girls from ages seven to ten. The meal-ration remains constant, at one and a half tortillas. he seven-year-old boy is being taught to fish with a net, and the girl is twirling the spindle in the spinning bowl and pulling out the thread. The scenes from eight to ten all concern punishments: (2) The eight-year-olds are threatened with maguey spikes by their respective parents, as a punishment for deceitfulness. (3) At aged nine, the incorrigible boy is bound and pierced, whilst the mother pricks the girl’s wrist for negligence and idleness. (4) The ten-year-olds are about to be beaten with sticks: the boy’s crime is unspecified, but the failure of the bound girl evidently lies in her poor spinning.

22. Training of Aztec boys and girls from ages seven to ten
Training of Aztec boys and girls from ages seven to ten. The meal-ration remains constant, at one and a half tortillas. he seven-year-old boy is being taught to fish with a net, and the girl is twirling the spindle in the spinning bowl and pulling out the thread. The scenes from eight to ten all concern punishments: (2) The eight-year-olds are threatened with maguey spikes by their respective parents, as a punishment for deceitfulness. (3) At aged nine, the incorrigible boy is bound and pierced, whilst the mother pricks the girl’s wrist for negligence and idleness. (4) The ten-year-olds are about to be beaten with sticks: the boy’s crime is unspecified, but the failure of the bound girl evidently lies in her poor spinning.

23. Training of Aztec boys and girls from ages eleven to fourteen, with some punishments. Meal-rations consist of one and a half tortillas for eleven- and twelve-year-olds, then rising to two tortillas. (1) The eleven-year-old boy and girl, both bound, are punished for disregarding parental advice by being forced to inhale dry chile smoke. (2) For the same crime, the twelve-year-old boy lies bound and weeping on damp ground; but the girl, now with long hair, more compliantly goes sweeping at night. (3) The thirteen-year-old boy carries a load of rushes on his back and/or transports them in his canoe; the girl, whose skirt now has a decorated hemline, grinds maize for tortillas, with other vessels for food preparation around her. (4) The fourteen-year-old boy goes fishing in his canoe with stick and trawling net, and the girl is weaving.

24. Training of Aztec boys and girls from ages eleven to fourteen, with some punishments. Meal-rations consist of one and a half tortillas for eleven- and twelve-year-olds, then rising to two tortillas. (1) The eleven-year-old boy and girl, both bound, are punished for disregarding parental advice by being forced to inhale dry chile smoke. (2) For the same crime, the twelve-year-old boy lies bound and weeping on damp ground; but the girl, now with long hair, more compliantly goes sweeping at night. (3) The thirteen-year-old boy carries a load of rushes on his back and/or transports them in his canoe; the girl, whose skirt now has a decorated hemline, grinds maize for tortillas, with other vessels for food preparation around her. (4) The fourteen-year-old boy goes fishing in his canoe with stick and trawling net, and the girl is weaving.

25. Fifteen-year-old boys face their future
Fifteen-year-old boys face their future. For boys, there are two alternative routes of further education, depicted in the top half of this page and in the next four leaves (fols. 62r-65r). The father, seated here on the left, can present his son to the head priest for higher training at the temple school (calmecac) for noble boys. Alternatively (below), he can entrust his son to the master of youths at ‘the young men’s house’ (telpochcalli), where an essentially military training was provided for commoners, though there would also be training in ritual singing and dancing at the ‘house of song’ (cuicali).
Here’s a hint. The calmecac is the school where boys train to become priests. The telpochcalli is the school where boys train for the military.

26. Detail. Lower half of page. Fifteen-year-old girls face their future
Detail. Lower half of page. Fifteen-year-old girls face their future. The fifteen-year-old girl undergoes her wedding ceremonies. At the bottom, a torch-lit procession accompanies the bride to the groom’s house on the first night; she is carried on the back of the female matchmaker. Inside, a feast is laid out: a basket of tamales, a tripod bowl of turkey-meat, and a pitcher and bowl of pulque (fermented juice of the maguey plant). Four aged wedding guests are shown talking. The bride and her older groom, their garments tied together, sit in front of a hearth and a bowl of incense, on the mat on which they will eventually sleep.

27. Some of you asked… Is this stuff true???
Yes, we have primary source documents to prove it!

28. DO NOW Take out your note packet and a pencil.
Put your binder on the floor by the board.
Choose a seat next to people you know will motivate you.

29. Homework Create a brochure to convince someone to move to Tenochtitlan
Six sections:
Cover
Family Life (yesterday’s lesson helps)
Warfare & Tribute (Station #1 and #2)
Religion (Station #3 and #4)
Dances & Games (Station #5 and #6)
Food (Station #7 and #8)
Each section needs to have an illustration and at least 2 specific pieces of information to persuade the reader to move to Tenochtitlan.
Due on Friday!
Contest for most persuasive, informative brochure: 1st place: 3 merits; 2nd place: 2 merits; 3rd place: 1 merit

30. Station #1: Warfare
Aztecs often asked a city-state to join the empire. The city-state had sixty days to agree. If the ruler refused, the Aztecs declared war. Most wars ended after one battle, usually with an Aztec victory. The Aztecs brought captured warriors to Tenochtitlan. Some became slaves, but most were sacrificed.

31. Station #2: Tribute
The Aztecs forced hundreds of conquered city-states to pay tribute. Each year, the Aztecs collected over 7,000 tons of maize, 4,000 tons of beans, and at least 2 million cotton cloaks from its tributaries.

32. Station #3: Human Sacrifice
Like the Mayans, the Aztecs tried to please the gods. Aztecs believed that the blood of strong warriors captured in battle would nourish the gods.
The Aztecs also used the threat of human sacrifice to frighten city-states into paying tribute.

33. Station #4: Tlachtli
The Aztecs played a game called tlachtli, which was very similar to the Mayan game of pok-a-tok.

34. Station #5: Volador

35. Station #6: Patolli
The Aztecs played a game called patolli on a cross-shaped board divided into 52 squares. Five times around the board equals 260. Thus, the game symbolizes the 260-day calendar.
How to play:
Roll five white beans.
For each bean that lands with a dot facing up, move forward one space.
The first person around the board five times is the winner.

36. Station #7: Delicious Food
The most important crop to the Aztecs was maize. After grinding maize into flour, women baked fresh tortillas. Women also made tamales by wrapping maize in husks and steaming it.

37. Station #8: Not So Delicious Food