1. The Aztecs

2. The Growth of a culture
The study of the Aztecs is the study of bended cultures, beliefs, languages and customs.

3. Geography: The Valley of Mexico
Home to what is now Mexico City
Roughly 7800 km 2 it covered by several shallow lakes.

4. Tenochtitlan Situated on an island in Lake Texcoc
Surrounded by floating gardens called Chinampas
The Chief crop was corn or maize.

5. Religious Beliefs
The Aztec faith is full of contradiction. The Speak about the beauty of the natural world but believe it must be paid for with blood.
In addtion to being very warlike, they also practice human sacrifice.

6. Tlacaelel’s Reforms
A counsellor to the king, Tlacaelel convinced the king in 1430 to conquer their domain to ensure a continuous supply of human sacrifices.

7. A Spanish account of the sacrifice:
…the men or women who were to be sacrificed to their gods were thrown on their backs and remained perfectly still. A priest then came out with a stone knife…and with this knife, he opened the part where the heart is and took out the heart, without the person who was being sacrificed uttering a word..”

8. Tenochtitlan sacrifices
Estimates are that each temple sacrificed 50 people a year. At it’s peak, there were 4000 temples.
Tenochtitlan was the site of most of the bloodshed. Sometimes 800 people were killed during the course of one festival.

9. Bias
Many of theses accounts come from the Spanish explorer, Hernan Cortez, who may have exaggerated the brutality to paint the Aztecs in a more uncivilized light.

10. The Gods
The idea for sacrifice comes from the legends of creator gods sacrificing themselves to create the earth and heavens.
Death on the battlefield or childbirth meant immortality.

11. Gods
Tezcatlipoca - The all powerful shown with two mirrors and a shield.
Huehueteotl – the fire god who demanded a sacrifice every 52 years.
Huitzilopochtli – The god of Sun.