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Northern Oklahoma College

Aztec Empire

Braden Mackie

Ancient World History TR 10:30

Professor Cook

30 Nov 2018
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The Aztec people showed up in Mesoamerica region close to the beginning of 13th

century. The Aztecs were a Nahuatl speaking people called the Mexica (267). They were also

known as the Mexica people before they were given the name Aztec. Though they didn’t start

out as the strongest force. The Aztecs were a nomadic people before finally settling down and

figuring themselves out.They began out as hunter-gathers but were super poor tribes’ people.

They formed in a fast amount of time and expanding the empire. Developing a social and

religious gathering brought a ton of the area’s city-states into their power in the 15th century.

Scholars believe that the Aztecs moved around for generations before finding their capital city

Tenochtitlan.

In 1325 the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan was constructed in the middle of a lake. Fortunate

enough where they chose to live was a strong, strategic area for them to defend, and have good

agriculture. The Aztecs lived off of farming and hunting wild animals such as rabbits, wild

turkey and snakes. They would farm their main product maize, also with squash, tomatoes, and

beans. After the Aztecs settled down and formed as a strong unit, their leader Itzcoatl formed an

alliance with the Tacubans and Texcocans to defeat their biggest rival the Tepanec. After the

concurring of the Tenpanec’s capital city of Azcapotzalco, Itzcoatl’s successor Montezuma

whom took power in the 1440s. He was an outstanding warrior in the Aztec’s eyes and was also

remember as the father of the Aztec empire. The Aztecs became so powerful and ruling over 500

small states, and almost five to six million people. Out of the millions of people the Aztecs had a

hierarchy of classes rich, middle, and poor. The poor were the common people of the empire,

they became the backbone of the empire. They would work in agriculture and other services to

their empire. They would build roads to other city states they have conquered for ease of access.
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The markets in Tenochtitlan’s would see over 50,000 people on big market days, this

made the Aztec economy boom. This made the Aztec’s highly civilized, socialized, and a smart

empire. The Empire was a very structured society with a very strict system of laws. The Aztecs

assembled giant temples and palaces in their magnificent empire, which embodied the people’s

unwilling following of the Aztec gods, including the war god and the Quetzalcoatl. “The god of

war in the Aztec was called Huitzilopochtli (Humming Bird of the South)” (269). They have

many gods of the Aztecs presided on every spectrum of the human condition of the Aztecs.

There were 260 days in the Aztec calendar which was dived in to several weeks. When a ruler

would die in the Aztec empire there would always be a lot of uncertainty in the empire. “This

meant war for the Aztec, because the new ruler would set on a campaign in order to answer

questions is successions” (271).

The Aztec religion is best known for their human sacrifices, which labeled them as blood

thirsty savages. The Aztecs did many other sacrifices other than the human sacrifices, they also

di animal sacrifices. They’re mostly know from tales told by other captured tribes for ripping a

human heart out while it was still beating. They would also sacrifice their own tribes’ people

from their empire. The human sacrifice in their culture was the highest honor the Aztec gods and

they felt they needed to sacrifice to keep mankind alive. The Aztec, however were not the first

tribe to practice live sacrifices in the Mesoamerican region. “The Olmec people (1200-300BCE)

which began such rituals atop of their pyramids (Cartwright)”.

Montezuma was one of the most famous Aztec leaders he was born in the capital

Tenochtitlan, in regular day Mexico City. Montezuma didn’t go by his real name, “Montezuma's

real name was closer to Motecuzoma, Moctezoma or Moctezuma and most serious historians

will write and pronounce his name correctly” (Minister). In the early 1500s he took power over
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his family member Ahuitzotl. The power of the empire shrunk as hatred from other subject tribes

from the demand of religious sacrifices. Montezuma was famously known for the ordeal with

Hernan Cortes of the Spanish Army. Montezuma offer Cortes golds and riches to make an

alliance with the Spaniards. After the offers from Montezuma the Spanish had made alliances

with the subject tribe of the Aztecs. Cortes was invited to the capital city of the Aztecs, but he

soon realized he was setup and captured Montezuma captive. Spanish have different stories than

the Aztecs do, the Spanish said Montezuma went to talk to his people and was shot with arrows

and stones. The Aztecs said that the Spanish killed their leader, which caused the attack on the

Spanish. They barely made it out of the city with any of Cortes’s men left.

“A few distinctions showed in the Aztec Empire, during their migrations” (269). Beneath

the military and imperial leaders, the other class was the warriors of the Aztec empire. The

Aztecs thought highly of their warriors and treated them really well, men who distinguished

themselves in war were called war hero’s, dressed nice and lived in palaces. The Aztecs faced

many foes during their kingdom’s years. When the Aztecs would defeat another tribe, they

would take the warriors and use them as sacrifices. The Aztecs would train their children at a

young age to prepare the boys for war, to prepare them for any battle ahead of them.

The toughest and deadliest foe they face were the Spanish Conquistadors led by Cortez.

The fall took place over a three-month span were the Spanish army sieged the Aztecs. After the

siege the Spanish leveled the city and captured the Aztec leader. The Spanish executed the leader

and Cortez then became the leader of a giant Mexican empire. The siege didn’t go over easy with

the Aztec who were a hard fighting tribe and a force to be reckoned with. An attack took place

on the Spanish army, by the Aztecs and their allies. This took place in 1520, after that the

Spanish settle down in Tlaxcala, the Cortez built alliances with surrounding tribes. This is where
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he constructed the attack of the capital city of the Aztecs. Not only did the fighting help defeat

the Aztecs, the plagues and dieses the Spanish help aid in the fall of the great Aztec empire. “In

October 1520 an epidemic of smallpox, a disease brought to Mexico by the Spanish, decimated

the population in Tenochtitlan and killed the ruler Cuitlahuac”(Phillips). After the fall of the

capital city in the empire. The Spanish set out to finish the rest of the job on the Aztec empire

and trying to find the rest of their riches. With the collapse of the Aztec higher ups other local

places were happy to see them fall and set themselves free from Aztec control.Though the fall of

the Aztecs seemed to come a really fast pace, but the Aztecs held on for a couple strong years.

The biggest thing that helped defeat the Aztecs was the plagues the Spanish brought over from

Europe. When the Aztecs fell to the Spanish continued trying to conquer Mexico.
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Citations

1. history, editors. “Aztecs.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2018,

www.history.com/topics/ancient-americas/aztecs.

2. Cartwright, Mark. “Aztec Civilization.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History

Encyclopedia, 23 Nov. 2018, www.ancient.eu/Aztec_Civilization/.

3. Cartwright, Mark. “Cortes & the Fall of the Aztec Empire.” Ancient History

Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 24 Nov. 2018,

www.ancient.eu/article/916/cortes--the-fall-of-the-aztec-empire/.

4. Phillips, Charles. “Battle of Tenochtitlán.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia

Britannica, Inc., 17 May 2018, www.britannica.com/event/Fall-of-Tenochtitlan.

5. “Overview of the Aztec Empire.” History, 14 June 2018,

www.historyonthenet.com/overview-of-the-aztec-empire

6. Cartwright, Mark. “Aztec Sacrifice.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History

Encyclopedia, 26 Nov. 2018, www.ancient.eu/Aztec_Sacrifice/.

7. Minster, Christopher. “10 Amazing Facts About Montezuma.” Thoughtco., Dotdash,

www.thoughtco.com/ten-facts-about-montezuma-2136263.

8. Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E., et al. A History of World Societies. Vol. 1, Bedford/St.

Martin's., 2018
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