The Rise and Fall of the Aztecs

Introduction about the Aztecs:

The Aztecs settled around the area that is now Mexico City as nomadic tribes where you can find valleys. The people were fierce, Nahuatl-speaking people from the Chichimec culture. Their name came from their homeland, Aztlan or “White Land”.They started settling around 1200 AD. Since other tribes were already living in the area there was competition between them for who will rule over the region. After killing one of the King’s daughter they were forced to live in exile.

    Basic Information about Aztecs:   

              Since other tribes were already living in the area there was competition between them for who will rule over the region. The Aztecs were latecomers to the Valley of Mexico. New Mexico believed that the gods had given their blood to create human beings. They believed that in order to maintain the empire, they were obligated to return the blood to the gods.the

How they started to develop:

               While living in exile they found a swamp which later will become their homeland. They drained all the water from the swamp and created the city of Tenochtitlan which became the Aztec capital. The Aztec Empire was born in 1428 after the defeat of the Tepanecs. One of the first emperors of the Aztecs was Itzcoatl.

Itzcoatl an Aztec Emperor:

           Itzcoatl brought many important changes to Aztec life like introducing the Feudal System. He set up classes giving titles to the rich while the poor were responsible for providing labor, economics (money) and being in the military. He changed the religion and history of the Aztecs because of the huge expansion of the Empire and was even the one that started with having more people being sacrificed to the sun god.

Conquering City-States:

            Izocoatl during his whole life spend it to conquer all of the Aztec city states so he can expand his empire. The city states that were conquered had to follow the Aztec Capital and the emperor. If they followed all this there lives didn’t change at all. Since they really didn’t pay attention to the city states a lot of times the city states had uprisings meaning there was more fighting to have the city states be under their control again.

Aztecs during War:

         The Aztecs were known to be very violent when it came to war fights. They fought each other separately and if they were to die while fighting they believed that their soul will go up to the Gods. When they were fighting many times it was to kill their opponent or to take their enemy making them a slave or captive.

Moctezuma the next emperor: 

        The next emperor after Izocoatl was Moctezuma I and one of the most greatest accomplishments he did was that he made the tribute system stronger for the Empire. He also created schools for all girls and boys in the empire to attend but their schooling was based on their social class. He also had the Great Temple built that was located in Tenochtitlan.

Aztec Trade:

Towards the end of his reign Montezuma ended warfare among lesser city states. Because warfare had ended this allowed trade and market system to flourish. Merchants traded with people as far as Central America. The trade greatly increased the standard of living in the Empire.

Aztec Achievements:    

      The Aztecs had achieved their highest moment in history during Ahuitzotl reign who was the 5th emperor of the Aztecs. During this time the empire was the biggest in size during its time and became very powerful. Also he help the Great Temple be finished all the way.

Aztec Gods:

         The temple was finished in 1487 and was made for 2 of their Gods: Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc. It was basically a huge pyramid that contained a temple for each one of the 2 gods. Up at the top the Aztecs would sacrifice people for example during a dedication ceremony that would usually last 4 days they had about 10,000 people be killed.

Aztec Sacrifices:

        Towards the end of the Aztec Empire sacrifices of humans at temples happened even more often than in earlier years. These sacrifices weren’t just there for religious purposes. The Aztecs used them for politics like making conquered rules watch as their own people were sacrificed in gruesome ways. This sacred surrounding areas and protected the position of the wealthy for ruling over the people.

Last Ruler Of Aztec Empire:

       The last ruler of the Aztec Empire was  Moctezuma II who by the time he came to power was already ruling a weakening Empire. He weakened the Empire even more by going back and fighting city states they uprised against the Aztecs. Also the nobles of the Empire started to ignore their people granting the people less power. This tested the faith the people had towards the nobility and made the people less faithful in them.

The ending of the Empire:

     The Aztec Empire finally fell after Cortes (a Spaniard) took his army and attacked the Empire’s capital in the year 1521. The Empire ended because of how many people they were sacrificing causing the Empire to be low in population. The people they killed were people who needed to be alive because without them the Empire couldn’t move forward in its development.