Aztecs Essay Research Paper The Aztec Empire free essay sample

Aztecs Essay, Research Paper The Aztec Empire History The centre of the Aztec civilisation was the Valley of Mexico, a immense, egg-shaped basin about 7,500 pess above sea degree. The Aztecs were formed after the Toltec civilisation occurred when 100s of civilians came towards Lake Texcoco. In the swamplands there was merely one piece of land to farm on and it was wholly surrounded by more fens. The Aztec households someway converted these disadvantages to a mighty imperium known as the Aztec Empire. Peoples say the imperium was partly formed by a deeply believed fable. As the fable went, it said that Aztec people would make an imperium in a boggy topographic point where they would see an bird of Jove eating a serpent, while perched on a cactus, which was turning out of a stone in the swamplands. This is what priests claimed they saw when come ining the new land. By the twelvemonth 1325 their capital metropolis was finished. They called it Tenochtitlan. In the capital metropolis, aqueducts were constructed, Bridgess were built, and chinapas were made. Chinapas were small islands formed by pilled up clay. On these chinapas Aztecs grew their nutrient. The Aztec Empire included many metropoliss and towns, particularly in the Valley of Mexico. The early colonists built log tonss, so covered them with clay and planted seeds to make roots and develop more solid land for constructing places in this boggy land. Canals were besides cut out through the fens so that a typical Aztec place had its dorsum to a canal with a canoe tied at the door. In the early 1400s, Tenochtitlan joined with Texcoco and Tlacopan, two other major metropoliss in the Valley of Mexico. Tenochtitlan became the most powerful member of the confederation. Montezuma I ruled from 1440 to 1469 and conquered big countries to the E and to the South. Montezuma # 8217 ; s replacements expanded the imperium until it extended between what is now Guatemala and the Mexican State of San Luis Potosi. Montezuma II became emperor in 1502 when the Aztec Empire was at the tallness of its power. In 1519, the Spanish adventurer Hernando Cortes landed on the East Coast of Mexico and marched inland to Tenochtitlan. The Spaniards were joined by many of the Indians who were conquered and forced to pay high revenue enhancements to the emperor. Montezuma did non oppose Cortezs because he thought that he was the God Quetzalcoatl. An Aztec fable said that Quetzalcoatl was driven away by another challenger God and had sailed across the sea and would return some twenty-four hours. His return was predicted to come in the twelvemonth Ce Acatl on the Aztec Calendar. This corresponded to the twelvemonth 1519. Due to this anticipation, Montezuma II thought Quetzalcoatl had returned when Cortezs and his military personnels invaded. He did non defy and was taken captive by Cortes and his military personnels. In 1520, the Aztecs rebelled and drove the Spaniards from Tenochtitlan, but Montezuma II was killed in the conflict. Cortezs reorganized his military personnels and resurged into the metropolis. Montezuma # 8217 ; s replacement, Cuauhtemoc, surrendered in August of 1520. The Spaniards, being strong Christians, felt it was their responsibility to pass over out the temples and all other hints of the Aztec faith. They destroyed Tenochtitlan and built Mexico City on the ruins. However, archeologists have excavated a few sites and have uncovered many leftovers of this society. Language: The Aztec spoke a linguistic communication called Nahuatl ( marked NAH waht cubic decimeter ) . It belongs to a big group of Indian linguistic communications, which besides include the linguistic communications spoken by the Comanche, Pima, Shoshone and other folks of western North America. The Aztec used pictographs to communicate through authorship. Some of the images symbolized thoughts and others represented the sounds of the syllables. Food: The principal nutrient of the Aztec was a thin Indian meal battercake called a tlaxcalli. ( In Spanish, it is called a tortilla. ) They used the tlaxcallis to lift out up nutrients while they ate or they wrapped the nutrients in the tlaxcalli to organize what is now known as a greaser. They hunted for most of the meat in their diet and the main game animate beings were deer, coneies, ducks and geese. The lone animate beings they raised for meat were Meleagris gallopavos, coneies, and Canis familiariss. Humanistic disciplines and Trades: The Aztec sculptures, which adorned their temples and other edifices, were among the most luxuriant in all of the Americas. Their intent was to delight the Gods and they attempted to make that in everything they did. Many of the sculptures reflected their perceptual experience of their Gods and how they interacted in their lives. The most celebrated lasting Aztec sculpture is the big round Calendar Stone, which represents the Aztec existence. Religion: Religion was highly of import in Aztec life. They worshipped 100s of Gods and goddesses, each of whom ruled one or more human activities or facets of nature. The people had many agricultural Gods because their civilization was based to a great extent on farming. The Aztecs made many forfeits to their Gods. When victims reached the communion table they were stretched across a sacrificial rock. A priest with an obsidian knife cut open the victim # 8217 ; s chest and rupture out his bosom. The bosom was placed in a bowl called a chacmool. This bosom was used as an offer to the Gods. If they were in desperate demand, a warrior would be sacrificed, but for any other sacrifice a normal individual would be deemed sufficient. It was a great award to be chosen for a forfeit to the Gods. The Aztec held many spiritual ceremonials to guarantee good harvests by winning the favour of the Gods and so to thank them for the crop. Every 52 old ages, the Aztec held a great jubilation called the Binding up of the Years. Prior to the jubilation, the people would allow their fireplace fires go out and so re-light them from the new fire of the jubilation and banquet. A partial list of the Aztec Gods: CENTEOTL, The maize God. COATLICUE, She of the Serpent Skirt, EHECATL, The God of air current. HUEHUETEOTL, The fire God. HUITZILOPOCHTLI, The war/sun God and particular defender of Tenochtitlan. MICTLANTECUHTLE, The God of the dead. OMETECUHLTI and his married woman OMECIHUATL, They created all life in the universe. QUETZALCOATL, The God of civilisation and acquisition. TEZCATLIPOCA, The God of Night and Sorcery. TLALOC, The rain God. TONATIUH, The Sun God. TONANTZIN, The esteemed grandma. XILONEN, # 8220 ; Young maize ear, # 8221 ; Maize represents a main basic of the Aztecs. XIPE TOTEC, The God of springtime and re-growth. Aztec dances: The Aztec Dance is known for its particular manner of showing fear and supplication to the supernatural Gods of the Sun, Earth, sky, and H2O. Originally, the resources accessible to the indigen American indians were limited, yet they were able to make lively music with the ululation of the sea conch, and with beats produced by membranophones and by dried seeds which were normally tied to the pess of the terpsichoreans. Drumhead: Overall, I feel that the Aztec civilisation was really advanced. It had a really complex construction in which there were lower category, in-between category and upper category peoples. They had a good system of transit and irrigation through the usage of canals. They had a strong warfare system, which was seen by their conquest of many lands. They besides had their ain linguistic communication, and their ain mathematical system. Their bookmans were besides really intelligent, they had developed their ain system of clip measuring and a calendar system that was really accurate.