Aztec Civilization

Presentation on the Aztec civilization.

1. 1250-1522 A.D.

2. <- LAKE TEXCOCO

3. Located in the Valley of
Mexico around Lake
Texcoco
Legend said find a
cactus with a bird
perched that had a
snake in its mouth
Land dry
Aztecs shifted from
hunting to farming

4. Capital city Tenochtitlán
– present day Mexico
city
Located in the middle
of a lake
Linked to mainland
by strips of land

6. Teotihuacán
Dominated the Valley
of Mexico from 100-
750 A.D.

7. Aztecs had one king/emperor who ruled over all –
chosen by a council of nobles and priests
Nobles served as judges, officials, and governors
Wore elaborate gold jewelry
Most crimes punishable by death or being sold into
slavery

9. Economy based on agriculture
Farming
Chinampas – “floating gardens” on reed mats piled
with earth
Filled in lakes and made channels for irrigation
Grew corn, squash, and beans

11. Aztecs conquered
others and made
them pay tribute, or
money paid by
conquered people

12. Polytheistic
Chief god was
Huitzilopochtli, the sun
God
Fought with darkness
each night to raise the
sun
No promise the sun
would win and rise
Sacrifice ensured sun
would rise

13. Human sacrifice
About 20,000 per year
Bodies taken to the top of pyramids ,chests were cut
open, heart ripped out, and body thrown off
Mostly prisoners of war, some slaves, some nobles
Constant warfare necessary to have enough prisoners
of war around to sacrifice
Some historians say bodies were sometimes eaten by
royalty

17. Emperor
Nobles
Priests who appointed King and conducted rituals
Merchants who took goods like weapons and rope for
skins and cocoa
Carried goods on their backs by a strap over their
foreheads
Traded by feet or by small boat
Also served as spies

18. Commoners who farmed land
Warriors who could rise in status by capturing and
killing enemies
Landless peasants wandered in search of work
Slaves were mostly prisoners of war and criminals
Could own land
Could buy freedom

19. Merchants
Farmer

20. Priests were the keepers of knowledge and the writers
of history
Schools ran for sons of nobles

21. 365 day calendar and a
260 day ritual calendar
Calculates the end of the
world as December 21,
2012

22. Treated with herbs
Used prisoner of war
bodies to study anatomy
– could set bones
Steam baths used as
treatment

23. Spanish came in 1519
A.D. search of Gold, God,
and Glory
Led by Hernan Cortes
Aztec thought Cortes
was the god
Quetzalcoatl

24. Emperor Montezuma II
(Moctezuma II) taken
hostage and neighboring
tribes joined Spanish
3/4ths of the Aztecs died
from war and disease