Historical Overview
Mineo, Liz. “Unearthing the Secrets of the Aztecs.”
The Aztec Empire ruled most of
Mesoamerica c. 1345-1521, a span of nearly
200 years. They ruled their empire with an
iron fist, despite never having invented iron
tools. However, the Aztecs came to rule over
80,000 square miles throughout central
Mexico, from the Gulf Coast to the Pacific
Ocean, and south to what is now Guatemala
without ever inventing iron, let alone steel or
gunpowder. The Aztecs first appeared in
Mesoamerica in the early 13th century. After
founding the city of Tenochtitlan in 1325, they
began to expand their empire through military
conquest and sustained it through tributes
imposed on the conquered regions. This
practice created a large domain, but also
many enemies. Also known as the “Triple
Alliance'' the Aztec empire was built on three
cities: Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan,
all in the vicinity of Lake Texcoco. The
Aztecs produced great miracles of
technology and engineering, and with this
they managed to create a large and bustling
city, a clean and a high standard of living,
and an expansive empire. However, this all
came tumbling down when the Spanish
landed in the Americas. The Spanish
approached the capital city of Tenochtitlan,
but the king, Montezuma, let them enter and
went out to greet them, as opposed to
sending his warriors to capture and imprison
the unknown people as had been done
before. This act (motivated by wariness that
the Spanish might be gods) allowed
Montezuma to be captured and eventually
killed by the Spanish, creating the chaos
necessary for smallpox and a small band of
conquistadors to topple this massive and
majestic empire in 1521
Bibliography
Harvard Gazette, Harvard Gazette, 9 Apr. 2018,
The Mighty Aztec
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/unea
rthing-the-secrets-of-the-aztecs/#:~:text=The
%20Aztecs%20expanded%20their%20empire,to
%20pay%20tributes%20to
%20Tenochtitlan.&text=The%20nobles%20included
%20the%20ruler,and%20didn't%20pay%20taxes.
Empire
History.com Editors. “Aztecs.” History.com, A&E
Television Networks, 27 Oct. 2009,
https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-americas/azt
ecs#:~:text=Invaders%20led%20by%20the
%20Spanish,Mesoamerica's%20last%20great
%20native%20civilization.
National Geographic Society. “Tenochtitlan.”
National Geographic Society, 7 Aug. 2020,
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/te
nochtitlan/#:~:text=The%20Aztec%20built%20their
%20capital,kilometers%20(five%20square
%20miles).
“Aztec Agriculture: Floating Farms Fed the People.”
History, 14 June 2018,
https://www.historyonthenet.com/aztec-agriculture-
floating-farms-fed-the-people.
The Aztec people gather at the temple at
Tenochtitlan
<http://www.maya-aztec.com/wordpress/wp-
content/uploads/2010/07/teno13.jpg>
Sam Adams
B6
Modern tasteless joke referencing human sacrifice
https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/
001/760/532/734.jpg
 Urbanization
Artist’s rendition of Spanish description of the Aztec
city of Tenochtitlan
<https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a2/06/ec/
a206ec1badc62685c3ddfb3352575a32.jpg>
The Aztec Empire was also called the
“Triple Alliance” because it was ruled from
the three great cities on the shores of, and in
the middle of, Lake Texcoco. The city located
on the eastern shore of Lake Texcoco, was
the city of Texcoco. (This reminds me a bit of
our naming of the earth's moon, The Moon)
Located on the western shore of the lake was
the city of Tlacopan, sometimes called the
little sister of the Triple Alliance. But the main
and capital city of the Aztecs was
Tenochitlian. When the Spanish first saw it
they said it would have been a marvel even
in Europe. It was built in the middle of the
lake and had aqueducts, canals, and
cosways. The Aztcs had built it from two
islands, and the area was extended using
chinampas. These were small, artificial
islands created above the waterline by
scoping mud from the bottom of the lake.
Tenochtitlan eventually reached an area of
more than five square miles before it was
completely destroyed by the Spanish
Religion
The history of the Aztecs is greatly
influenced by their religion. They had a
polytheist religion, with many gods and
goddesses. The details of their religion is
less important for understanding the
effects on Aztec society than studying
how the Aztecs acted on their religion.
The most dramatic example of this is the
daily human sacrifice to the sun god. The
Aztecs believed that each day a human
heart must be burnt to the sun in order
for it to rise the next morning. And on
special occasions and ceremonies, or
when the priests deemed it necessary to
call upon extra help from the gods,
multiple prisoners could be sacrificed.
Indeed, when Cortés spoke with the
Aztec king, he showed the Spanish rows
of human skulls he had claimed to have
sacrificed that day. But the constant
need for people to sacrifice drove the
Aztec to take more and more people
from the communities they had
conquered, making a lot of already not
happy people even more angry at the
Aztec government. And when the
Spanish arrived, Montazuma was
reminded of a prophecy concerning the
return of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, and
greeted the Spanish instead of attacking
them immediately. This, combined with
the alliances of the Spanish and enraged
and numerous conquered people
surrounding the Aztec Empire, were
major causes in their downfall.
Technology
The Aztecs had many impressive
technologies, and built extensive
infrastructure without wheels or beasts of
burden. Both their ingenious technology
and their stunning accomplishments
despite their lack in other techlonies
speaks for the grit and ingenuity of the
Aztec people. One important example of
Aztec engineering is their aqueducts.
They developed a complex system of
double barreled aqueducts that carried
fresh water from springs into the city, and
they even had a system of removing
sewage from the city as well. They were
master architects and managed to build
large stone structures using only bronze
tools and human labor. They constructed
cosways from the shore of lake Texcoco
to the city of Tenochtitlan, but built
collapsible bridges to defend the city from
attack. The invention of chinampas
expanded farmland and fed an ever
growing city.
Map of the area dominated by the Aztec Empire at
its peak c. 1520
<https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f5/12/dc/
f512dc1fedcb6360e3291eff8a1b24b3.gif>