The Aztec Empire

  Secondary Source       The famous historian who has studied the Aztecs is Camilla Townsend. Camilla is an American Historian. She studies the early history of the Native Americans in the United States and history of Latin America. She wrote a book called the Fifth Sun: A New History of The Aztecs. A brief description about this book: the Mexica people had a story of themselves before the Europeans arrived and also before the Spanish took over. The Aztecs had reinvented themselves by getting new technology, developing religion and so much more. This book tells how the Aztecs took bad times and how they had survived everything that happened. The timeline of the Aztecs was between 1325-1519 A.D., and this was before the Spanish had taken over which was in the 16th century. This civilization is important for us to know about these days because it allows us to gain knowledge on our history. History teaches us to never repeat the same mistakes due to the outcomes of...

  Aztec Politics       The type of government that the Aztecs had was hierarchical, it has power and responsibility from the top down. For people living there they would have to pay, and it would have to be on time, if it was on time and paid in full the higher ups would leave the people alone, just as any country nowadays. The Hierarchical structure was a family. Each headman of a family was called a Calpulli and part of the city council. The city council consisted of executive leaders, and they were military members and nobles.

Aztecs Culture       The Aztec culture had beliefs in rich mythology and polytheistic. Polytheistic is having many gods with certain functions.  The Aztecs believed that the world was created by their four major gods. The four major gods included, first is Tlaloc the god of rain. Second is Huitzilopochtli, the patron god of the Mexica tribe. Third is Quetzalcoatl the god of order and civilization. Lastly, Tezcatlipoca the god of destiny and fortune. There were other gods as well, but they were the major ones that the Aztecs believed in. A human sacrifice was important for each Aztec ceremony for their belief system, POWs and children were usually used for these sacrifices. The rituals and ceremonies were on the 20-day of the Aztec calendar at the end of the day. The education in the Aztec culture was important and was based on gender. Males were required to know basic military training. The education was based on religion knowledge, medicine, history, astrology,...

  Weaponry/Weapons       There were three different types of weaponry/weapons that the Aztecs used. The two that were commonly used were copper and stone, the reason why they used those two was because they did not have the resources to access bronze or iron. In some other areas the Aztecs had drills and those were made of reed or bone. There is one weapon that is interesting, and it is called the M acuahuitl, it was used to disable the enemy but not kill them. It was made of a wooden club having pieces of volcanic glass which is obsidian. Obsidian was important for the Aztecs' weapons; it is strong and brittle volcanic glass.

  Coatlicue Statue      One significant sculpture or statue is the Coatlicue Statue. It was built in 1439 there is no known Aztec artist, and it can be found in a museum in Mexico City. When the Spanish invaded in 1512, the Spanish conquerors wanted all monuments and sculptures demolished from the Mexicas but they did not demolish it, they submerged it into water. Later in December 1790 the Coatlicue was found. The statue has twin snakeheads, diminished hands and heart, clawed hands and feet and squirming snakes. The statue represents feminine strength and fear, meaning the goddess is scary. 

  Why I chose the Aztec Empire?      I wanted to start off this blog with why I chose the Aztec Empire. First off, I am Hispanic, and this history is about my culture and how everything was run back then. I can also compare it to today's Mexico and see the differences. The first time that I went to Mexico, I saw how the Mayans lived and some of the things that they ate which were quite similar to the Aztecs. Which was a great history lesson at the time. When seeing all the structures of buildings none of them were touched, it has stayed the same for years. The company that had opened the museum did not try to make the structures look prettier, it is an amazing part of history and that is why I chose the Aztecs.