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The Mighty Aztecs

An Overview of the Aztec Civilization

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, an advanced, complex civilization controlled the Valley of Mexico: the Aztecs. They are also known as the Mexica, although probably the term Mexica applies only to the dominating tribe that ruled the area.

Essentially a continuation of the Teotihuacán culture, the Aztec culture presents elements that were also present on the Teotihuacán, which is shown in many artifacts, like pottery or other forms of Aztec art.

Aztec Indians were so advanced that we know the exact year of the beginning of the Aztec history, due to their documenting. The story of the Aztecs shows that, in the year of 1168, in the middle of a lake in the North, Huitzilopochtli (one of the Aztec’s gods) commanded the people on a journey to the Valley of Mexico, where they arrived in 1248. Those people were peaceful, but certain practices, like human sacrifices, scared other tribes in the region. Those tribes formed an alliance against the “Tenochca” (the Aztecs), and defeated their tribe in battle. They were made slaves in the town of Culhuacan, but some of the Tenochca managed to escape to an island in the middle of a lake, where they founded a town called “ Tenochtitlan” (place of the Tenochca).

Years later, the Tenochca who lived in Culhuacan sacrificed a daughter of a Culhuacan king. As a result, the Tenochca were expelled from the town and exiled on the island, where they joined the people of Tenochtitlan. With the advanced architectural knowledge brought from Culhuacan, the Tenochca began transforming Tenochtitlan from a town into a large city. The Aztecs became more powerful and skilled, and eventually they gained control over the whole area, defeating other tribes and absorbing some of their culture.

They were supreme constructors, and as such built roads inside the island as well as a connection with the mainland. They also showed impressive architectural abilities by building gigantic Aztec temples that remain today. Aztecs dedicated themselves to agriculture, for which they developed a complex system of irrigation. The main Aztec food was corn.

Under the Chief Moctezuma I, the Aztecs conducted wars of conquest, which sole purpose was to capture prisoners to sacrifice to their gods. Tenochtitlan was then so big that it had its own aquaduct system, bringing water from the mainland. They also achieved great advances in mathematics and astronomy, which they used to predict cosmic events like eclipses, and to calculate the position of the stars.

The assimilation of other tribes’ gods into the Aztec religion contributed to improve the culture of their society. They practiced slavery, although in an “advanced” form: it was neither permanent not inherited. Their political system was strictly related to their religion, as the Aztecs believed (very much like the Egyptians) that the king was a messenger of the sun god.

The decline and fall of the Aztec civilization came under the guidance of King Moctezuma II, whose reign was interrupted by the Spanish invasion under Hernan Cortez. The Aztecs fought a brave battle against the Spanish Conquerors, but due to the inferiority of the Aztec weapons, eventually the courageous Aztec warriors were defeated. The conquerors killed Moctezuma II in 1524.

It is interesting to know the Spanish invasion matched the Aztec calendar exactly. According to the Aztec calendar, the time was divided into groups of 52 years. If mankind was to be destroyed, it would happen only when one of those eras came to an end. Cortez’s arrival happened just when one of the Aztecs’ eras was ending.