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Aztecs

Ch. 1 of 8
— CH. 1 · INTRODUCTION —

Contents

Aztecs

8 sections

  • In 1323, a wandering tribe saw an eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus, eating a snake. The vision told them where to build their settlement. Those people were the Mexica, and the settlement was Tenochtitlan, founded on a small swampy island in Lake Texcoco. The Aztecs were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico from 1300 to 1521. Yet the word Aztec was never how they named themselves. How did latecomers on unpromising islets come to dominate Mesoamerica from the Pacific to the Atlantic? Why did their capital fall to a handful of Spanish invaders in just two years? And how do we know any of this, when so many of their own writings were destroyed? The answers run through gods who demanded blood, markets visited by tens of thousands, and a name a German naturalist gave them three centuries later.

  • The Nahuatl words azteecatl and azteecah mean people from Aztlan, a mythical place of origin to the north. The Aztecs did not use this as a name for themselves. In one migration account, the deity Huitzilopochtli tells his followers, now, no longer is your name Azteca, you are now Mexitin. The people of Tenochtitlan called themselves Meexihcah, Tenochcah, or Coelhuah, the last tying their royal genealogy to Culhuacan. Alexander von Humboldt originated the modern usage of Aztec in 1810, applying it to all the peoples linked by trade, custom, religion, and language to the Mexica state and the Triple Alliance. In 1843, William H. Prescott published his work on the conquest of Mexico, and the term spread across most of the world. Scholars have pushed back against the label. Robert H. Barlow preferred Culhua-Mexica for the empire's people. Pedro Carrasco favored Tenochca Empire, writing that the word Aztec is of no use for understanding the ethnic complexity of ancient Mexico. Charles Gibson, in his 1964 study The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule, gathered many groups under the term, including the Xochimilca, the Chalca, and the Tepaneca. Today the modern Nahuatl-speaking groups once called Aztec are known as the Nahua peoples.

  • In 1376, the Mexica royal dynasty began when Acamapichtli was elected the first Huey Tlatoani of Tenochtitlan. For the first fifty years after that founding, the Mexica were a tributary of Azcapotzalco, the Tepanec power that had grown strong under the ruler Tezozomoc. The Mexica supplied warriors for Tepaneca conquests and took a share of the spoils, and Tenochtitlan slowly grew. Tezozomoc died in 1426, and his sons fought for the rulership of Azcapotzalco. During this struggle the Mexica ruler Chimalpopoca died, probably killed by Tezozomoc's son Maxtla. Itzcoatl, uncle of Chimalpopoca, was elected the next Mexica tlatoani and went to open war. Itzcoatl petitioned Nezahualcoyotl, son of a slain Texcocan ruler, and allied with Totoquihuaztli, ruler of the Tepanec city of Tlacopan. In 1428, the Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan besieged Azcapotzalco, destroyed the city, and sacrificed Maxtla. That victory made Tenochtitlan the dominant city-state in the Valley of Mexico. The alliance, formed in 1427, became the basis for the empire, though Texcoco and Tlacopan were soon relegated to junior partnership. Itzcoatl then conquered the southern lake city-states, including Xochimilco and Cuitlahuac, whose chinampa agriculture would help feed the rising power.

  • Ross Hassig, an ethnohistorian, argued that the Aztec empire is best understood as a hegemonic empire. It did not exert supreme authority over conquered lands. It expected taxes to be paid and used force only as far as needed to ensure those payments. Local rulers were generally restored to their positions once their city-state was conquered, and the Aztecs did not interfere in local affairs as long as taxes flowed and local elites cooperated. This control rested on a network of elites bound by intermarriage and exchange. When an altepetl was conquered, the victor imposed a yearly tax, usually paid in the most valuable local product. Several pages of the Codex Mendoza list subject towns and the goods they supplied, from feathers and greenstone beads to cloth, firewood, and food. The empire was also discontinuous, since not all dominated territories were connected. The southern zone of Xoconochco was not in direct contact with the center. In strategic frontier provinces the Aztecs took a more direct approach, maintaining a permanent military presence, installing puppet rulers, or moving entire populations to keep a loyal base. Motecuzoma I, elected in 1440, consolidated this structure with his advisor Tlacaelel, who strengthened the noble class and instituted legal codes. His successors pushed the reach of the alliance ever outward.

  • The accession of a new ruler often prompted subject cities to rebel by refusing to pay taxes. So new rulers began with a coronation campaign, often against rebellious provinces, sometimes to display military might through fresh conquest. Axayacatl, who became ruler in 1469, led a successful coronation campaign far south against the Zapotecs in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. He also absorbed the independent Mexica city of Tlatelolco and its important market, using the alleged mistreatment of his sister by its ruler Moquihuix as a pretext. His luck ran out against the Tarascan state in Michoacan. In the campaign of 1478 to 1479, Axayacatl was soundly defeated at Tlaximaloyan, losing most of his 32,000 men and barely escaping back to Tenochtitlan. Tizoc, elected in 1481, fared worse. His coronation campaign against the Otomi of Metztitlan failed, securing only 40 prisoners for sacrifice. Having shown weakness, he faced rebellions throughout his short reign. Tizoc died suddenly in 1485, possibly poisoned by his brother Ahuitzotl. Ahuitzotl inaugurated a new stage of the Great Temple in 1487, an event marked by the sacrifice of war captives on a scale his successors would never match.

  • On the 8th of November 1519, Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin received Hernan Cortes and his troops, along with Tlaxcalan allies, on the causeway south of Tenochtitlan. He invited the Spaniards to stay as his guests. Cortes had marched toward Tlaxcala and allied there with the traditional enemies of the Aztecs. Two years earlier, in 1517, Moctezuma had received the first news of ships with strange warriors landing on the Gulf Coast near Cempoallan. The power balance soon shifted, and the Spaniards held Moctezuma as a prisoner in his palace. In June 1520, hostilities broke out, culminating in the massacre in the Great Temple and a major Mexica uprising. Moctezuma was killed during the fighting, either by the fleeing Spaniards or by the Mexica who considered him a traitor. Cuitlahuac succeeded him and mounted the defense, ruling only 80 days before perhaps dying in a smallpox epidemic. Cuauhtemoc, the last independent Mexica tlatoani, continued the fierce defense. Weakened by disease and faced with tens of thousands of Indian allies the Spanish had enlisted, the capital fell. Cuauhtemoc was captured on the 13th of August 1521. He was held captive, tortured, and finally executed on the orders of Cortes during an ill-fated expedition to Honduras in 1525.

  • After the fall of Tenochtitlan, the Spanish did not immediately depose Cuauhtemoc from his titular throne. They kept his nominal authority while they established a foothold in the Valley of Mexico and learned how it worked. This also kept control away from their indigenous allies, who detested the former Triple Alliance. The Spanish then installed rulers directly, known as Cuaauhtlahtoaani, meaning the one who speaks like eagle. These appointees did not undergo the traditional Mexica investiture ceremony, which invalidated their authority in the eyes of their subjects. Three cuauhtlatoani ruled Tenochtitlan in this period. Tlacotzin reigned less than a year and died before even reaching the city. Motelchiuhtzin, a Mexica commoner who had served as an officer for Cortes, ruled into 1530 or 1531. Xochiquentzin, a commoner who had served as a minor administrative officer, ruled from 1532 to 1536. In 1538, dynastic rulership was restored, probably by the Spanish viceroy Antonio de Mendoza in pursuit of a more authoritative appearance of legitimacy. Huanitzin, a grandnephew of Moctezuma II, took the throne and was bilingual in Spanish and Nahuatl. The line ran to Cipac, who ruled from 1563 to 1565 amid conflicts over jurisprudence and taxation. After his early death, the Spanish moved to direct administration through Spanish-appointed governorships.

  • To the Aztecs, death was instrumental in the perpetuation of creation, and gods and humans alike had a responsibility to sacrifice themselves so life could continue. In the Legend of the Suns, four successive suns each end in cataclysmic destruction. The current fifth sun was created when a minor deity threw himself on a bonfire and turned into the sun, which only moved once the other gods offered their life force. Humans were understood to be responsible for the sun's continued revival and for paying the earth for its fertility. The Templo Mayor, the Great Temple, was a stepped pyramid with a double staircase leading to two shrines, one for Tlaloc the rain deity and one for Huitzilopochtli, the solar and martial god of the Mexica. Most human sacrifices were carried out there, and the bodies were thrown down the stairs. The numbers are fiercely disputed. For the reconsecration of the Great Pyramid in 1487, Aztec and Spanish sources claimed 80,400 prisoners were sacrificed over four days, a figure many scholars consider wildly exaggerated. Other estimates range between 1,000 and 20,000 annually. In the 1970s, Michael Harner and Marvin Harris argued the motive was the cannibalization of victims, claiming the Aztec diet lacked essential proteins. Bernard Ortiz Montellano refuted this, showing the diet was rich in vegetable proteins. Many scholars today point to a different driver. The public sacrifice of warriors from conquered states displayed political power and deterred rebellion, a deterrent crucial for holding a loosely organized empire together. That same Great Temple now stands excavated in the heart of Mexico City, its offerings displayed in the Museum of the Templo Mayor.

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Maya civilizationInca Empire

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Common questions

What were the Aztecs and where did they live?

The Aztecs were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico from 1300 to 1521. The term refers to several Nahuatl-speaking peoples of central Mexico, especially the Mexica of Tenochtitlan, and the broader Nahua polities sharing their cultural traits.

When and how was the Aztec Empire founded?

The Aztec Empire originated in 1427 as the Triple Alliance of the city-states Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. In 1428 the alliance besieged and destroyed Azcapotzalco, making Tenochtitlan the dominant power in the Valley of Mexico.

Where did the Aztecs build Tenochtitlan and why there?

The Mexica founded Tenochtitlan on a small swampy island in Lake Texcoco, usually dated to 1325. According to legend, in 1323 they saw a vision of an eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus eating a snake, which indicated where to build.

Why did the word Aztec become the common name for these people?

Alexander von Humboldt originated the modern usage of Aztec in 1810 as a collective term for peoples linked to the Mexica state and the Triple Alliance. After William H. Prescott published his work on the conquest of Mexico in 1843, the term was adopted across most of the world.

How did the Spanish conquer the Aztec Empire?

Hernan Cortes allied with enemies of the Mexica, particularly the Tlaxcalteca, and entered Tenochtitlan in 1519. After the capital fell and the emperor Cuauhtemoc was captured on the 13th of August 1521, the Spanish founded Mexico City on the ruins of Tenochtitlan.

Why did the Aztecs practice human sacrifice?

The Aztecs believed humans were responsible for the sun's continued revival and for paying the earth for its fertility, so sacrifice was seen as sustaining creation. Many scholars also point to ideological reasons, since the public sacrifice of captured warriors displayed political power and deterred rebellion by subjugated polities.

All sources

170 references cited across the entry

  1. 1The term was not used as an endonym; see .
  2. 2Why are Aztecs called Mexicas?4 November 2023
  3. 3JournalStyle, Memory, and the Production of History: Aztec Pottery and the Materialization of a Toltec LegacyKristin De Lucia — 2018
  4. 4JournalThe Aztecs Paid Taxes, Not TributeMichael E. Smith — 2014
  5. 5Hernán Cortés conquers the Aztec Empire2025-09-22
  6. 6Náhuatl: AR-Z
  7. 7Aztec
  8. 8Smith (1997) p. 4Smith — 1997
  9. 9Lockhart (1992) p. 1Lockhart — 1992
  10. 10Nichols, Rodríguez-Alegría (2017) p. 3Nichols, Rodríguez-Alegría — 2017
  11. 11Hajovsky (2015) p. ix, 147:n#3Hajovsky — 2015
  12. 12Gillespie (1989)Gillespie — 1989
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  15. 15'Huey Tzompantli': Fearsome tower of human skulls unearthed in Mexico City2017-07-21
  16. 16The term tlatloque can generally be exchanged with the term tlatoani, both referring to a leader of an atlepetl. In the context of this article, it is best to inference them as co-referential.
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  32. 32Singular form: pilli.
  33. 33Berdan, Frances F. The Aztec Economy. Cambridge University Press, 2023.
  34. 34Maffie, n.d. p. sec 2b,2cMaffie, n.d.
  35. 35Maffie, n.d. p. sec 2fMaffie, n.d.
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