Aztec economy flourished so well mainly because of their intricate religious beliefs. Their belief in many different gods, complex rituals, and an odd brand of warfare, all lead up to an flourishing economy because they all required so many different artisans and materials. In Aztec society, a merchant was a man above everyone else. By the 1500’s they rivaled the wealth of nobility. The Aztecs believed that in order to keep the gods happy, they had to build great pyramids, do many rituals, and sacrifice people to appease the gods.
The building of these enormous pyramids took thousands of thousands of men and supplies. Those supplies had to be dug up and bought from every person possible. The building of such pyramids also employed skilled artisans to carve the temples into shape, and to carve words and symbols inside the pyramid. The temples also required skilled painters and recorders to paint and inscribe inside the temple. The employment of these artisans ensured that they would have work to do and money in their pocket.
Aztec merchants were called pochtecas. They served not only as merchants, but as spies for the priests and king. This required them to go very far to spy on other tribes. When they came back they could come with things and idea’s the people had never imagined. This brought the edges of the world that much closer to the Aztecs simply because believed that their merchants should spy on other tribes to see what kinds of gods they are worshiping.
The Aztecs religiously used a great amount of obsidian, a volcanic rock that looked like dark glass, for all walks of life. They used it in warfare to weaken the opponents rather then kill them, so their opponent could then be offered to the gods. They used it for priests as religious necklaces. Finally the used it for knives to cut open their sacrificial victims to offer their hearts to the gods. Obsidian was considered very rare at first but the mass usage of it gave hundreds of skilled artisans the jobs to make things out of it.
After the discovery of the new world, by Christopher Columbus, rapidly the Europeans navigate from their countries to the new world in search of gold and precious rocks that have a value for their kings or queens. Hernan Cortes, born in Medellin, Spain, was a conquistador mainly best known as the conquistador that found Tenochtitlan, which is now call Mexico City. During the conquista Bernal del Castillo and Hernán Cortés describe the struggles and other issues that they had to find the city Tenochtitlan through writing it on a book. Tenochtitlan, at that point, had amazing building structure and an extensive market. The Aztec or Mexica had, when found by Cortez, an extensive knowledge of Astronomy, time, and including Mathematics. After Cortes’s entrance to Tenochtitlan the king, Moctezuma, believe that Spaniards were part of their culture or history, as the same as Toltecs.
The Aztecs were a large group of Indian tribes.They were originally migratory and as they migrated they assimilatated other tribes. Through this process they joined together and became rich in civilization. The tribes the comprised the Aztecs were the Toltect whom the Chichimec [Aztecs] conquered in the early 1300's A.D. The Toltect embarked on conquests, which resulted in the Aztecs becoming a dominate civilization of their time.(1) Their migratory pattern stopped on the southwestern border of Lake Texcoco as they discovered an eagle sitting on the stem of a cactus, holding a serpent in his talons with his wings open to the sun. This as an omen from the gods.(4) The Aztecs finally settled in central Mexico, where Mexico City is now located, and began building Tenochtitlan in 1325. Over time the civilization's control spanned from Tenochtitlan east to the Gulf of Mexico and south to Guatemala.(1)
Spain, as one of the most powerful nations in the old world, had a great influence on many events in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Spanish also had an influence on many other empires/nations' fate. One of the empires that suffered a grave fate at the hands of the Spanish was the Aztec empire. The Aztec empire was not the oldest Mesoamerican empire and it was formed from an agreement between three city-states. The Aztec's class system had the emperor on top, then the priests, and everyone else below them. The priests were responsible for keeping the gods happy. The sacrifice of goods and people was a commonplace in the Aztec culture, and it was often the goods/people of other nations that were taken for sacrifices. As one can imagine,
It is the 1450s. Foreigners have invaded your land, and they’re capturing the citizens living there for their lethal rituals. (Doc. A) You are unlucky enough to find yourself kidnapped, along with your family. Your mother is taken away quickly, but your father is forced to become a human sacrifice for the Aztec gods. What does this mean, exactly? According to The History of the Indies of New Spain by Friar Diego Duran, your father’s chest is severed, and his heart is taken out of his body. This is all while he is still awake, and before the time of pain medication. He slowly bleeds to death on the temple stairways - and you’re watching it all. This sounds terrible, does it not?
The pottery was used to eat out of and they could also trade it to other tribes for food or maybe even horses. The Aztecs did feather working and goldworking. They made shields and did art work with the feathers. They held the feathers together with glue made from bat dung.
The Aztec Empire was the most powerful Mesoamerican kingdom of all time. They dominated the valley of Mexico in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Aztecs were an advanced and successful civilization that built beautiful, sophisticated cities, temples, and pyramids. They also created a culture full of creativity with mythological and religious traditions. Aztecs lead a structured and evocative life that let their society to become a very superior civilization. The Aztec’s communication skills were very well developed for their time; through religious beliefs, government involvement, and family life they lived a full and productive life. Until in 1519 when the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mexico, and defeated the Aztecs.
Both the Aztec and Incan civilizations used trade, tribute, redistribution of goods, and agriculture to balance out their economy. However, the Aztecs had a more mixed organization, the use of more than one functions, used trade markets, and had a merchant class, unlike the opposing Incan economy. The Aztecs were more engaged with trade than the Incans, shown with the trade markets at Tlatelolco. Tlatelolco was a trade market controlled by the merchant class, or Pochteca and the development of currency was put in place using beans and or gold dust. On the other hand, the Incans did not have trade markets due to their trade being more informal, along with no merchant class or currency. To help specifically long distance trade, advanced road systems were put in place as way stations. Both civilizations used tribute and was an important aspect to the economic organization, but the Aztecs collected goods and the Incans collected labor, mita. ...
"How did the Spanish and the Aztecs get involved with each other?" You may ask. It all started with the Spanish conquest against the Aztec Empire in 1518. Hernan Cortes, a Spanish explorer, and 600 of his soldiers set sail for Mexico, where he hoped to find great riches and land he could claim for Spain. They invaded Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire and were surprisingly, warmly and graciously welcomed with open arms by the Aztecs and their leader, Montezuma II. The Spanish were treated like royalty because the Aztecs believed they were gods. The Aztecs were completely unaware that the Spanish were there to steal riches because the Aztec Empire was at the peak of its rich and glorious culture. They has the 3 G's, also known as God, gold, and glory. The Spanish took all the treasure they could find. They also planned on destroying the Aztec Temples and turning the Indians who worked for the Aztecs into Roman Catholics like themselves. After courteous initial meetings between the Aztecs and the Spanish, the new relationship deteriorated rapidly. Cortes took Montezuma prisoner in his own c...
Two of the biggest and greatest civilization in the Americas were the Aztecs and Incas. These two civilization were both said to be conquered by the Spanish, but it wasn’t just the Spanish who conquered them. These two civilizations both fell from a combination of a weak government, lack of technology, new disease introduced by the invaders, and not being prepared for the invaders. For many centuries the Aztec civilization revolved around a ideological, social, and political system in which expansion was the cornerstone. Expansion was the cornerstone of their whole civilization, because their religion requested that a large number of human sacrifices where to be made to the gods.
The special priests who did this wore hooded black robes that laid on there feet. The robes had skulls and bones used as belts and decorative statements, along with burnt powdered spiders and scorpions. There hair had the blood of past victims in it . When killing they would use a dagger. Other times they had a special stone called techeatle.
August 13th, 1521 marked the end of a diabolical, yet genius group of leaders. They were referred to as the Aztecs. They were an extremely advanced ancient civilization. The Aztec’s were overthrown by the Spanish, yet we still haven’t forgotten the Aztecs. But since their culture was so complex it’s hard to know what is the most necessary thing to study when it comes to them, especially when their were so many things that defined their culture. The Aztecs were highly religious and believed in human sacrifice. They also had a complex method of farming called chinampas. This grew an extremely large amount of food per year by using canals. This was extremely successful because of how complex it was. When asked if historians should emphasize agriculture
IMPORTANT LISTENING SUMMARIES 1. Cocoa in Aztec Time The encapsulation of speaker’s assertion indicates the role of cocoa during Aztec time. Thanks to its unique attributes, not only was it used for beverages making in the past, but it was also taken as a currency, means of collecting tax, and a symbol of wisdom in the form chocolate drinking. Hence, the role of cocoa in the life of Aztec people was instrumental indeed.
One of the principle themes in the Aztec downfall was the immense greed of the Europeans. The principle goal of every major faction in Europe was to gain power and wealth it didn’t matter from what source. Everyone from popes and kings to the lowly soldier envisioned rivers of gold and fame. Ever since they had boats Europeans have been looking for lucrative trade routes and other ways to turn a profit. The ruling monarchs of these countries contributed a great deal to this. They saw vast profits from these ventures through taxes and the customary “ Royal Fifth” which was a fifth of all profits would go straight to the King and/or Queen. Also royalty or other nobility within the country personally funded a large majority of explorations. Trading and exploration companies just helped push the trend further and made the exploitation of newly discovered lands big business. While greed was defiantly a starting point for Cortez’s expedition, it was his greed while in Central Mexico that changed the tide of history. Cortez’s first encounters with the natives in Central...
It is still used today. Other contributions to society today include popcorn, choclate and chinampas. Aztec’s were the best known civilization as they built most of civilization that are located
Ancient Aztec Civilization: Life and Afterlife The ancient Aztec civilization had a perspective on life and afterlife that is remarkably different from the perspectives of many modern cultures. It was largely shaped by their religion, which permeated nearly every aspect of ancient Aztec life. Background on Ancient Aztec Civilization The term Aztec can refer to certain native ethnic groups that have lived in what is today Mexico.