Class Structure, Warfare, Family Life, Religious Practices, and Agriculture Are Aspects of the Aztec’s culture

Class structure, warfare, family life, religious practices, and agriculture are all aspects of the Aztec’s culture. The Aztecs had a legend about the beginning of their empire. The legend said that the gods will send an eagle perched on a cactus and have a snake in its mouth. This was than the right place to build their empire. The Aztecs were a powerful empire that prospered.

The first important aspect in the Aztec’s culture was class structure. At the top of the structure is the ruler. The ruler was considered semi-divine and the spot was not hereditary. When the emperor died, a group of advisors chose the next emperor. Nobles came next on the list. The most common jobs for nobles were government officials, priests, and military leaders. All these jobs were appointed by the emperor. Government officials collected tribute, worked as judges, or governed the city. Priests would either run schools or study the stars and made predictions for the future. Military leaders led armies into battle. Below the nobles were the commoners. Most commoners were farmers ,while others were craftspeople. The highest ranked commoner was the pochteca. They went far to get distant goods and served as spies. They have special privileges such as owning land and sending their kids to noble school. After them were the peasants. About one third of the population were peasants. They would lend their service to the nobles. Slaves were on the bottom of the class structure. They were prisoners of war, lawbreakers, or debtors. Most slaves can work their way out of slavery while the rest would be sacrificed. Class structure was important because it was the base of the empire.

The next important aspect of the Aztec’s culture is warfare. The Aztecs warred with...

... middle of paper ...

...e land around the Aztecs was filled with water. The Aztecs solved the problem by making chinampas. A chinampa was a bit of land in the water , such as a small island, that allowed the Aztecs to grow more crops. To make a chinampa, they sank wood into the water, then filled it up with reeds, mud, and rocks. The crops the Aztecs would grow were red peppers, tomatoes, sage, squash, green beans, potato, sweet potato, avocado, and corn. The Aztec’s agriculture was sophisticated because it allowed them to grow food for over 200 thousand people.

The aspects of the Aztec’s culture; class structure, warfare, family life, religious practices, and agriculture, were all important. The Aztecs were the ruling empire in central america and accomplished many things.They were a thriving empire until the Spanish came and invaded. The Aztecs ruled because of most of their culture.