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Aztec, facts about the Aztecs

The valley of Mexico was a superb place in which to live. It was 7,000 feet above sea level, walled in by high mountains and immensely fertile. The water from the mountains and the lake system made irrigation easy. Artificial islands were made on rafts in the lake. Decaying water plants and manure enriched the soil. There were two to three harvests a year. Many tribes settled around the lake; there was no need to keep moving as in the forests to the south. But the richness of the valley tempted barbarian Indians from the north.

Aztec, facts about the Aztecs
A statue of Xochipilli, one of the Aztec gods. He presided over Pleasure, Feasting, and Frivolity, and was also believed to control the corn crop	A rock crystal skull made by the Aztecs in the A.D. 1400's. It is 8 and 3/16 inches long and can be seen at the British Museum in London, England

For a thousand years or more civilizations like the Olmecs and the Teotihuacans flourished in different parts of Mexico. About the tenth century A.D. Toltecs from the north occupied the area. In the thirteenth century civil war weakened the Toltecs and a new wave of invaders entered the valley of Mexico. Among them was a tribe called Tenochcas.

The Aztec social classes structure and the developed science - Aztec number system for example - spoke about a good potential of their society.

Aztec, facts about the Aztecs: a sacrificial knife of the A.D.1300s, which can be seen at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.

Aztec society emerged in the next three centuries. Towns were tribal centers. One tribe or town after another rose to power. The Tepanecs whose city was Azcapotzalco overthrew the Texcocans. The Tepanecs were defeated in their turn by an alliance of the defeated Texcocans with Tenochtitlan of the Tenochcas and Tlacopan. Texcocan power was restored but only in alliance with the Tenochcas. The ruler who had brought the Tenochcas to the front was Itzcoatl (1428-40). He was succeeded by Montezuma I (1440-69). Montezuma II (1503-20), grandson of Montezuma I, raised the Tenochcans to the supreme position in the valley. Other city states paid a regular toll of human victims for the mass sacrifices that the Tenochcans practised.

In 1519 Spaniards led by an adventurer, Hernando Cortes, reached the valley of Mexico. By allying with various subject tribes Cortes was able to overthrow Tenochcan rule and create a Spanish colony. Fierce battles and European diseases killed hundreds of thousands of Indians. Tenochtitlan was destroyed and Mexico City was built on the site. With Spanish rule the ancient civilizations of Mexico disappeared forever.

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