The Aztec Empire

The Aztec Empire

The Aztecs arrived in the Valley of Mexico around A.D. 1200. The valley contained a number of small city-states that had survived the collapse of Toltec rule. The Aztecs, who were then called the Mexica, were a poor, nomadic people from the harsh deserts of northern Mexico. Fierce and ambitious, they soon adapted to local ways, finding work as soldiers-for-hire to local rulers.

The map of Aztec empire

The Aztecs Grew Stronger

Over the years, the Aztecs gradually increased in strength and number. In 1428, they joined with two other city-states—Texcoco and Tlacopan—to form the Triple Alliance.This alliance became the leading power in the Valley of Mexico and soon gained control over neighboring regions. By the early 1500s, the alliance controlled a vast empire that covered some 80,000 square miles stretching from central Mexico to the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and south into Oaxaca. This empire was divided into 38 provinces. It had an estimated population of between 5 and 15 million people.

The Aztecs based their power on military conquest and the tribute they gained from their conquered subjects. The Aztecs generally exercised loose control over the empire, often letting local rulers govern their own regions. The Aztecs did demand tribute, however, in the form of gold, maize, cacao beans, cotton, jade, and other products. If local rulers failed to pay tribute, or offered any other kind of resistance, the Aztecs responded brutally. They destroyed the rebellious villages and captured or slaughtered the inhabitants.

Tenochtitlán : A Planned Aztec City

The Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán on the western shore of Lake Texcoco flourished so that the city could boast at least 200,000 inhabitants by the early 16th century CE, making it the largest city in the Pre-Columbian Americas. These inhabitants were divided into several social strata. At the top were local rulers (teteuhctin), then came nobles (pipiltin), commoners (macehualtin), serfs (mayeque), and finally slaves (tlacohtin). The strata seem to have been relatively fixed but there is some evidence of movement between them, especially in the lower classes.
Not only the political and religious capital, Tenochtitlán was also a huge trading centre with goods flowing in and out such as gold, greenstone, turquoise, cotton, cacao beans, tobacco, pottery, tools, weapons, foodstuffs (tortillas, chile sauces, maize, beans, and even insects, for example) and slaves. The Spanish invaders were hugely impressed by the city's splendour and magnificent architecture and artwork, especially the Templo Mayorpyramid and massive stone sculptures. Dominating the city was the huge Sacred Precinct with its temples and monumental ball court. Tenochtitlan's water management was also impressive with large canals criss-crossing the city which was itself surrounded by chinampas - raised and flooded fields - which greatly increased the agricultural capacity of the Aztecs. There were also anti-flood dykes, artificial reservoirs for fresh water, and wonderful flower gardens dotted around the city.

The planned city of Tenochtitlán

Religion

Religion played a major role in Aztec society. Tenochtitlán contained hundreds of temples and religious structures dedicated to the approximately 1,000 gods that the Aztecs worshiped. The Aztecs adopted many of these gods, and religious practices related to them, from other Mesoamerican peoples. For example, the Aztecs worshiped the Toltec god Quetzalcoatl in many forms. They saw him as the god of learning and books, the god of the wind, and a symbol of death and rebirth. The Aztecs pictured Quetzalcoatl not only as a feathered serpent, but also as a paleskinned man with a beard.

It represents the three Aztec gods

List of Aztec Gods:

• Cultural Gods
• Tezcatlipoca – means "Smoking Mirror", a panmesoamerican shaman God, omnipotent universal power
• Quetzalcoatl – means "Feathered Serpent", a panmesoamerican god of life, the wind and the morningstar
• Tlaloc – a panmesoamerican god of rainstorm, water and thunder or any storm
• Mixcoatl – means "Cloud Serpent", the tribal God of many of the Nahua people such as the Tlaxcalteca, god of war, sacrifice and hunting
• Huitzilopochtli – means "Left-handed Hummingbird", the tribal God of the Mexica of Tenochtitlan, the patron god aka the sun

• Nature gods
• Metztli – The Moon
• Tlaltecuhtli – means "Earth Lord", Goddess of the Earth
• Chalchiuhtlicue – means "Jade Her Skirt", goddess of springs
• Centzon Huitznahua – means "The 400 Southerners", Gods of the stars
• Ehecatl the Wind, often conflated with Quetzalcoatl and called "Quetzalcoatl-Ehecatl"
• Xipe Totec "Our flayed lord" wearing a human skin depicted in the Codex Borgia.

• Gods of creation
• Ometeotl/Ometecutli/Omecihuatl/Tonacatecutli/Tonacacihuatl – The double-gendered creator god
• Huehueteotl/Xiuhtecutli – means "Old God" and "Turquoise Lord", god of origin, time, fire and old age
• Coatlicue/Toci/Teteo Innan/Tonantzin – female progenitor goddesses

• Gods of Pulque and excess
• Tlazolteotl – Goddess of filth and guilt and of cleansing
• Tepoztecatl – God of Pulque worshipped at Tepoztlan
• Xochiquetzal – Goddess of pleasure and indulgence, and sex
• Mayahuel – Goddess of Pulque and Maguey
• The Auiateteo:
• Macuiltochtli
• Macuilxochitl
• Macuilcuetzpalin
• Macuilcozcacuauhtli
• Macuilmalinalli
• Centzon Totochtin – "the 400 Rabbits", god of intoxication
• Ometochtli – means "Two Rabbit", leader of the Centzon Totochtin, god of fertility, and intoxication
• Xochipilli wearing a deerskin as depicted in the Codex Borgia.
• Gods of maize and fertility
• Xipe Totec – means "Our Flayed Lord", Fertility god associated with spring, patron god of goldsmiths
• Cinteotl – God of maize
• Xilonen/Chicomecoatl – Goddess of tender maize
• Xochipilli means "Flower Prince", god of happiness, flowers, pleasure and fertility
• Gods of death and the underworld
• Mictlantecutli – Lord of the underworld
• Mictlancihuatl – Queen of the underworld
• Xolotl
• Trade gods
• Yacatecutli – means "Nose Lord", god of merchants
• Patecatl – god of doctors and medicine

Religious Practices 

Aztec religious practices centered on elaborate public ceremonies designed to communicate with the gods and win their favor. At these ceremonies, priests made offerings to the gods and presented ritual dramas, songs, and dances featuring masked performers. The Aztec ceremonial calendar was full of religious festivals, which varied according to the god being honored. 

Sacrifices for the Sun God 

The most important rituals involved a sun god, Huitzilopochtli. According to Aztec belief, Huitzilopochtli made the sun rise every day. When the sun set, he had to battle the forces of evil to get to the next day. To make sure that he was strong enough for this ordeal, he needed the nourishment of human blood. Without regular offerings of human blood, Huitzilopochtli would be too weak to fight. The sun would not rise, the world would be plunged into darkness, and all life would perish. For this reason, Aztec priests practiced human sacrifice on a massive scale. Each year, thousands of victims were led to the altar atop the Great Temple, where priests carved out their hearts using obsidian knives. Sacrificial victims included enslaved persons, criminals, and people offered as tribute by conquered provinces. Prisoners of war, however, were the preferred victims. As a result, the priests required a steady supply of war captives. This in turn pushed the Aztec military to carry out new conquests. In fact, the Aztecs often went to war not to conquer new lands, but simply to capture prisoners for sacrifice. They even adapted their battle tactics to ensure that they took their opponents alive.

The Collapse of the Aztec Empire

The Aztec empire, which controlled some 11,000,000 people, had always had to deal with minor rebellions - typically, when new rulers took power at Tenochtitlán - but these had always been swiftly crushed. The tide began to turn, though, when the Aztecs were heavily defeated by the Tlaxcala and Huexotzingo in 1515 CE.  With the arrival of the Spanish, some of these rebel states would again seize the opportunity to gain their independence. When the conquistadors finally did arrive from the Old World sailing their floating palaces and led by Hernán Cortés, their initial relations with the leader of the Aztecs, Motecuhzoma II, were friendly and valuable gifts were exchanged. Things turned sour, though, when a small group of Spanish soldiers were killed at Tenochtitlán while Cortés was away at Veracruz. The Aztec warriors, unhappy at Motecuhzoma's passivity, overthrew him and set Cuitlahuac as the new tlatoani. This incident was just what Cortés needed and he returned to the city to relieve the besieged remaining Spanish but was forced to withdraw on the 30th of June 1520 CE in what became known as the Noche Triste. Gathering local allies Cortés returned ten months later and in 1521 CE he laid siege to the city. Lacking food and ravaged by disease, the Aztecs, now led by Cuauhtemoc, finally collapsed on the fateful day of 13th of August 1521 CE. Tenochtitlán was sacked and its monuments destroyed. From the ashes rose the new capital of the colony of New Spain and the long line of Mesoamerican civilizations which had stretched right back to the Olmec came to a dramatic and brutal end.  




References :
1. http://www.ancient.eu/Aztec_Civilization/
2. http://jmcentarfer.tripod.com/ch16_3.pdf
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_religion

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Rohan Sharma

Hi. I’m Rohan Sharma. I’m currently pursuing B.Tech in CSE at BML Munjal University.

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