The document provides an overview of Aztec history and culture. It describes how the Aztecs migrated to the Valley of Mexico in the late 1200s and founded the city of Tenochtitlan on an island in Lake Texcoco. Through conquest and alliance, they built a large empire across much of Mexico by 1500. When the Spanish arrived led by Hernan Cortes in 1519, they found Tenochtitlan to be a magnificent city with wide avenues, temples, and floating gardens. However, Cortes eventually defeated the Aztecs and destroyed Tenochtitlan, rebuilding it as Mexico City.

1. CHAPTER 7
Aztecs

2. ROOTS OF AZTEC CULTURE
Long before Mayan cities rose in the south, the city
of Teotihuacan emerged in the Valley of Mexico
 The Valley of Mexico is a huge oval basin ringed by
snowcapped volcanoes, located in the high plateau
of central Mexico
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3. MAP OF EARLY CIVILIZATIONS IN MEXICO

4. TEOTIHUACAN
The city of Teotihuacan was well planned, with wide
roads, massive temples, and large apartment
buildings
 The Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the
Moon rose majestically towards the sky along the
main avenue
 Citizens of Teotihuacan worshipped a powerful
nature goddess and rain god
 Eventually Teotihuacan fell to invaders but its
culture influenced later peoples, especially the
Aztecs
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5. TEOTIHUACAN

6. ARRIVAL OF THE AZTECS
In the late 1200s, bands of nomadic peoples, the
ancestors of the Aztecs, migrated into the Valley of
Mexico from the north
 According to Aztec legend, the gods had told them
to search for an eagle perched atop a cactus
holding a snake in its beak
 The people found this sign on a swampy island in
Lake Texcoco
 Once they settled, the Aztecs shifted from hunting
to farming
 They slowly built the city of Tenochtitlan on the site
of present-day Mexico City
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7. VALLEY OF MEXICO

8. LAKE TEXCOCO

9. ARRIVAL OF THE AZTECS
As their population grew, the Aztecs found
ingenious ways to create more farmland
 They built chinampas, artificial islands made of
earth piled on reed mats that were anchored to the
shallow lake bed
 On these “floating gardens”, they raised corn,
beans, and squash
 They gradually filled in parts of the lake and created
canals for transportation
 Three wide stone causeways linked Tenochtitlan to
the mainland
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10. CHINAMPAS

11. TENOCHTITLAN

12. TENOCHTITLAN

13. CONQUERING AN EMPIRE
In the 1400s, the Aztecs greatly expanded their
territory
 Through a combination of fierce conquests and
shrewd alliances, they spread their rule across
most of Mexico, from the Gulf of Mexico on the east
to the Pacific Ocean on the west
 By 1500, the Aztec empire numbered an estimated
30 million people
 War brought immense wealth as well as power
 Tribute, or payment from conquered peoples,
helped the Aztecs turn their capital into a
magnificent city
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14. AZTEC EMPIRE

15. THE WORLD OF THE AZTECS
When the Spanish and Hernan Cortes reached
Tenochtitlan in 1519, they were awestruck at its
magnificence
 From its temples and royal palaces to its zoos and
floating gardens, Tenochtitlan was a city of wonders


16. WORLD OF THE AZTECS---GOVERNMENT AND
SOCIETY
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Unlike the Mayan city-states, each of which had its own
king, the Aztecs had a single ruler
Aztec Social Pyramid--Emperor
Nobles, Priests
Warriors
Commoners
Slaves
Long-distance traders ferried goods across the empire
and beyond
From the highlands, they took goods such as weapons,
tools, and rope to barter for tropical products such as
jaguar skins and cocoa beans
They also served as spies, finding new areas for trade
and conquest

17. WORLD OF THE AZTECS---RELIGIOUS
BELIEFS
Priests were very important to the Aztecs
 They performed rituals needed to appease the
many Aztec gods
 The chief god was Huitzilopochtli, the sun god
 The Aztecs believed that Huitzilopochtli battled the
forces of darkness each night and was reborn again
each morning
 To give the sun the strength to rise each day, the
Aztecs offered human sacrifices
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18. HUITZILOPOCHTLI

19. WORLD OF THE AZTECS---RELIGIOUS
BELIEFS
Priests offered the hearts of tens of thousands of
victims to Huitzilopochtili and other Aztec gods
 Most of the victims were prisoners of war, but
sometimes a noble family gave up one of its own
members to appease the gods
 Other cultures such as the Olmecs and Mayas had
practiced human sacrifice, but not on the massive
scale of the Aztecs
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20. WORLD OF THE AZTECS---EDUCATION AND
LEARNING
Priests were the keepers of Aztec knowledge
 Besides performing rituals, they also recorded laws
and events, and they also ran schools
 Others used their skills in astronomy and
mathematics to produce a calendar
 The Aztecs believed that illnesses were
punishments from the gods
 Aztec physicians could set broken bones, treat
dental cavities, and also prescribed steam baths as
cures for ills
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21. DOWNFALL OF THE AZTECS
Hernan Cortes was the Spanish conquistador who
took over the Aztec empire
 The Aztec emperor, Montezuma, tried to appease
the Spanish by offering gold by then Spaniards
could never be given enough to satisfy their liking
 After finally defeating the Aztecs, Cortes destroyed
Tenochtitlan and rebuilt the city as Mexico City, the
present-day capital of Mexico
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22. HERNAN CORTES

23. SPANISH HONOR

24. ROUTE OF THE SPANIARDS

25. MONTEZUMA

26. MEXICO CITY

27. MEXICO CITY AT NIGHT