Aztec Culture Essay Research Paper AZTECSThe Aztecs

Aztec Culture Essay, Research Paper

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Aztec

The Aztecs came from Azatlan. Huizilopochtli, the God of war, told the Aztecs to go forth Azatlan and walk around until they saw an bird of Jove on top of a cactus turning out of a stone and eating a serpent. The Aztecs traveled many old ages to happen the this and eventually found it when they were at Lake Texcoco. Lake Texcoco was ruled by the Toltecs between the 10th and 11th centuries ( Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99 ) . Since many other folks besides went to Lake Texcoco at the same clip, the Aztecs were pushed out to the westside of the lake to a boggy country. They merely had was a small island that was dry surrounded by fens. After a long clip the Aztec built their imperium with chinapas. Chinapas were made by stacking up clay from the underside of the lake to do small islands. The Aztecs took over many metropoliss and so all the metropoliss became portion of the imperium which was between high mountains and surrounded by lakes.

CLASSED OF AZTECS

The three categories of the Aztecs, there were slave, common man, and aristocracy. The slaves were the lowest category. They were retainers, They could purchase there manner up to freedom or if they escaped from their Masterss. There were two sorts of common mans maceualtin, and tlalmaitl, common mans are in-between category people. The maceualtin were given land so that they can construct their houses. The tlalmaitl were husbandmans. The aristocracy was the highest category. These people were swayers, heads, or Lords. ( Aztecs/ Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 98 ) .

Page1

AZTEC HOUSES

The Aztecs house was on a log raft covered with clay and it had workss on it. The house besides had a canal in the dorsum with a canoe tied at the door so they could go.

AZTEC FOOD

The Aztec nutrient was a thin battercake called a tortilla. They used the tortilla to lift out up their nutrient and to wrap their nutrient up in it, This is called a greaser. The meat that they looked for were cervid, coneies, ducks, and geese. The meat that they raised were Meleagris gallopavos, coneies, and Canis familiariss ( Bamford Parkes, Henry, A History of Mexico: Boston Houghton Mifflin,1988 p 121 ) . They besides ate veggies liked maize, squash, tomatoes, Piper nigrums, beans, jicama, bristly pear cactus, and Sweet murphies. Their favourite drink was cocoa.

AZTEC RELIGION

Religion was of import for the Aztec. They had 100s of Gods. There were ceremonials mundane to give person for the Gods. For them it was an award to be sacrificed to the Gods. To give these people, a priest with a crisp knife cuts open the individuals chest and take out his bosom. Then they take the bosom and put it in a bowl called a chacmool. These are some of the Gods that the Aztec had

EHECATL, the God of air current.

CENTEOTL, the maize God

MICTLANTECUHTLE, God of the dead.

XIUHTECUHTLE the fire God.

Page2

AZTEC LANGUAGE

The linguistic communication of the Aztecs was called Nahuatl. The Aztecs used pictographic authorship that were put on paper. Some of the Hagiographas called codices still exist. ( Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99 ) .

In 1519, Hernando Cortes, a Spanish adventurer, landed on the East Coast of Mexico and wanted to suppress Tenchtitlan. The Spaniards were joined by many Indians who were conquered and forced to pay high revenue enhancements to the emperor. Montezuma II did non halt Cortes because he thought Cortes was Quetzalcoatl, the God of civilisation and acquisition. An Aztec fable said that Quetzalcoatl was driven away by a rival God and was headed across sea to present twenty-four hours Mexico. Quetzalcoatls return was said to be the twelvemonth Ceacatl on the Aztec Calendar which is the same as 1519. Due to the fable, Montezuma II thought Cortes was Quetzalcoatl when he invaded the Aztec Empire. Montezuma II was taken captive by the Spaniards, but in 1520 he rebelled and drove the Spaniards out of Tenochtitlan. Unfortunately, Montezuma II was killed in this conflict and shortly on August, 1520 the Aztecs surrendered when Cortes invaded once more. The Spaniards wiped out all the temples and all other hints of Aztec civilisation. They destroyed Tenochtitlan and built Mexico City on top of it ( Aztec Empire History ) .

Present twenty-four hours Aztecs live in the locality of Mexico City and there are good over one million of them. They are the largest Aboriginal group in Mexico and their faith is a mix of Aztec and Roman Catholic. Today, to pay part to the Aztecs, the cactus, the bird of Jove, and snake are all on the Mexican paper money ( Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia ) . Today, the Aztecs are & # 8220 ; extremely respected and remembered for their battles, devotedness, and for the love they showed to their culture. & # 8221 ; ( Aztec s of Lost Civilizations )

Bibliography

1. Escobedo, Rodolfo. & # 8220 ; Los Aztecas & # 8221 ; , shrike.depaul.edu/ resobed/ , Depaul University, Nov. 12 98, Feb. 26 99.

2. Segarra, Ramon Luis. & # 8220 ; Aztec s of Lost Civilization & # 8221 ; , www.oswego.edu/ lau/EL

MUNDO/tribes/aztec.html, Lamba Alpha Upsilon Fraternity, Inc. , Feb. 20 97,

Feb. 26 99.

3. & # 8220 ; The Aztec Empire History & # 8221 ; , www.csc.calpoly.edu/ ercarlso/essays/Aztec

Empire.html, Apr. 23 98, Feb. 26 99.

4. Borkovec, Brian ; Daane, Angela ; Flasch, Janna. & # 8220 ; Aztecs & # 8221 ; , gbms01.uwgb.edu/ galta/

mrr/aztecs/index.htm, Fall 97, Feb. 26 99.

5. & # 8220 ; Aztec & # 8221 ; , Microsoft Encarta 96 Encyclopedia, Microsoft Corporation, 1993-1995

7. The Aztecs/Mexicas were the native American people who dominated northern M xico at the clip of the Spanish conquering led by Hernan CORTES in the early sixteenth century. Harmonizing to their ain fables, they originated from a topographic point called Aztlan, someplace in north or northwest Mexico. At that clip the Aztecs ( who referred to themselves as the Mexica or Tenochca ) were a little, mobile, Nahuatl-speaking collection of tribal peoples populating on the borders of civilised Mesoamerica. Sometime in the twelfth century they embarked on a period of rolling and in the thirteenth century settled in the cardinal basin of M xico. Continually dislodged by the little city states that fought one another in switching confederations, the Aztecs eventually found safety on little islands in Lake Texcoco where, in 1325, they founded the town of TENOCHTITLAN ( contemporary Mexico City ) . The term Aztec, originally associated with the migrator Mexica, is today a corporate term, applied to all the peoples linked by trade, usage, faith, and linguistic communication to these laminitiss.

Fearless warriors and matter-of-fact builders, the Aztecs created an imperium during the fifteenth century that was surpassed in size in the Americas merely by that of the Incas in Peru. As early texts and modern archeology continue to uncover, beyond their conquerings and many of their spiritual patterns, there were many positive accomplishments:

the formation of a extremely specialised and graded society and an imperial disposal

the enlargement of a trading web every bit good as a testimonial system

the development and care of a sophisticated agricultural economic system, carefully adjusted to the land

and

the cultivation of an rational and spiritual mentality that held society to be an built-in portion of the universe.

The annual unit of ammunition of rites and ceremonials in the metropoliss of Tenochtitlan and neighbouring Tetzcoco, and their symbolic art and architecture, gave look to an ancient consciousness of the mutuality of nature and humanity.

The Aztecs remain the most extensively documented of all Amerindian civilisations at the clip of European contact in the sixteenth century. Spanish mendicants, soldiers, and historiographers and bookmans of Indian or assorted descent left priceless records of all facets of life. These ethnohistoric beginnings, linked to modern archeological enquiries and surveies of ethnologists, linguists, historiographers, and art historiographers, portray the formation and flourishing of a complex imperial province.

& # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8212 ; & # 8211 ;

Clockwise, the yearss of the Aztec Calendar are as follows:

Twenty Days of the Aztec Month

Snake & # 8211 ; Coatl

Lizard & # 8211 ; Cuetzpallin

House & # 8211 ; Calli

Wind & # 8211 ; Ehecatl

Crocodile & # 8211 ; Cipactli

Flower & # 8211 ; Xochitl

Rain & # 8211 ; Quiahuitl

Flint & # 8211 ; Tecpatl

Movement & # 8211 ; Ollin

Vulture & # 8211 ; Cozcacuauhtli

Eagle & # 8211 ; Cuauhtle

Jaguar & # 8211 ; Ocelotl

Cane & # 8211 ; Acatl

Herb & # 8211 ; Malinalli

Monkey & # 8211 ; Ozomatli

Hairless Dog & # 8211 ; Itzquintli

Water & # 8211 ; Atl

Rabbit & # 8211 ; Tochtli

Deer & # 8211 ; Mazatl

Skull & # 8211 ; Miquiztli

& gt ;

Aztec Supreme beings

Religion was highly of import in Aztec life. They worshipped 100s of Gods and goddesses, each of whom ruled one or more human activities or facets of nature. The people had many agricultural Gods because their civilization was based to a great extent on agriculture ; besides they included natural elements and ancestor-heroes. These Gods included:

CENTEOTL, the maize God.

COATLICUE & # 8211 ; She of the Serpent Skirt.

EHECATL, the God of air current.

HUEHUETEOTL, & # 8220 ; the old, old divinity, & # 8221 ; was one of the names of the cult of fire, among the oldest in Mesoamerica. The care of fires in the temples was a chief priestly responsibility, and the reclamation of fire was identified with the reclamation of clip itself.

HUITZILOPOCHTLI, ( the war/sun God and particular defender of Tenochtitlan ) the deified hereditary warrior-hero, was the Mexica-Aztec frequenter par excellence. His temple ( following to that of Tlaloc ) on the Main Pyramid was the focal point of awful forfeits of captives captured by Aztec warriors. Victims & # 8217 ; caputs were strung as trophies on a great rack, the Tzompantli, erected in the precinct below.

MICTLANTECUHTLE, God of the dead.

OMETECUHLTI and his married woman OMECIHUATL created all life in the universe.

QUETZALCOATL, ( the God of civilisation and acquisition ) & # 8220 ; quetzal ( feather ) snake, & # 8221 ; had tonss of associations. It was the name of a divinity, a royal rubric, the name of a legendary priest-ruler, a rubric of high priestly office. But its most cardinal significance as a natural force is symbolized by the sculpture of a coiled plumy snake lifting from a base whose bottom is carved with the symbols of the Earth divinity and Tlaloc. The image of the snake lifting from the Earth and bearing H2O on its tail is explained in the Nahuatl linguistic communication by a description of Quetzalcoatl in footings of the rise of a powerful electrical storm brushing down, with air current raising dust before conveying rain.

TEZCATLIPOCA, ( God of Night and Sorcery ) & # 8220 ; Smoking Mirror & # 8221 ; ( obsidian ) , characterized as the most powerful, supreme divinity, was associated with the impression of fate. His cult was peculiarly identified with royalty, for Tezcatlipoca was the object of the drawn-out and reverent supplications in rites of kingship.

TLALOC, the rain divinity, belonged to another most memorable and cosmopolitan cult of ancient Mexico. The name may be Aztec, but the thought of a storm God particularly identified with mountaintop shrines and vitalizing rain was surely every bit old as Teotihuacan. The primary temple of this major divinity was located atop Mt. Tlaloc, where human victims were sacrificed to fertilise water-rocks within the sacred enclosure. In Tenochtitlan another Tlaloc temple shared the platform atop the double Main Pyramid, a symbolic mountain.

TONATIUH, the Sun, was perceived as a primary beginning of life whose particular fans were the warriors. The warriors were charged with the mission to supply the Sun with sacrificial victims. A particular communion table to the Sun was used for forfeits in enthronement rites, a fact that signifies the importance of the divinity. The east-west way of the Sun determined the chief ritual axis in the design of Aztec metropoliss.

TONANTZIN, & # 8220 ; honored grandma, & # 8221 ; was among the many names of the female earth-deity.

TEZCATLIPOCA, an almighty God ; Tonatiuh, the Sun God.

XILONEN, & # 8220 ; immature maize ear, & # 8221 ; and Chicomecoatl, & # 8220 ; seven snake, & # 8221 ; were chief divinities of corn stand foring the main basic of Mesoamerican peoples.

XIPE TOTEC, the God of springtime and regrowth.

XIUHTECUHTLE the fire God.

The followers is a list of Aztec Emperors:

NAME TRANSLATION DATES SERVED

TENOCH TUNA DE PIEDRA 1325-1375

ACAMAPICHTLI MANOJO DE CANAS 1376-1396

HUITZILIHUITL PLUMA DE COLIBRI 1397-1417

CHIMALPOPOCA ESCUDO HUMEANTE 1418-1427

ITZCOATL SERPIENTE DE OBSIDIANA 1428-1440

MOCTEZUMA ILHUICAMINA EL FLECHADOR DEL CIELO 1441-1469

AXAYACATL CARA DE AGUA 1470-1481

TIZOC PIERNA ENFERMA 1482-1486

AHUITZOTL PERRO DE AGUA 1487-1502

MOCTEZUMA XOCOYOTZIN EL SENOR VALEROSO 1503-1520

CUITALAHUAC EXCREMENTO SECO 1520-1521

CUAUHTEMOC

( He who decends like an bird of Jove. )

1520-1521

{ koo-ow-tay & # 8217 ; -mawk }

Cuauhtemoc, c.1495-1525, became swayer of the AZTECS in 1521, during the besieging of TENOCHTITLAN, and led the concluding desperate opposition of that metropolis against the Spanish conquistadors. After hebdomads of street combat, he surrendered to Hernan CORTES. This act marked the terminal of the Aztec imperium and the beginning of Spanish rule in Mexico.

Cuauhtemoc was foremost treated kindly by the Spanish, so imprisoned and tortured, and eventually hanged during Cortes & # 8217 ; s March to Honduras, on a charge of plotting perfidy. A grave below the church at his place of birth, Ixcateopan in Guerrero, is said to incorporate his remains, but non all bookmans accept this ascription.

Aztec Books, Documents, and Writing

Aztec Bibliography

Berdan, Frances F. , and Anawalt, Patricia, eds. , The Codex Mendoza, 4 vols. ( 1992 )

Berdan, Frances. Aztecs of Central Mexico: An Imperial Society. Holt, 1982. Ethnographic Reconstruction of preconquest Aztec civilization.

Carrasco, David, ed. , To Change Topographic point: Aztec Ceremonial Landscapes ( 1991 )

Caso, Alfonso. The Aztecs, People of the Sun. Oklahoma, 1978. Trans. Lowell Dunham. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958. Contends that Aztecs were chiefly spiritual people and lived consequently.

Castillo, Bernal Diaz, The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico, trans. by A. P. Maudsley ( 1956 )

Chimalpain & # 8217 ; s & # 8221 ; Diferentes Historias Originales de los Reinos de Culhuacan y M xico y de Otras Provincias & # 8221 ;

Clendinnen, Inga. Aztecs: An Interpretation. Cambridge, 1991. Describe the lives of & # 8220 ; ordinary & # 8221 ; Aztecs.

Cortezs, Hernan, Letters from Mexico, trans. by A. R. Pagden ( 1971 )

Cortez, Hernando & # 8216 ; & # 8220 ; Cartas de Relaci n & # 8221 ; ( a series of five letters written by the vanquisher to king Charles V, published in Spanish by Porr*a Hermanos and in English by Norton & A ; Co. as translated by J. Bayard Morris )

Davies, Nigel. The Aztecs: A History. Oklahoma, 1980 ; 1986. Political history crossing 400-year imperium before Spanish conquering.

del Castillo, Bern Diaz. Discovery and Conquest of Mexico. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Cudahy, 1956.

Duran, Diego & # 8217 ; s & # 8220 ; Book of the Gods and Rites and the Ancient Calendar & # 8221 ; ( translated by Doris Heyden and Fernando Horcasitas in a 1971 edition by the Univ. of Oklahoma Press )

Hassig, Ross. Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control. Oklahoma, 1988. An scrutiny of the Aztec Empire in footings of its ain ends and aims.

Karen, Ruth. Feathered Snake: The Rise and Fall of the Aztecs. Four Winds, 1979. The beginnings of the civilisation, barbarous cultural organisation, and military conquering by Spaniards.

Le, Miguel. The Aztec Image of Self and Society. Ed. J. Jorge Klow de Alva. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1992.

Leon-Portilla, Miguel. Aztec Image of Self and Society. Utah, 1992. & # 8220 ; An Introduction to Nahua Culture & # 8221 ; ( caption ) .

Leon-Portilla, Miguel, erectile dysfunction. The Broken Spears: An Aztec History of the Conquest of Mexico. Beacon, 1962. Translations of a choice of autochthonal histories of the conquering.

Leon-Portilla, Miguel & # 8217 ; s & # 8220 ; Aztec Thought and Culture & # 8221 ; ( Univ. Oklahoma Press, 1963 ; several printings ) , A authoritative analysis of the Aztec head, a interlingual rendition of the writer & # 8217 ; s 1956 Spanish master: & # 8220 ; La Filosof aNahuatl & # 8221 ; ( UNAM, Mexico City ) .

Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo. Aztecs. Rizzoli, 1989. Pull on both archeological and ethnohistorical evidence.The Mighty Aztecs. National Geographic, 1981. Illustrated overview of their ephemeral glorifications.

Moctezuma, Eduardo Matos. The Great Temple of the Aztecs. Trans. Doris Heyden. New York: Thames and Hudson, Ltd. , 1988.

Soustelle, Jacques & # 8217 ; s & # 8220 ; La Vida Cotidiana de los Aztecas en V speras de la Conquista & # 8221 ; ( 1956, Fondo de Cultura Econ isinglass, Mexico City, many printings ) , a interlingual rendition from the original Gallic work published in 1955.

Tezozomoc, Fernando Alvarado & # 8217 ; s & # 8220 ; Cr nica Mexicayotl & # 8221 ; ( 1975, UNAM, Mexico City ) .

Townsend, Richard F. , The Aztecs ( 1992 )

Weaver, Muriel Porter. The Aztecs, Maya, and Their Predecessors Archeology of Mesoamerica. New York: Seminar Press, 1972.

Aztec Culture Essay Research Paper AZTECSThe Aztecs

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