Rise Of The Aztecs And Their Influence

The Aztecs were one of the last tribes to arrive in Mexico, in 1195 CE, when they arrived in the Valley of Mexico other tribes had taken the best land so the Aztecs were left with the swampy shores. They soon adapted and began to conquer their neighboring tribes. They continued to expand until they had their very own empire. The empire continued to thrive, until the Spanish arrived and had a fixed mind set on wanting the empires region of land.

The Aztec Empire has the history of a fast-growing empire destined to dominate Mesoamerica’s empires. Although their exact origins are unclear, experts believe the Aztecs evolved from a tribe of nomadic hunters (History 1). They conquered nearly all of Mesoamerica, creating an empire stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean and south to present day Guatemala (Mcdowell 726).

After landing on the coast of Mexico in the early 1500’s in what is now Veracruz, Cortés caught word of the possibility of much wealthier land if he were only willing to travel more inland. The Aztec empire centered around it’s powerful capital city of Tenochtitlán, and Cortés wanted it for himself and Spain. After arriving in the great city he said to have gasped at the sight of the large buildings, beautiful design, and overall substance. While the accounts written by him and his men are the only known surviving writings of the late empire, we are able to get a pretty clear glimpse into its beauty by the way he spoke. Built on a sizeable lake, the Tenochtitlán was only assessable by four very large bridges. Cortés was quite impressed by the way in which 10 of his men could ride side by side while crossing. The actual size of the city was not what impressed him most, seeing as it was comparable to the city of Seville that he had seen at home, but instead he found it intriguing how the people had developed roads that worked around the grand body of water.

resided. The Aztecs had significant wealth from trading and heavy payments of tribute from the conquered natives. From the years 1200-1520, the Aztecs prospered and expanded their empire immensely. However, all of this was going to change when the Spanish landed on the Yucatan Peninsula in 1519. Following Christopher Columbus' foundation of permanent settlement in the Caribbean, the Spanish were seeking conquest, expedition and colonization of new territory. Although there were multiple factors that contributed to the remarkable victory by the Spanish in the sixteenth century such as religion; it was the indigenous alliances, technological superiority, and disease that was most impactful.

Throughout the period of the 1st to 16th century, Mexico experienced the emergence and rise of powerful civilizations such as the Teotihuacan, Toltec and ultimately, the greatest empire, Aztec. Many cultural and economic practices of these Mexican civilizations were borrowed from the prior civilization, adapted, and then further developed upon and while many aspects of these practices stayed the same through this time, significant changes occurred as well.

Representation” by Michael Schreffler argues that “ . . . early modern rhetoric and iconography . . . constructed a distorted view of painting in Aztec Mexico and entangled it in the conventions of colonial historiography” (407). This essay is effective because of its thorough examination of the accounts that explain a painting made by the Aztec’s at San Juan de Ulúa on Easter Sunday of 1519.

During what is to be believed around 15,000 years ago, civilization was starting to develop around North and South America. One of the last societies to arise were the Aztecs. The Aztecs originated from groups of people that were migrating from a lake named, Aztlan, towards the valley of Mexico. They transformed from just a small group of explores into a successful empire during this time. Aztecs had a very unique culture, their religion influenced most of their life. Their religion was expressed through their rituals, everyday life, and art. Even before they settled down, the Aztecs depended on their Gods to guide them to choose the perfect location for them. That is an illustration of how much the trusted and respected their Gods.

The events that occurred between the Aztecs and Spanish Conquistadors have many sides and opportunities for debate. One of the most debated topics being; Who was more savage and who was more Civil? Both the Aztecs and Spanish had powerful and thriving empires. These empires displayed their dominance through their advanced technology and flourishing military. Though it may seem that the Spanish were more advanced than the Aztecs, the Aztecs and Spanish were actually quite close to being equal in technological advancements.

One example of how the Europeans shaped life in the Americas is by conquering the Aztec Empire. In 1519, Spaniard Hernando Cortés landed on the coast of Mexico along with 508 conquistadors and dreams of riches. Cortés knew that it would be fairly easy to conquer the Aztecs since the empire consisted of several hundred groups that had been forced to follow the Aztec rule and despised their conquerors. As the conquistadors continued to the capital, they made alliances with these groups of unhappy natives. Out of fear that Cortés was an Aztec god, sent to take over his position, Montezuma II, the Aztec emperor, sent the conquistadors valuable gifts to persuade him to leave but only managed to increase their cravings for riches. Within months,

In 1519, the Aztecs were the most powerful kingdom in Mesoamerica. At the peak of

In addition, The Aztecs did not resist the Spanish in every possible way due to their superior military dominance. Their advanced technology was a huge advantage as psychologically cavalry and firepower scared the Aztecs as it was unseen and its devastating effects would make men tremble. Even though the Spanish conquistadors arrived with a mere 600 people their steel armour and swords made it merely impossible for the Indians to penetrate and kill. This meant that wounds were limited to the face, neck, limbs and any other unarmoured regions. The combination of the ships and harquebuses firepower overpowered the unarmoured Indians. The Spanish cavalry attacked with lances and teared through the Indians disrupting any formations they had. The

We are the Mexica, but are now known as the Aztec. We are the indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico, rulers of the Aztec empire. We were strong and dominant and worked as mercenary soldier; hired professional militias who fought for other groups. We use to live in Aztlan before we made our journey and founded our new home Tenochtitlan. The legend of finding our territory starts from an order we received from a vision from our central deity, Huitzilopochtli.

The Aztec Warriors and their Jobs/Roles. The roles of the Aztec men, this could be located with the Roles of the Aztecs. The Aztec men took a part of their culture by either, to trade, become a warrior, they were mostly into farming, the other Aztec men would train to become a Priest, Warrior, Craftsmen, or Merchants. The roles of the Aztec woman, this could be located with the Roles of the Aztecs. The Aztec woman took a part in their culture by taking care of the Aztec household, weaving clothes for their family and for selling. The young Aztec woman would be brought up to look after children and taking part in Cooking, and Jewelry making. The Jobs of the Aztec Nobles. This could be located with jobs of the

The fall of the great Aztec Empire led to the demise and destruction of the prized capital, Tenochtitlan. Through further investigation of the fall of the Aztec Empire, I was able to get a better understanding to how it all happened.  It all started with the arrival of Hernan Cortez and his army of men in 1519. The great Aztec leader of Montezuma sent a messenger with gifts to warmly greet the new Spanish people. Cortez accepted the gifts of the Aztec people, but in a way laughed as to say is this all? Cortez and his men then demonstrated the brute force of their cavalry, horses and cannons. “His cavalry charged along the beach at full tilt with swords flashing and bells tinkling. If that were not intimidating enough, the big cannon were fired,

The origin of female subjugation and male superiority is difficult to mark in the larger scheme of history. However, by focusing on a specific example of how an egalitarian society turned into a male-lead patriarchal society, certain elements of the process can be distinguished. In the article The Aztecs and the Ideology of Male Dominance, Nash uses the ancient Aztec civilization to demonstrate the “transformation from a kinship-based society with a minimum of status differentiation to a class-structured empire” (Nash, 2) with males being regarded the preferred sex. June C. Nash is a social anthropologist who has done many field work projects in Latin American countries, including Mexico, Bolivia, and Guatemala.