Should Historians Emphasize Agriculture Or Human Sacrifice Essay

Well there is much more to the Aztecs than human sacrifice and wars. The Aztecs were a very advanced and successful civilization. They did perform human sacrifice, but it was a part of their religion, and it was common for cultures to sacrifice humans at the time. Also, all of the things we know today about the Aztecs come from the Spanish perspective, and the Spanish had every reason to make the Aztecs look bad. History should say the Aztecs were a well organized civilization who deserve credit, and should not be opinionated on because of

The Aztecs were a remarkable civilization. Th is civilization were distrusted and disliked because they tended to push others out of their way. They ruled an empire in Tenochtitlan in the time of 1350 to 1519. They also were known for their agriculture and human sacrifices. Agriculture was a very important part of their h istory because without their farming method the Aztec couldn't have created such great civilization. According to Document A of the Aztec DBQ, states that the Aztec empire grew more than 200 miles west to east, and north to south. Th is means that with the growth of the empire the population also grew and more effective agriculture techniques were needed to feed the people. They created the method of ch inampas because they

The Aztecs were a well known civilization that was very advanced for their time but should people emphasize their gruesome sacrifices or their well known agriculture. Before the Aztecs established Tenochtitlan, in June 20, 1325, they were hunters and gatherers that served as mercenaries for more powerful groups. Soon the Aztecs built Tenochtitlan on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco. With this established, the Aztecs were allowed to focus more on religion and agriculture as well as conquering other tribes and growing their population. So which should we emphasize more, Aztec agriculture or human sacrifices. In my opinion we should emphasize Aztec agriculture for three main reasons, it’s large scale, clever construction, and how it was

It was clear through the human sacrifice that the Aztecs practiced that they had no regard for the quality of human life and did it for the benefit of their society. First of all, they would kill thousands of people at a time, and then they ate the arms, thighs, and heads leaving the bodies to feed to the wild animals (Document G). This shows that the Aztecs did not care about the people that they were killing, only about sacrificing to the gods. Secondly, many say that the Aztecs sacrificed human beings for the sole purpose of pleasing the gods. In the eyes of the Aztec religion, if then gods were happy with the Aztecs, then that they would be blessed. It is clear the Aztecs sacrificed to make their civilization the most successful of their time. In contrast, it is also a popular belief that the reason for human sacrifice was for cannibalism. It is a possible that since they had no animals such as cattle or lamb, they had to resort to eating human beings (Document J). This theory demonstrates that the Aztecs valued the well- being of their society over human life. Regardless of what approach regarding human

The agricultural production of the Aztec culture was based essentially on the production of cereals.

The Aztecs were a civilization of brave and strong warriors. They ruled their empire in 1350 to 1519. Tenochtitlan was the capital of their empire. Two things the Aztecs were known for were human sacrifice and agriculture. However historians should emphazise agriculture.""I think historians should emphasize Aztec agriculture because of these three reasons. One reason is their farming method called chinampas. According to Document B it states that when the Aztecs used the method of chinampas they did not get cut short of food. Second reason historians should emphasize mor aztec agriculture is because they created many popular Mexican foods of today. According to Document C it states that they created tortillas and popcorn. Laslty Aztecs agriculture

I believe that historians should emphasize more on Aztec agriculture than Aztec human sacrifice. The Aztecs were an ancient civilization found in the modern day Mexico City of there empire tenochitlan which was there Aztec empire. Two aspects that they are known for are Agriculture and human sacrifice. However, historians should emphasize on Agriculture more for many reasons. One reason why is this had a big growth on the empire because they used agriculture for food and to grow plants to make for they city to eat. Another reason is because they had a major engineering achievement because they built Chinampas to farm and grow crops to eat. The last reason is that they had a large scale of Chinampas and because of this they had and abundance

"It was the Human Sacrifice that led to the Aztecs expanding their empire. There is a connection between Aztec Agriculture and Human sacrifice. Document A "Growth of the Aztec Empire", states that the Aztecs empire grew, they purposely left territories alone the use of " flower wars " to capture sacrificial victims. This meant that the Aztecs were

As historians overview the history of the Aztecs they need to make sure to emphasize the importance of the human sacrifices that we completed by the Aztecs daily. This feature of the Aztecs is more notable because they deliberately didn’t occupy land for later sacrifices, it was the reason for many’s death, and they were willing to sacrifice warriors. It therefore must then be clear that the human sacrifices of the Aztecs must be emphasized more than the agriculture of the

Furthermore, chinampas allowed the Aztec’s economy to thrive. Living in swampy lands, minimized the ways that the Aztec’s could farm. Chinampas were floating gardens, where the plants roots would hang into the water. Aztec’s became great farmers, although this was too great for their economy. In the sense that, with crops they could expand their trade. Throughout the world, Empire’s economy’s have thrived on the trading of crops. Causeways/raised roads were another one of the Aztec’s great innovations. The causeways and raised roads allowed the Aztec’s to have access to the mainland. Which then allowed others from the mainland to come into the city. Thus, helping make trading centers where a majority of all the trade happened. Ultimately, the canals in the empire also helped the Aztec Empire’s economy thrive. Canals were a good source of transportation. Traveling on foot, can be long and hard this allowed people with lots of goods to go around the city easily. Once again, helping the Aztec’s

According to Document B, the Aztecs made a very advanced agricultural system that used “floating islands” as plots called Chinampas. This shows how smart they really were to take advantage of the swampy but great soil. Then, they were able to make a food surplus and then create a civilization with religion and other traditions. That meant without farming, they couldn’t even do human sacrifice. Also, in Document B, it states “ Approximately twenty thousand acres of chinampas were constructed [around Tenochtitlan] and the yield from them was high: four corn crops were possible. This shows how agriculturally advanced the Aztecs were, when the Spanish arrived in the 1500’s, the Spanish could only receive three corn crops per year unlike the Aztecs. Although, the Aztecs were able to make their system of chinampas centuries before the Spanish came. The Spanish then invaded the Aztecs Document C also shows very interesting information as well. IN document C, it states “ THe men at the right plant and harvest the maize, while the women on the left grind and roll it into tortillas. Behind them, there is a person dressed as a corn goddess.” This shows the importance of the agriculture to the Aztecs and how they are working so hard at it. They also pray to the goddesses, who would supposedly give them good luck during farming. The Aztecs really cared about their farming and spent enough time to make a great

Some major aspects of the Aztec civilizations were farming and trading. The Aztecs were hunters and

The first being political political: the subjugation of enemy city states in order expand the empire and demonstrate power and superiority. The second objective was religious and socioeconomic: the taking of captives to be sacrificed in religious ceremonies. According to Friar Diego Durán’s accounts of the Aztec civilization, Tlacaelel - a king of the Aztec Empire - arranged with leaders of other Pre-Columbian city states to engage in ritual battles that would provide all parties with enough sacrificial victims to appease the gods. Tlacaelel reigned over a period of great famine in the empire in year 1450. The Aztec Religion believed that Gods required sacrifices to keep all running smoothly. There were several gods that the Aztecs worshiped to for agricultural purposes, for example: Tláloc, who sends rain and nourishes maize7, Centeotl, the god of maize in general, Teteoinnan, the god of agriculture as well as sexual fertility, and Xipe Totec, god of rituals and sacrifice8. The Aztecs believed that through worshipping certain gods, and generously providing them with a steady supply of sacrifices and blood, the gods would in return keep things balanced. When there was not enough victims, Tlacaelel resorted to these battles to collect more humans to be sacrificed. War was a dominant aspect of the Aztec civilization, and they aspired to exponentially expand their empire through military conquest, while also collecting tribute from the

The religion of the Aztecs was made up of mainly three gods: Huitzilopochtli, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl. Below these three main gods were four creating gods. Below these four gods were many other gods, however the most important were Tlaloc, the rain god, Chalchihuitlicue, the god of growth and Xipe, the god of spring. The main thing that captures the attention of Aztec religion is their human sacrifice made to the different gods. Although human sacrifice was practiced around Mesoamerica, the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice in a large scale never seen before to date. The idea of human sacrifice was that Gods gave things to humans like food, rain, wealth, and other goods only if they were given human beings in return. The Aztecs believed that the goods liked best the living hearths of sacrificed captives. If the captive was a well skilled soldier and very brave then the Gods would return better goods to his people. This idea lead to wars were the Aztecs fought with other indians and capture their bravest men for sacrifice. As we can imagine,

Aztec is civilization created by the ancient Indian, which was mainly distributed in central and southern Mexico. Aztecs were a tribe with a lower level of development at first, but they absorb and fuse with other outstanding cultural traditions of Indian in the region that they rose rapidly. Aztec had developed agriculture and the main crops were corn, beans, squash, potatoes. Religion played an important role in the life of the Aztecs. The inhabitants believed in the immortality of the soul and Supreme domination. They adored the natural god that one of the peculiar was to use the living person for sacrifice.