Aztec

AZTEC

The Aztec were a nomadic Native American people who settled in central Mexico during the fourteenth century. In 1325, they founded the city of Tenochtitlan (the site of present-day Mexico City). The Aztec were a poor tribe but during the 1400s they conquered neighboring peoples to build a powerful empire that dominated the region for two centuries.

Although they were hunters (primarily deer, rabbit, and fowl), their economy was based on agriculture. Among other crops, they cultivated corn, beans, squash, sweet potatoes, papayas, cotton, rubber, and cacao (the chocolate bean). They cleared forests by a slash-and-burn method and dug trenches to create irrigation systems. They also practiced step-farming in the highlands by cutting terraces into mountainsides to create arable (farmable) tracts of land.

The marketplace was central to Aztec life, and trade flourished. But since the Aztec had no form of money, merchants bartered rather than sold their goods.

They worshiped many gods, including the god of the Sun and the god of the Moon, for whom they built terraced pyramids at Teotihuacan, in central Mexico. The tallest pyramid, built to honor the Sun, reaches a height of 216 feet (66 meters). Their chief god was Quetzalcoatl, who represented the forces of good and light.

According to legend Quetzalcoatl would return one day from over the sea. This belief at first worked in the favor of Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes (1485–1547) who arrived in central Mexico in November 1519. Aztec emperor Montezuma (1466–1520) initially mistook Cortes and his group for heavenly hosts and presented the Spaniards with gifts.

The impressive city of Tenochtitlan bedazzled the European explorers. Besides being a marvel of engineering (with a system of causeways, canals, bridges, and aqueducts), it was home to an estimated quarter of a million people (more densely populated than any Spanish city at that time). It was also a thriving trade and cultural center. The Spanish explorers called it a Venice of the New World.

When the Aztec revolted in 1520, Cortes put down the insurrection and went on to conquer them, claiming Mexico for the Spanish in August 1521. Mexico City became the seat of the viceroyalty (a province governed by a representative of the king or queen) of New Spain. This designation remained throughout the colonial period.

See also: Inca, Mesoamerica, Native Americans (Treatment of), New Spain (Viceroyalty of)