Aztecs Essay -- essays research papers

AztecThe Aztec Indians, who are cognize for their domination of southern and central Mexico, ruled between the 14th and sixteenth centuries. Their name is derived from Azatlan, the homeland of the north. The Aztecs also call themselves Mexica and there language came from the Nahuatlan furcate of the Uto-Aztecan family.The Aztecs were formed after the Toltec civilization occurred when hundreds of civilians came towards Lake texcoco. Late families were unfortunate and were forced to go to the swamp lands. In the swamp lands there was only one make-up of land to farm on and it was totally surrounded by to a greater extent marshes . The Aztec families some how converted these disadvantages to a might empire known as they Aztec Empire. People say the empire was partially formed by a deeply believed legend. As the the legend went it said that Aztec people would create a empire on in a swampy place where they would pick up an eagle eating a snake musical composition perched on a cactu s which is growing out of a rock in the swamplands. This is what priests claimed they saw while entering the new land.By the year 1325 Their capital city was finished. They called it Tenochtitlan. In the the capital city aqueducts (piping) were constructed, bridges were built, and chinapas were made. Chinapas were little islands formed by pilled up mud. On these chinapas Aztecs grew corn, beans, chili peppers, squash, tomatoes, and tobacco. Tenochtitlan (the capital city) was covered in giant spectral statues in run to pay their respects to the gods. In the Aztec religion legion(predicate) gods controlled an Aztecs daily life. Some of these gods include Uitzilpochtli (the sun god), Coyolxauhqui (the moon goddess), Tlaloc (the rainfall god), and Quetzalcoatl (the inventor of the calendar and writing). Another part of the Aztec religion was human sacrifices. For their sacrifices the priest would lay the man or woman over a bell-shaped (rounded) stone, then he would take a sharp knife and thump the victims heart out. They did this because they believed that soundly gods could prevent bad gods from doing evil things and they also believed that good gods got their strength from human blood and hearts so they had sacrifices in order to keep their gods strong. For major rituals warriors were sacrificed, for the warrior this was one of the greatest hon... ...eternity. The earth was and then created done fire and death the earth mother had fallen, the moon goddess was dead, and her brothers slaughtered.And so is the bilgewater of the Aztec creation. They based their lifestyle on the examples set by the gods and goddesses in the story, thus they led violent lives. The Aztecs saw no wrong in torturing, maiming, and decapitating their neighbors for the gods. They were a savage people, and this savagery would be their downfall.In 1519 Hernando Cortes led over d men into Aztec territory in search of gold, what he found were the brainy golden statues of the Azt ec deities. The Aztecs believed him to be the representative for some white skinned god, and therefore feared and respected him. It was not until they saw him melting their statues and shipping the blocks of gold to Spain that they acted. They attacked Hernanado and his men, and succeeded in driving them off. However, Cortes returned later with the support of local Indian tribes that hated the Aztecs for centuries of poisonous treatment to defeat the mighty Aztecs and take the empire. This ended the Aztec civilization forever.