Aztec
The Aztecs ( AZ-teks) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico from about 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those who spoke Nahuatl. Aztec culture was organized into city-states (altepetl), some of which joined to form alliances, political confederations, or empires. The Aztec Empire was a confederation of three city-states established in 1427: Tenochtitlan (the capital of Mexica), Tetzcoco, and Tlacopan. Although the term Aztecs is often narrowly restricted to the Mexica of Tenochtitlan, it is also broadly used to refer to Nahua polities or peoples of central Mexico in the pre-Hispanic era, as well as the Spanish colonial era (1521–1821).
Most ethnic groups of central Mexico in the post-classic period shared essential cultural traits of Mesoamerica. The culture of central Mexico includes maize cultivation, social division between nobility (pipiltin) and commoners (macehualtin), a pantheon, and the calendric system. The Mexica were late-comers to the Valley of Mexico, and founded the city-state of Tenochtitlan on unpromising islets in Lake Texcoco, later becoming the dominant power of the Aztec Triple Alliance or Aztec Empire which conquered other city-states throughout Mesoamerica. It originated in 1427 as an alliance between the city-states Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan to defeat the Tepanec state of Azcapotzalco, which had previously dominated the Valley.
Soon Texcoco and Tlacopan were relegated to junior partnership in the alliance, with Tenochtitlan the dominant power. The empire extended its reach by trade and military conquest. It was never a true territorial empire controlling territory by military garrisons, but rather dominated client city-states by installing friendly rulers, constructing marriage alliances between the ruling dynasties, and extending an imperial ideology. Client city-states paid taxes, not tribute to the Aztec emperor, the Huey Tlatoani, in an economic strategy limiting communication and trade between outlying polities, making them dependent on the imperial center for luxury goods.
The empire reached its maximum extent in 1519, just before the arrival of Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés. Cortés allied with city-states opposed to the Mexica. After the fall of Tenochtitlan on 13 August 1521 and the capture of emperor Cuauhtémoc, the Spanish founded Mexico City on the ruins of Tenochtitlan and proceeded with the colonization of the Americas into the Spanish Empire. With the destruction of the superstructure of the Aztec Empire in 1521, the Spanish used the city-states to rule the indigenous populations via local nobles. Nobles acted as intermediaries to convey taxes and mobilize labor, facilitating the establishment of Spanish rule.
Aztec culture and history are primarily known through archaeological evidence found in excavations such as that of Templo Mayor in Mexico City; from Indigenous writings, eyewitness accounts by Spanish conquistadors; and 16th- and 17th-century descriptions of Aztec culture and history written by Spanish clergymen and Aztecs, such as the illustrated, bilingual (Spanish and Nahuatl), Florentine Codex created by Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún with Aztec informants. Important for knowledge of post-conquest Nahuas was the training of indigenous scribes to write alphabetic texts in Nahuatl, mainly for local purposes under Spanish rule. At its height, Aztec culture had rich philosophical, mythological, and religious traditions, as well as remarkable architectural and artistic accomplishments.
Similar Artists