Engineering an Empire: The Aztecs
- The Aztec empire began with the murder of a princess of a local chief (sacrificed her to honor god of fertility and then wore her skin)
- The Aztecs were banished to an island in Lake Texcoco
- Aztec leader was Tenoch (Tenochiltatlan was name for him)
- Aztec believed that Teotihuacán (city of the Gods) was the birthplace of the sun and was modeled after the cosmos
- Aztec built their city on pylons sunk into the swamp island
- The causeways were built by laying two rows of pylons and filling the middle with stones until the rocks crested the lake by several feet
- Aztecs gain control over Central Mexico after the assassination of their leader by the Tepanecs (dispute over access to a fresh water spring and the construction of an aqueduct)
- Nezyacoyoatl leads Aztecs to victory and Nez….personally cuts out the heart of the Tepanec king
- Aqueducts fed cities and king’s palace with baths, fountains, and gardens and utilized two tubes (one to transport water and one being maintenanced)
- Ahuiltzotal was the greatest Aztec conqueror and the ruler during the Golden Age
- 1495 – Aztec empire had 15 million people
- Moctezuma I seeks council of Nezyacoyoatl and Nez… builds a massive dyke to hold back flood waters from Lake Texcoco
- Chinampas – spread mud on top of a bed of woven reeds
- The Aztec had a delivery system that could carry a message 200 miles in a day (faster than the modern postal service)
- A runner would be located every few miles
- Templo Mayor was 15 stories high and had two smaller temples on top to honor the gods of rain and war
- A sacrifice could be conducted by decapitation and throwing the body down the stairs (reenacting a legend with the moon goddess)
- Moctezuma II was a former priest
- Hernan Cortez was a former notary
- Moctezuma saw a comet in the sky and took it as an omen of an arrival
- Mountains that move in water = what Aztecs called Spanish Galleons
- Lamaniche was Cortez’s translator and intermediary
- Aztec knights were the elite troops and were represented by eagles and jaguars
- Cortez is pushed away from shaking the hand of Moctezuma II
- After their meeting, Cortez in invited to stay in the city and Cortez grows greedy of the riches around them
- Moctezuma II is killed by stoning and tossed from the palace walls
- Seen as a Spanish puppet (allows Spanish to demand tribute and interrupt sacrifices)
- Noche Triste the escape of Cortez after Moctezuma’s death
- Battle of Tenochititlan: Cortez blockades the city with war ships and cuts off the aqueducts
- Naval vessels were carried over the mountains and assembled
- 600 Spaniards and 5,000 allies combat the Aztecs in Tenochititlan over several months
- Cautemoc was the final Aztec leader and surrendered to Cortez
- Cortez razed Tenochititlan during the battle and built the new capitol over it
- 90% of the Aztec population will die from Spanish diseases and in combat with Spanish
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