The Aztecs

The Chichimec Period
The Aztecs
The Chichimec Period
Cultural Innovations
Social/Political Structure
The Chichimec Period
Aztecs finally found refuge on small
islands in Lake Texcoco where, in 1325,
they founded the town of TENOCHTITLAN
(modern(modern-day Mexico City).
Other Chichimecs followed who were
more civilized but stole women and
practiced sacrifice.
– brought knowledge of the Maya calendar
system, cultivated crops with irrigation,
constructed with stone.
Chicomoztoc
“seven caves”
caves” of
creation
Many have claimed to
identify the seven
caves:
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Guanajuato
Hidalgo
Sinaloa
Zacatecas
Nayarit or Michoacan
The Aztec originated from somewhere in north
or northwest Mexico.
Early Aztecs (who referred to themselves as
the Mexica or Tenochca)
Tenochca) were
– small, nomadic, NahuatlNahuatl-speaking aggregation of
tribal peoples
– living on the margins of civilized Mesoamerica.
Sometime in the 12th century they embarked
on a period of nomadism and in the 13th
century settled in the central basin of Mé
México
– Sometimes referred to as “the wandering”
wandering”
Aztec Origin Myth
Little is known of the earliest Aztecs
– did not keep a written record.
– history was passed on by word of mouth from one generation
to the next.
– Legend has it that they came from an Island called Aztlan,
Aztlan,
meaning White Place - Place of Herons.
Herons.
There is one codex:
codex:
– Tira de la Peregrinacion,
Peregrinacion, commonly called the Migration
Scrolls. The scrolls have the Aztecs leaving Aztlan,
Aztlan, which was
described as an island in a lake with Chicomoztoc depicted
as seven temples in the center of the island.
What is the meaning of the word
Aztlan?
Aztlan?
Aztlan is the mythical place of origin of the
Aztec peoples.
In Nahuatl,
Nahuatl, the roots of Aztlan are the two
words: aztatl tlan(tli)
tlan(tli) meaning "heron" and
"place of," respectively.
– 'Tlantli'
Tlantli' proper means tooth, and as a characteristic of
a good tooth is that it is firmly rooted in place, and
does not move, the prefix of this word is commonly
used in Nahuatl to denote settlements, or place
names:
Mazatlan
Mazatlan (place of deer), Papalotlan
Papalotlan (place of butterflies) or
Tepoztlan
Tepoztlan (place of metal) and of COURSE Tenochtitlan
Tenochtitlan
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Mixeca/Aztec
Mixeca/Aztec
Basin of Mexico
Technically squatted in the area of
Tenochtitlan and were known as the
Mixeca but today Aztecs is more
common (= Spanish)
The Aztecs remain the most
extensively documented of all
Amerindian civilizations at the time of
European contact in the 16th century.
Chain of interconnected lakes, 33-6, but
the Aztecs talked about threethree- Chalco,
Chalco,
Texcoco,
Texcoco, and Xaltocan.
Xaltocan.
– Lake Texcoco
deepest and water flowed from it to other lakes
the Basin is about 3,000 sq miles and about
15% of that is covered by water.
– Also the most extensively “rere-created”
created” by
missionaries and conquistadores
Population estimates at around
A.D.1519 are between 1 to 1.2 million.
Aztec Empire
Tenochtitlan
How were they all fed?
Used Chinampas (floating gardens) for
agriculture.
– 25,000 acres of chinampas at the time of
contact.
– gardens never actually floated, but were
created by making use of the vegetation in
the swamps.
– Floating water plants were used to build up
gardens and then were dragged onto shore
for chinampas.
chinampas.
Chinampas
Although chinampas were very productive, the
number of people living in the area at the time of
contact could not keep up with subsistence and
surplus food demands.
These marsh plots also brought in birds and fish
that could be gathered while they were working
– Maybe not hunting and gathering, but hortihunting!
hortihunting!
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Chinampas
Aztec Market (Tlateloco
(Tlateloco))
Market days were held once each five days, four times
each month. Sometimes daily in larger towns.
– reflected community craft specializations as well as imported
goods.
Beans, flowers very important (smelling flowers was considered a
luxury)
– also slaves were traded, and dogs for food (400 on a slow day).
Bernal Diaz de Castillo (a conquistador) says that he
didn’
didn’t even have time to list how many things were
offered one day at the market of Tlateloco.
Tlateloco.
– commodities and goods exchanged by barter.
Ancient Aztecs tending to chinampas
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/aztec-society.htm
Cultural Innovations
Codex Borbonicus
Writing
– Nahuatl language spoken at conquest, living
language today.
– Many codices and glyphs to describe lifeways of
Aztecs, as well as Spanish accounts.
Several Significant Codices:
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Codex Borbonicus (Palais Bourbon, France)
Florentine Codex (Firenze, Italy)
Codex Mendoza (Oxford, UK)
Borbonicus made with amatl (paper made by
burning tree bark and hammering it flat with
stones). Mendoza and Florentine made on
European paper.
Clear dictionary and directions for interpreting the
heavens; paintings of deities and ruling deities.
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/aztecs4.htm
Florentine Codex
Compiled by a
Franciscan monk
(Bernardino de Sahagun)
Sahagun)
from interviews and
folklore from Nahuatl
speakers
Sahagú
Sahagún has often been
called "the father of
ethnography", because
his methods included
using native informants to
elicit information on Aztec
culture from the Aztecs'
point of view.
Codex Mendoza
Check out the
Wikipedia page that
has MANY of the
actual Codex pages
for your viewing
pleasure!
http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Codex_Mendoza
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Art
Obsidian vessel carved
in the shape of a
monkey
Polychrome terracota
plaque with molded and
apliquéd sculpture of a
human face
Jewelry
Stone box with representations
of corn cobs
http://www.mesoweb.com/features/jpl/99.html
Masks
Necklaces found in the
Great Temple at Tenochtitlan
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/aztec-jewelry.htm
Social Structure
Basic unit of social organization
– calpulli (clan)
– not all lineages within the clan were equal, although
relatively egalitarian among men and women.
Membership by birth.
– families traced their descent through fathers
(=patrilineal
(=patrilineal))
these lineages make up a calpulli.
calpulli.
– marry within the calpulli, but not within the immediate
patrilineal line.
– one lineage provides leader of that calpule.
calpule.
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/aztec-masks.htm
Four principal social categories:
PipiltinPipiltin– ruler of the city state and his relatives.
– only social category to own their own land
MacehualtinMacehualtin-commoner clan.
– serfs who worked others’
others’ lands.
PochtecaPochteca-merchant clan.
– owned communal land.
TlacotinTlacotin-slaves.
– no land, no rights.
– reversible status
Could buy freedom
Political Organization
Divine King or ruler of Aztec
Each city (other than Tenochtitlan) ruled by a
pettypetty-king selected from the pipiltin.
pipiltin.
Dual leadershipleadership-military and religious
– supreme leader chosen from special lineage, with brother
succeeding brother (= patrifocal).
patrifocal).
– court which ruled over military, justice, treasury, and
commerce.
Moctezuma II
http://www.rosehulman.edu/~delacova/florentin
e-codex.htm
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Moctezuma (Motecuhzoma)
Motecuhzoma) II:
Feathered Headress
Motecuhzoma II and Cortes
His priestly training, particularly in the old Toltec
traditions, was his downfall as he believed the return of
Quetzalcoatl to be incarnated in Cortes.
Believed it was his destiny to preside over the Aztecs
while a total destruction of the Mexica civilization
occurred.
Moctezuma was considered a skilled statesman and
many references by the Conquistadors to their
admiration for him.
While a captive of Cortes he lost his stature among the
general population of Tenochtitlan and was hit in the
head by a stone thrown by his former subjects and died
while a captive of Cortes (questionable!)
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