Aztecs of Mesoamerica

Arriving into Mesoamerica in the early 13th century from their northern homeland of Aztlan, when the Aztecs saw an eagle land atop a wetland cactus near Lake Texcoco, the hunter-gather nomads took the bird as a sign to settle there, building the foundations of their capital city, Tenochtitlán, by 1325.

Tenochtitlán

Employing a sophisticated system of agriculture and irrigation practices, over the next 100 years, Tenochtitlán blossomed into a city-state of more than 140,000 residents, while the great warring Aztec leader Montezuma—known as the father of the Aztec empire—employed a mix of military conquest and commerce to build an empire of 500 smaller states of some five to six million inhabitants.

Tenochtitlán’s bustling Tlatelolco market, for instance, drove the Aztec economy with more than 50,000 people buying and selling on major market days. Known for its highly-developed social caste system, with nobles at the top, followed by serfs, indentured servants and enslaved workers at the bottom, the Aztec empire reached its intellectual and artistic peak by the early 16th century, at the same time practicing a polytheistic religion that included the practice of human sacrifice to their gods, including Quetzalcoatl, who served many important roles within the Aztec’s holy calendar.

The Aztecs also built majestic temples, palaces, plazas and statues, while establishing a calendar based on a 365-day solar cycle and a 260-day religious cycle, the later playing a key role in the Aztec’s ritualistic society.

Aztec Faith Ends in Demise

When Hernan Cortés and his Spanish conquistadors entered Tenochtitlán on November 8th, 1519, Aztec ruler Montezuma the 2nd at first mistook Cortés as an envoy from the god Quetzalcoatl, who was prophesied to return that year in the Aztec calendar.

While outnumbered by Aztec warriors, Cortez summarily ended the Aztec empire through a combination of superior weaponry and the introduction of foreign diseases like smallpox, which killed off upwards of 40% of Tenochtitlán’s residents in 1520 alone.

After Montezuma died in Spanish captivity, his young nephew Cuauhtemoc took over as emperor before driving the Spanish out of Tenochtitlán, only to fall to Cortez on August 13th, 1521, which led to the slaughter of some 240,000 people. After the destruction of Tenochtitlán, Cortez built Mexico City atop the ruins of a once great civilization.