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Aztec importance of religion
Aztec empire essay
Aztec empire essay
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In the year 1350, an excellent empire was on the rise. The famous Aztec empire. Lasting from years 1350 to their demise in 1519, the Aztecs developed an empire of an estimated 10 million people. They began in present-day Mexico city. The Aztecs had a well developed religion, and although they practiced human sacrifice, the person being sacrificed had agreed to the deed. There are many mixed ideas and the Aztecs as to how they should be viewed, amazing or savage. The aztecs should be seen as an advanced civilization with many settlements and much land conquered, great agriculture, and a well developed government and management. The Aztecs had many settlements and a large amount of land over the years of it existing. A map showed all of the area conquered by the Aztecs (Document 1). They had conquered most of the upper half of central America. This displays how powerful they were in terms of land and people. The Aztecs also had amazing civilization and settlements. Tenochtitlan was large and full of astounding architecture (Document 4). This shows that the Aztecs were brilliant and advanced. The Aztecs had amazing cities and a great deal of conquered land. Agriculture plays an enormous part in having a functioning society. The farming fields in the …show more content…
The Aztecs had a certain code to govern the families that reside within the Aztec community. It helped guide the children to a respectable course for marriage and possible careers ( Document 12). With a more strict form of government, not many people stepped out of line. In the Aztec empire there was a great market place. That market place was civilized, policed, and organized. So much so that the soldiers there almost did not have to do anything. (Document 11). The Aztecs had a well organized and governed marketplace. The empire had created an efficient form of government or management of its
The Aztecs were a large group of Indian tribes.They were originally migratory and as they migrated they assimilatated other tribes. Through this process they joined together and became rich in civilization. The tribes the comprised the Aztecs were the Toltect whom the Chichimec [Aztecs] conquered in the early 1300's A.D. The Toltect embarked on conquests, which resulted in the Aztecs becoming a dominate civilization of their time.(1) Their migratory pattern stopped on the southwestern border of Lake Texcoco as they discovered an eagle sitting on the stem of a cactus, holding a serpent in his talons with his wings open to the sun. This as an omen from the gods.(4) The Aztecs finally settled in central Mexico, where Mexico City is now located, and began building Tenochtitlan in 1325. Over time the civilization's control spanned from Tenochtitlan east to the Gulf of Mexico and south to Guatemala.(1)
Spain, as one of the most powerful nations in the old world, had a great influence on many events in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Spanish also had an influence on many other empires/nations' fate. One of the empires that suffered a grave fate at the hands of the Spanish was the Aztec empire. The Aztec empire was not the oldest Mesoamerican empire and it was formed from an agreement between three city-states. The Aztec's class system had the emperor on top, then the priests, and everyone else below them. The priests were responsible for keeping the gods happy. The sacrifice of goods and people was a commonplace in the Aztec culture, and it was often the goods/people of other nations that were taken for sacrifices. As one can imagine,
August 13th, 1521 marked the end of a diabolical, yet genius group of leaders. They were referred to as the Aztecs. They were an extremely advanced ancient civilization. The Aztec’s were overthrown by the Spanish, yet we still haven’t forgotten the Aztecs. But since their culture was so complex it’s hard to know what is the most necessary thing to study when it comes to them, especially when their were so many things that defined their culture. The Aztecs were highly religious and believed in human sacrifice. They also had a complex method of farming called chinampas. This grew an extremely large amount of food per year by using canals. This was extremely successful because of how complex it was. When asked if historians should emphasize agriculture
Thus, historians ought to emphasize the significance of human sacrifice, and not their agriculture, when discussing the Aztecs. Religion is clearly a vital part of the Aztec culture. They had at least 128 gods, including but not limited to the divine beings of “rain, fire, water, corn, the sky, and the sun.” They were honored in numerous ways: ceremonies and festivals, dances and feasts, and by having humans sacrificed to them. Background Essay:
Back in the time of the Aztec their culture was very different but also similar from our now. For instence they belived in human sacrifice and also there was only a few different jobs that you could make a living through. . There are four major jobs in their society,which are being a priest,tradesmen,warrior or in your a women you would more often then not work hard in the houses learning how to weave and make clothes.
The Aztecs were isolated from the world until they fell to the Spanish which highlights that they didn’t have any of the inventions and innovations that the rest of the world experienced
The Aztec Empire was the most powerful Mesoamerican kingdom of all time. They dominated the valley of Mexico in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Aztecs were an advanced and successful civilization that built beautiful, sophisticated cities, temples, and pyramids. They also created a culture full of creativity with mythological and religious traditions. Aztecs lead a structured and evocative life that let their society to become a very superior civilization. The Aztec’s communication skills were very well developed for their time; through religious beliefs, government involvement, and family life they lived a full and productive life. Until in 1519 when the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mexico, and defeated the Aztecs.
A major element of Aztec life was religion, as often is in the case in ancient civilizations. The Aztecs were a polytheistic people, and they often made use of human sacrifice to please their gods. Diaz often makes reference to the blood-stained walls of the Aztec temples in his account of the conquest. In reference to the success of Cortes and his soldiers, an anci...
There were two forms of law that existed in the Aztec community, common law and written law up until around 1325. After that they declared a king what was other wise known to them as a tlatoani. This chief was in charge of the administration of justice, a chief of the army, a head priest, and a royal treasure. They took on those responsibilities with this statement in mind, “what is desirable, what is right” and they were to rule by that order.
Two of the biggest and greatest civilization in the Americas were the Aztecs and Incas. These two civilization were both said to be conquered by the Spanish, but it wasn’t just the Spanish who conquered them. These two civilizations both fell from a combination of a weak government, lack of technology, new disease introduced by the invaders, and not being prepared for the invaders. For many centuries the Aztec civilization revolved around a ideological, social, and political system in which expansion was the cornerstone. Expansion was the cornerstone of their whole civilization, because their religion requested that a large number of human sacrifices where to be made to the gods.
They were militaristic people, always ready to wage war on neighboring regions to earn and demand respect. The emperor, being a powerful king, was the one who would declare war. When Aztecs went to war it was to capture prisoners and pay tribute to their gods. Many young Aztec boys believed becoming a warrior was a glorified position and would enlist with great pride. Aztec warriors lived by the sword, and died for it. Capturing a prisoner was part of the initiation of becoming a warrior. The more prisoners the warriors caught, the more they were rewarded with land, and social rank. Similarly, Maya warriors could also move upward in rank and class through service in the military. The difference between the Aztec and the Maya military was that the Aztec military was led by their powerful emperor, whereas each Maya city-state had their own military which was led by a military leader, the halach uinic. The military leader not only controlled the city-states government but also had religious control over them. Maya city-states would fight one other for destruction of rival states, for dominance and to capture prisoners for sacrificing. The capturing of high-ranking officials were considered a priority and sacrificed immediately as supreme offerings to the gods, whereas commoners were forced into slavery, publicly humiliated, and weren 't sacrificed until one was needed. The Aztecs and the Mayas both
The preliminary reason for emphasizing Aztec cultivation is the large amounts of chinampas. As the empire’s population was expanding, the Aztecs needed a source of food. (Doc. A) To solve this problem, the Aztec’s used miles of conquered land and turned most of it into chinampas (Doc. A) The Aztec’s had built so many chinampas that they had about twenty-two thousand acres of crops which provided about four crops a year. (Doc. B) This evidence helps support Aztec agriculture because the large scale of chinampas provided a source of food and
There are varied accounts of the percentage of Aztec casualties due to smallpox, ranging from 33.3%-60%. The reason why the Aztecs were affected by the disease so badly is because the smallpox virus is not native to the Americas, so the Aztecs’ immune systems were not prepared for it. Official historical documents state that this might have been one of the only times in history, cleanliness worked against a civilisation. The Aztec civilization prided itself on how clean its cities were, and so disease was far less common among them than it was among the Europeans, for whom a common practice was throwing one’s own excrement out of a window and into the streets. The Aztecs thought cleanliness was important so they documented personal hygiene
Around 1428 Mexica monarch, Itzcoalt formed a triple alliance with the city states of Texcoco and Tlacopan. The triple alliance was made to fight the dominant Tepanecs of the city state of Azcapotzalco. After the combined forces of the triple alliance, The Triple Alliance was able to defeat Azcapotzalco. The year that followed brought the victory over Culhuacan and Huitzilopocho. The now known Aztecs would take over the valley of Xochimilco in 1429, Ixtapalpan in 1430, and Mixquic in 1432. “With this conquest, The Triple Alliance established the practice of leaving the deafeted king in power, but taking lands in the conquered territory and assigning them to dignitaries in Tenochtitlan and allied towns” (Brumfiel and Feinman 2008). Aztecs controlled thirty-eight provinces. Although the Aztec empire is known for being extremely religious, pleasing their gods with human sacrifices, the Aztecs were also very militaristic. Having a very organized command structure was what brought the success, growth, and dominance to the central region of Mexico. Aztecs were feared and respected; they were powerful and brought fear to neighboring regions for sacrificing enemies and even their own people to please their gods.
As agriculture has become more intensive, farmers have become capable of producing higher yields using less labour and less land. Growth of the agriculture has not, however, been an unmixed blessing. It, like every other thing, has its pros and cons. Topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, the decline of family farms, continued neglect of the living and working conditions for farm labourers, increasing costs of production, and the disintegration of economic and social conditions in rural communities. These are the cons of the new improved agriculture.