Aztec Presentation Summary

Aztec Presentation Summary

This presentation will focus on Aztec society, law and culture, and will also examine the decline of the Aztec empire. The Aztecs were an extremely hierarchical society with a well-developed administrative system. It is particularly worthwhile to examine how Aztec society functioned as it may assist us in understanding their subsequent decline and conquest by the Spanish Empire.

The Aztec empire was comprised of a series of city-states known as ‘altepetl’. Each city-state was ruled by a supreme leader, or ‘tlatoani’. The supreme leader would be assisted by a supreme judge and administrator, the ‘cihuacoatl’. The supreme leader of the capital (Tenochitlan) served as the Emperor (‘Huey Tlatoani’) of the entire Aztec

Most commoners were urban artisans or farmers who lived in communities or neighbourhoods with their own established temples, schools and leaders. (SOURCE) The richest among the commoner class were the professional merchants (‘pochetca’), whose ability to generate personal wealth allowed them to purchase sacrificial victims, which in turn gave them some upward social mobility. Below the commoner class was the ‘mayque’, or serfs, who were tied to the land and provided labour to the king. Many of the individuals who belonged to this class were once free commoners who were relegated to this class through conquest or poverty. At the bottom of the social hierarchy, however, were the ‘tlacotin’, called slaves by the Spanish. These individuals were often relegated to this status because of some crime. Individuals who constantly transgressed would be sold as sacrificial

Judges were bound by existing law to some extent, but still had the discretion to do what was reasonable under the circumstances. Many Aztec legal records were destroyed by the Spanish as they were believed to be heretical. The main source of information about Aztec law comes from codices authored by Spanish priests.

The Aztec empire was seemingly unshakable until 1519, when the Spanish arrived in Mexico under the leadership of Hernan Cortez. Cortez and his small armed force (initially five hundred men) would pose a new and unexpected threat to the Aztec empire. This threat was compounded as Cortez inadvertently landed on the shores of the Aztec empire on the very day that Aztec diviners prophesised the return of Quetzacoatl, the hero-king of the Toltecs. Cortex was initially misidentified as Quezacoatl by the local people, which greatly enhanced the speed of his