When you think of Meso-America, tribes like the Aztec come to mind. But that tribe was still in its development during the reign of the Toltec Empire. From 900 to approximately 1200 C.E. During their rule, they created a platform for today’s current society to develop from. The Toltec’s credibility is often overshadowed by the success of the Aztec; their conquerors. Before they were able to give their knowledge away, they had to build a civilization.
The Toltec people were living in Teotihuacán; a city near present-day Mexico City that the Toltec were thought to have built. Teotihuacán fell in flames Before their forced departure of the city, the Toltec were the only race living there. Once they left, most went to their new home, and capital, Tula (also know as Tollan) but some went to Tlillan-Tlapallan.
…show more content…
Eventually, Tula would be burned down just as Teotihuacan had been. Within Tula, they had many intricate buildings, mounds, pyramids, temples, apartment complexes and markets. Some of the more known buildings include El Castillo (Temple of Kukulkan), the Grand Ballcourt, and El Carcacol. The Toltec were outstanding builders and did so precisely to honor their gods. Although they were polytheistic religion came second to war. The Toltec civilization was highly militaristic and warlike. They did believe in gods such as Quetzcoatl, a feathered serpent who is also seen in the Mayan and Aztec civilization and Texcatlipoca, meaning “the smoked mirror.” Quetzcoatl represented fertility, gentility, philosophy, learning, culture, peace, and holiness. Texcatlipoca was his polar opposite; he represented evil, war, and tyranny. Very little is known about their other gods, but the Toltec paid homage to more than just those two. The Toltec believed in human sacrifice as a way to appease the gods. It was of a high honor to be sacrificed and the death of one would be glorified. After death, there is no heaven or afterlife but more a being or state. They believed that after death, all souls came together to be one; something that their warring government didn't allow. The Toltec government was an aristocracy. Kings served as priests; a voice of the gods. Each region of the Toltec Empire had a governor who took part in councils. In the event of the death of a king, the council would come together to decide on who would be heir to the throne. This style of government was also used by the Aztec. Not only did the Aztec adopt the of government that the Toltec used, but they also shred the same language, Nahuatl, and the same currency, Quachtli.
Quachtli is a type of cloth that was used in Tula. One cloth was the equivalent of 65 cocoa beans; another Toltec/Aztec currency. The Toltec only spoke the dialect and did not have a written language. Some scholars believe that, because they didn't own a writing system, the Toltec were a mythological race; even, though, the Aztecs have written information on them.
The Aztec have written records of the Toltec kings and rulers. They are also credited for their buildings and gods. They had various types of plant medicines that the Aztec adopted that we still use today. But, the information and lifestyle they shared with the Aztec would soon solely belong to the Aztec.
The fall of the Toltec began with their alliance with the Aztec people (known by a different name at that time) and their shared city. Their city was burned down and the Mexica, the rulers of the Aztec empire, invaded and conquered their civilization. Their stories still live on but their language, religion, and culture are no longer
thriving.
Also, when the Aztecs were in Spain they began to adapt how the Spanish speak and write. After some time the Aztecs people and the Spanish people got married and their kids would be a mix of Aztec and Spanish blood and their child would be called a Mestizos. Something same, like the First Nations because when a First Nation and a European marry their child would be called a Métis. Though, before the land of the First Nations and Aztecs get conquered, this how they met. When the Europeans first meet the First Nations, they had a good trade relationship, but the Europeans were ethnocentric, and after a long time trading the First Nations, the Europeans wanted their land, so a war happened and in the middle of the war the First Nations began to have disease which caused the death of many people and warriors, so in the end they lost and that’s how the Canada’s Indigenous peoples land got taken over. Now, it’s a different, yet sort of the same situation with the Aztec, because when the Spanish or Cortés came onto the land of Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs greet them with gifts and also thought that Cortés were God
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,
People should study the Aztecs and their agriculture because people can see how they stayed in power for so long, how advanced they were, and it gives people a lot of information on their religion. It’s important to study agriculture and is relevant now because the Aztec culture can still teach us things that we can do better in our society and things that we can even learn from them. For example, their agricultural methods, though not likely, could be considered today or new ideas can come from it. Much like looking through a telescope if we don’t focus on the right image in the night sky, if people don’t focus on the right aspect of Aztec agriculture people can miss the big
The animals that were on the land were found to be basically fruits and vegetables. The Aztec’s and Inca’s seemed to eat only these things which were very healthy and good for their bodies. The Aztec’s and Incas seemed like a very well-devoted tribe to one another.
The Olmecs who resided along the Gulf of Mexico about 4000years ago were the earliest group of people to become advanced. They were termed the “mother culture of Mesoamerica.” Their advancements included them being artists, carving large head statues of Basin, engineers, graphic writing and trade. They were the first known major American Indian societies in Mesoamerica.
The pottery was used to eat out of and they could also trade it to other tribes for food or maybe even horses. The Aztecs did feather working and goldworking. They made shields and did art work with the feathers. They held the feathers together with glue made from bat dung.
Scientists have recently discovered links to the Kiowa and Aztec religions. For example both tribes worshiped a stone image, Taimay, and both tribes followed a pictographic calendar. The language that the Kiowa spoke can be traced back to the Uto-Aztecan language like Latin and English. The Kiowa languages also have connections to the Bannocks, Comanche’s, Paragons, Paiutes, Pima, Shoshones, and Utes. The Kiowa and Aztec preformed many dances of praise including the Sun Dance. However, the Kiowa also had many unique dances including the Scalp, Corning, Feather, and Ghost praising nature and life. Each dance was preformed to celebrate different achievements. For example, the scalp dance was preformed when men returned ...
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
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.
The Toltec civilization was one of the greatest Mesoamerican civilizations, prospering between 900 to 1150 CE. The Toltecs preceded the legendary Aztec civilization in Mesoamerica, who regarded them as their “great intellectual and cultural predecessors” (ancient.eu). They played a key role in maintaining the Mesoamerican culture that was passed down by several older civilizations including the Olmec, Teotihuacan, and Mayan civilizations. Much of what is known about the ancient Toltecs is derived from Aztec along with other Mesoamerican texts which document even older oral descriptions of historical events. The accuracy of these events, especially that of the Aztecan documents, has been questioned due to the tendency of the civilization to hyperbolize the feats of the Toltecs by combining historical truths with cultural myths. However, it cannot be argued that the Toltec civilization was vital in preserving the culture and ideology of the Mesoamerican region.
Aztec culture had a rich and complicated set of mythological and religious beliefs. These religious practices and artistic accomplishments as well as music, dance, dress, food, drink, sports and games played a large part in their everyday lives. A rather remarkable part of Aztec culture was the ritual of human sacrifice. The Incas drew on the artistic traditions of their Andean predecessors and the skills of subject peoples. Beautiful pottery and cloth was produced in specialized workshops. Inca metallurgy was among the most advanced of the Americas, and Inca artisans worked gold and silver with great technical skill.
The reason for this is a prophecy. The prophecy said that when they saw an eagle sitting on a cactus with a snake in its mouth that was where they were to build their great civilization. For that reason they called it Tenochtitlan, meaning place of the cactus. Since the prophecy was filled upon an island in the middle of a small lake, called Lake Texcoco, land became short.
The Aztec civilization was a very complex society that was feared and known well for their various gory sacrifices done to please their many gods in their polytheistic religion. The much feared civilization began by the exile of one of the two Toltec leaders, which lead to the decline of the Toltec state that was later replaced by Mexica, or the Aztecs. According to the Aztecs, the land chosen to build their main city was chosen by the portrayal of an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. Through military might, the Aztecs managed to become the most powerful civilization in the mid-fourteenth century. They maintained their power through military might and the fear they caused other civilizations because of the human sacrifices they performed on their captured victims.
Around 1200 B. C. The Olmecs originated as a primitive people living and farming on the shores of Mexico (Stanton 91). Soon, however, they began to build cities such as San Lorenzo, La Venta, and Monte Alban. These “cities” were religious centers where people gathered to worship, and were not populated (Stanton 91). The first of these centers, San Lorenzo, was built c. 1150 B.C., on a flat topped, man-made mountain. It was mysteriously abandoned 200 years later (Stanton 92-93).
The Aztecs came from Azatlan which is the mythical place of origin(Aztecs of Lost Civilization). Huizilopochtli, the god of war, told the Aztecs to leave Azatlan and wander until they saw an eagle perched on a cactus growing out of a rock and eating a snake(Los Aztecas). The Aztecs traveled many years to find the legend and finally found it while at Lake Texcoco. Lake Texcoco was ruled by the Toltecs between the 10th and 11th centuries(Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia). Since many other tribes also migrated to Lake Texcoco at the same time, the Aztecs were pushed out to the westside of the lake to a swampy area. The only piece of dry land they had was a little island surrounded by marshes. Over a long period of time they built their empire with chinapas. Chinapas were formed by piling up mud from the lake bottom to make little islands(Aztec Empire History). Tenochtitlan (currently Mexico City), which means "Place of the Cactus", became the capital in 1325 and soon there came many islands in which bridges were built to connect the mainland (Los Aztecas). They also dug canals and constructed aqueducts. There were many religious structures, and they built temples and pyramids. By 1502 the Aztec Empire expanded from Guatemala to San Luis Potosi which is in Central and Southern Mexico and extended 800 miles along a northwest-southeast axis. The Aztecs conquered many cities and all became part of the empire which was wedged between high mountains and surrounded by lakes(Aztecs of Lost Civilization/ Azetc Empire History).