How Did The Aztecs Rise To Power

During The Renaissance, and when The Hundred Years’ War was beginning, across The Atlantic Ocean, entirely unknown to the Europeans, an entirely new nation was forming. This nation was The Aztecs, who while they were great, were also incredibly gruesome. The Aztecs rise to power, religion, and fall, was something that was unlike anything scholars had ever seen before.

The Aztecs quickly rose to power after the fall of the Toltec Empire. After being shunned from all other areas the aztecs settled on an island which the slowly made bigger by pulling mud up from the bottom of the lake and building it up to help the island form. Part of the reason why the Aztecs were able to conquer so quickly was because of what excellent warriors they were, the Aztecs were revered as the best warriors

of the entire nation. When the Aztec Empire was at its largest, it spread from Guatemala to Northern Mexico.

The Aztecs had an interesting religion, it was an odd combination of sophistication and brutality.

The steps of their finely crafted, beautiful temple were stained red with the blood of thousands of human sacrifices. The temple was in their capital city which was Tenochtilan, the temple was dedicated to the gods of the sun and rain, and in the middle of the city, and from the temple out, the city was divided like a grid into four sections. By the temple in one section, there was the palace filled with beautiful gardens, ponds, and lavish parks, this was where all the royals of the city lived. Also in the center, in another part of the grid were smaller but incredibly beautiful structures dedicated to many of the lesser gods, on the next side of the temple was unarguably the most gruesome and barbaric ritual of the entire culture, other than human sacrifice, which was taking the heads of those they sacrificed and placing them on a long rack where they were left to rot. The reason behind all of the human sacrifices, was because the believed that if they did not provide their gods with enough beating hearts and blood, the gods would not have enough fuel to make the sun rise each

morning.
All of the human sacrifices were part of the reason for the downfall of The Aztecs, because they were constantly were fighting what they called “ Flower Wars” against their neighbours to have enough people to sacrifice. Additionally, another reason for their downfall was The Spanish Conquistadors, they came gold, silver, and spices, but instead found the barbaric, yet sophisticated Aztecs who they oppressed, forced to convert to Catholisism, and burnt all of their documents which they believed to be pagan. Crop failure was also a part of the destruction of The Aztec Empire, first all of the crops were eaten by locusts, and then everything was destroyed by rain.

The fall of The Aztec Empire was inevitable between invading Spaniards, pointless wars, human sacrifice, and crop failure, it is a miracle The Aztec Empire lasted as long as it did.