Posted on December 12th, 2006 at 11:26 am by honoka and
Step 1:
Q: Where did the Aztecs originally live?
A: The Aztec originally lived in Atzlan, somewhere in North West Mexico.
Q: What prompted them to relocate?
A: In among the rushes, at the edge of a spring, they saw an eagle perched on a cactus, eating a snake; it prompted them to relocate.
Q: Where did they end up and why?
A: They ended up in Tenochtitlan, because Aztec welcomed Spanish but then they both started to fight each other. Soon Moctezuma II fell and Spaniards took him back to palace. Then Spanish won the war on August 31, 1521. They returned to destroy houses and build Mexico City.
The Spanish had firearms & Cortés received help from thousands of Aztec enemies. By these reasons, Spanish were able to win.
Step 2:
Q: The Aztecs ended up in the middle of a lake and built their new capital Tenochtitlan. What were the pros and cons of settling in the middle of a lake?
A:The good things about living in middle of the lake were you can have protection and you can grow crops. The bad things about living in the middle of the lake were they can get destroyed easily. The water can come into the city.
They had a temple to Huitzilopochtli and it was most important temple. They first started to build their city with sticks, but then they started to build with rock around 1418. Moctezuma I build the base, tizoc continued with it, and then Ahuizotl finished the temple.
Step 3:
Q:Which gods were worshiped?
A:Most important was their sun god, Huitzilopochtli. Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, Tlaloc, and Chalchiuhtlicue were worshiped.
Q:The pyramids were built for what purpose?
A:The pyramids were building for sacrifice.
Step 4:
Q:Who are the different members of Aztec society?
A:The Aztec society was divided into 3 classes- slaves, commoners, and nobility.
Q:What are their roles?
A:If they were one of the slaves, the children of poor parents could be sold, usually for only a certain time period. Slaves could buy back their freedom.
Commoners were the biggest social group was known as the macehualtin. These people were engaged in agriculture and the common trades. They worked the land in family and were allowed to kept their produce, but the calpulli collectively owned the land itself. The lowest group of commoners was not allowed to own property. They were tenant farmers; they just got to use the land and never be owners.
Step 5:
Q:The Aztecs have a spoken language. What was it called?
A:The Aztecs did not use letters to write with they used small pictures called glyphs instead of words. The Aztec spoke a language called Nahuatl (pronounced NAH waht l).
Q:Did they use any other forms of communication?
A:They wrote letters using small pictures called glyphs.
Step 6:
Q:How did the Aztecs grow food and what was their main crop?
A:The main food of the Aztec was a thin cornmeal pancake called a tlaxcalli.
Maize, a type of corn, was the Aztec’s main food source.
Q:Did they trade and with whom?
A:They had trade, but people in the country as like traded it if they were using money. Trade occurred between the people who live in Aztec cities.
Q:Did they have a currency (money)?
A:They didn’t had any money. They traded their things to get new things.
Step 7:
Q:Discuss the Impact of Spanish Contact 1519 from both the Aztec point of view and the Spanish point of view. Find an image depicting this event.
A:Spanish view
they arrived in 1519, reached on eastern coast of Mexico. They traveled in small boats; brought 508 soldiers and 100 sailors. Cortés had beaten his adversaries and returned to Tenochtitlan. He managed to meet with his besieged companions, but the situation wasn’t good. Cortés forced Moctezuma to go onto the palace roof and order his subjects to end their siege. However, the people did not listen to the tlatoani; when he tried to speak; he was showered with a hail of stones and was wounded. Moctezuma died a few days later; it is not known whether he died of his wounds or was killed by the Spaniards. The Spaniards decided to escape. They moved at night because the Aztecs usually suspended their struggle after sunset. The Spanish defeat is known as the Sad Night, because Cortés wept at the foot of an ahuehuete tree.
Aztec View
The first major American civilization to fall to the Spanish was that of the Aztecs. The Aztec Empire was new. It dated from approximately the fourteenth century.
At this point, the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II was troubled by the reports concerning about the invaders. A very religious man, Moctezuma beileved that Cortez was Aztec god Quetzacoatl. Luckily for Cortez, his arrival coincided with the year that a prophecy regarding Quetzacoatl was to come true. For this reason, and because of Cortez’ white skin, Moctezuma assumed that Cortez was Quetzacoatl. After Moctezuma died, the new Mexica leader was called Cuitláhuac, an experienced warrior who had always been opposed to the Spaniards. Under his command, the combat skills of the Aztecs became stronger.
Step 8:
Q:Discuss La Malinche or Dona Marina. Debate her positive/negative impact on Mexico past and present. What does the term Mestizo refers to? What influences remain today from Aztec culture of the past?
A:La Malinche are slave, interpreter, secretary, mistress, and mother of the first Mexican. Many Mexicans revile the woman called la Malinche by the Aztecs, labeling her a traitor and harlot for her role as the ego of Cortes as he conquered Mexico. They ignore that she saved thousands of Indian lives. All historians believe that she was a daughter of a noble Aztec man. La Malinche did not choose to join in Cortes.
Mestizo means a person of mixed racial ancestry. For example, in Latin America, there are mixed American Indian and European, usually Spanish or Portuguese, ancestry, or, in the Philippines, of mixed native and foreign ancestry.
Mexican still revile La Malinche so she influences today from Aztec culture.
Spanish also burned books so it influenced Aztecs culture.