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THE AZTECS

THE AZTECS. Teotihuacan. City-State of Mexico Outside modern-day Mexico City Abandon by 750 A.D. “ City of the Gods ”. Toltecs. Took over after the fall of Teotihuuacan Leader, Topiltzin, tried to change the religion and end sacrifices. Quetzalcoatl- feathered serpent god.

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THE AZTECS

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  1. THE AZTECS

  2. Teotihuacan • City-State of Mexico • Outside modern-day Mexico City • Abandon by 750 A.D. • “City of the Gods”

  3. Toltecs • Took over after the fall of Teotihuuacan • Leader, Topiltzin, tried to change the religion and end sacrifices. • Quetzalcoatl- feathered serpent god

  4. AZTEC EMPIRE LOCATION The Aztecs were a great nation of nomadic warriors who traveled Mexicoin about 1200 A.D. years ago in search of a land to call their own.

  5. THE EAGLE AND THE SNAKE The Aztec chief had a dream in which their god appeared to him and declared that the Aztecs would build a great nation where the eagle with a snake in its talons lands on a cactus.

  6. THE ISLAND IN THE LAKE The warriors searched for many days and came upon a lake. They were tired and hungry. They gazed out upon the lake and saw a huge eagle swoop down, grab a snake in its talons and land on a cactus that was on an island in the middle of the lake.

  7. GREAT BUILDERS • Began to build a great nation in the middle of a huge lake (Tenochtitlan) • Great gardens and streams. • They traveled by boat much like in Venice. • Planned city built of gold

  8. Floating Gardens • As the Aztec population grew, more food was needed. • Created “floating” gardens. They built a series of rafts, which they anchored to the lake bed. They piled on dirt and grew crops. They made walkways out of mud and reeds to connect the floating rafts. • Grew chili peppers, squash, corn, tomatoes, and beans

  9. THE AZTEC EDUCATION • Very well educated • Advanced calendar • Performed brain surgery • Great in mathematics, architecture, building, astronomy, medicine, surgery, and farming

  10. THE AZTEC RELIGION • Polytheistic • Personification (i.e. Sun, Moon) • They thought that the moon and the sun did battle every night and day.

  11. THE AZTECS GODS • Believed that in order to give the Sun power to defeat the moon and rise each morning the Sun must have a blood sacrifice. • Sacrificed a beating heart everyday

  12. THE AZTEC SACRAFICES • Forced to be at constant war to obtain prisoners to sacrifice • Never killed their enemies. • Captured them and held them for daily sacrifice. • Placed on a bench, and their heart was cut out while a stone statue of Chac-moolwas placed in.

  13. THE AZTEC WARFARE The Aztecs were feared and hated by all of the other Indian tribes of Mexico.

  14. THE ARRIVAL OF THE SPANISH • Hernán Cortes had heard of the infamous Aztecs. • The Spanish were experiencing gold fever • Agreed to come to the Americas and conquer the Aztecs and steal their gold

  15. THE CONQUEST OF THE AZTECS • The Spanish conquistadors landed in Mexico with approximately 300 men and 40 horses. • Traveled Mexico and met with the Indians • Upon hearing how fierce the Aztecs were, Cortes’s men became scared • Cortes burned his ships. This forced his men to fight or die.

  16. THE AZTEC TRAITOR • Another Indian tribe gave Cortes a woman slave by the name of Malintzin. • She had been captured as a child by the Mayas. • She was an Aztec and spoke many different languages because she had been traded.

  17. THE COMING OF THE AZTEC GOD • Malintzinbecame infatuated with Cortes because he was nice. • Told Cortes that the Aztecs were awaiting their god Quetzalcoatl to return this year

  18. THE MEETING • According to Aztec legend a tall white man had appeared and ruled and left the Aztecs after promising to return in 100 years to rule them again. • Hernán Cortes was Spanish. He was a tall white man. • He came to Tenochtitlan that exact year.

  19. MOCTEZUMA Hernán Cortes presented himself to the Aztec leader Moctezuma and claimed to be their returning God.

  20. THE END OF THE AZTECS • Moctezuma gave the Spaniards gifts of gold and welcomed them to his city. • The Aztecs had never before seen horses and guns and wept with fear. • They believed Hernán Cortes to be their long lost god.

  21. HERNAN CORTES • Hernan Cortes and his men killed Moctezuma. • They had given an enemy a key to the city. • Disease spread throughout Tenochtitlan. • One third of the Indians were stricken and died of Small Pox.

  22. THE GREAT BATTLE • The Aztecs decided to kill the Spaniards. However, they were sick with disease and without a leader. • Spaniards were out numbered one thousand to one. • The other Indian tribes saw this as an opportunity to be rid of the Aztecs and came to help.

  23. WHAT TO DO WITH THE GOLD? • While some were fighting the Spaniards, the Aztecs men, women, and children worked and gathered up the gold throughout the city and piled it into boats. • One by one they sunk those boats into the lake.

  24. MEXICO CITY • The bulk of the Aztec gold was lost to the world. • The great Aztec empire fell. Mexico then built a great city on the site which used to be Tenochtitlan. • The Aztec symbol is proudly flown on the Mexican flag, and today the Mexican people view the Aztecs and not Cortes as national heros.

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