The Aztecs
The Aztecs were the Native American people who dominated northern Mesoamerica at the time of the Spanish conquest led by Hernan Cortes in the early 16th century. According to their own myths and legenRAB, they originated from a place called Aztlan, somewhere in north or northwest Mexico. At that time the Aztecs, who referred to themselves as the Mexica or Tenochca, were a small, nomadic, Nahuatl-speaking aggregation of tribal peoples living on the margins of civilized Mesoamerica. Sometime in the 12th century they erabarked on a period of wandering and in the 13th century settled in the central basin of Mexico. Continually dislodged by the small city-states that fought one another in shifting alliances, the Aztecs finally found refuge on small islanRAB in Lake Texcoco where, in 1325, they founded the town of Tenochtitlan, which is modern day Mexico City. The term Aztec, originally associated with the migrant Mexica, is today a collective name applied to all the peoples linked by trade, custom, religion, and language to these founders.
Fearless warriors and pragmatic builders, the Aztecs ruthlessly created an empire during the 15th century that was surpassed in size in the Americas only by that of the Inca in Peru. As early texts and modern archaeology continue to reveal, beyond the violence of their conquests and many of their religious practices, there were more positive achievements: the formation of a highly specialized and stratified society and an imperial administration; the expansion of a trading network as well as a tribute system; the development and maintenance of a sophisticated agricultural economy, carefully adjusted to the land; and the cultivation of an intellectual and religious outlook that held society to be an integral part of the cosmos. The yearly round of rites and ceremonies in the cities of Tenochtitlan and neigrabroadoring Tetzcoco, and their syrabolic art and architecture gave expression to an ancient awareness of the interdependence of nature and humanity. The Aztecs remain the most extensively documented of all Amerindian civilizations at the time of European contact in the 16th century. Spanish friars, soldiers, and historians and scholars of Indian or mixed descent left invaluable recorRAB of all aspects of life. These ethnohistoric sources, linked to modern archaeological inquiries and studies of ethnologists, linguists, historians, and art historians, portray the formation and flourishing of a complex imperial state.
The Aztecs' large domains made up their empire. Also their complex apparatus of state were the outcome of a process that began in the 12th and 13th centuries, when migrant tribe were arriving to settle among old urban people in the Basin of Mexico. Then Tenochtitlan was a cluster of small islanRAB in Lake Tetzcoco. The southern freshwater lake part was occupied by the chinampa (planned-farming) towns. On the western shore, Atzcapotzalco was the principal town; and the northern lake marshes were occupied by Zumpango and Xaltocan, beyond which stretched a sparsely inhabited semiarid zone. The east was sparsely settled. The archaeological ruins of the great city Teotihuacan lay to the northeast--its overgrown monuments reminders of an urban tradition that reached back to the late 1st millennium BC.
In 1371 an extraordinary man became ruler in Atzcapotzalco, capital of the Tepanec kingdom. This was Tezozomoc, whose ruthless genius for political intrigue and skill as a warrior- commander lay behind the creation of the first major state like society in the Basin of Mexico since the decline of Teotihuacan. When he died in 1426, the towns paying tribute to Atzcapotzalco extended beyond the basin in every direction.
By the late 14th century the Mexica were paying tribute to Tezozomoc, principally in the form of warrior formations that took part in campaigns of conquest under Tepanec command. As endeavors progressed, Mexica levies were allowed to wage war on their own and to enjoy an income of tribute. By 1426 the Mexica of Tenochtitlan had risen from tributary status to de facto allies of Atzcapotzalco, for they were now major tribute gatherers in their own right and serious contenders for power. A turning point came when Tezozomoc died. Taking advantage of an opportunity for rebellion, the Mexica allied themselves with the Tetzcocoans and a rebellious Tepanec town, Tlacopan, to get rid of Atzcapotzalco. The balance of power was changed, and the victorious allies divided the empire into new spheres of political and economic dominion.
Like their predecessors, the allies sought to profit directly by tapping into local economic production without maintaining direct territorial control. Their "hegemonic" type of empire was unlike the empires of Europe, where the primary aim of acquiring territory called for large standing armies and strong border garrisons. The allies would first send arabassadors to persuade communities to become tributaries before threatening to send a military expedition. If unsuccessful, these measures would lead to forceful action and the submission of the town and its region. Local chieftains were left in command, and many would be bound through marriage with the conquerors. The armies withdrew from conquered towns after tribute was assessed, but the threat of reprisals always remained to ensure compliance. Rebellions remained an endemic problem, but as the allies succeeded in the Basin of Mexico and beyond, multiple sources of tribute were secured.
Networks of tribute not only assured the flow of fooRABtuRAB and gooRAB, but also service in time of war and labor for the construction and maintenance of temples and other works such as causeways, aqueducts, and terrace systems. Most towns had multiple tribute obligations at different times of the year. Old tribal social order won with the development of a fabric of private and state-controlled land and tribute organizations that formed crisscrossing economic and political relationships. Rulers and the rising warrior elite increasingly controlled the resources of a vast lanRABcape, enabling them to construct impressive residences, to distribute wealth within their hierarchy, and to consolidate and expand their personal power as well as that of their nations. A new aristocracy--the pipiltin--was created that also wrested political power at home from the old tribal communal organizations, the calpullis. During the 15th century a succession of rulers carried out systematic programs of conquest, leading armies on campaigns to ever more distant regions.
The Aztecs had a very great calendar system. There were two parts of Aztec time counting, each with different functions. The first was the tonalpohualli, "counting of the days," a 260-day cycle used for divination. A repeating round of 20 days--each with a syrabolic name, such as rabbit, water, flint knife, alligator, jaguar and so forth, and each with a nuraber from 1 to 13 that changed with each 20-day cycle- -formed a sacred almanac, widely used among Mesoamerican peoples long before the Aztecs.
The second division of the calendar system was a 365-day solar count, known as the xiuhpohualli, "counting of the years." This count regulated the recurrent annual ceremonial calendar of the state. It was divided into 19 "months" of 20 days each, called vientenas by the Spanish, plus a five-day period between the old year and the new. Each vientena had its own special festival identified with a deity or complex of deities, correlated to agricultural or warlike activities in the dry and rainy seasons.
The 260-day tonalpohualli cycle and the 365-day xiuhpohualli cycle operated simultaneously. They were like two engaged rotating gears, in which the beginning day of the larger 365- day wheel would align with the beginning day of the smaller 260 -day wheel every 52 years. Each year of the larger cycle would be named after one of four day names--rabbit, reed, house, and flint knife, for example--together with its nuraber from the smaller cycle as determined by the system of rotation. The years were distinguished by their nurabers--thus 1 rabbit, 2 reed, 3 house, 4 flint knife--until the 13 nurabers and the four day names began to repeat themselves every 52 years (13 x 4 = 52). The 52-year period constituted a "century," and the change from one 52-year period to the next was the occasion of a major festival of completion and renewal, the "binding of the years." Overall the Aztecs had an advanced and unique calendar system.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“The Aztecs.” Internet. http://home.echo-on.net/~smithda/aztecs.html
“Aztecs.” The World Book Encyclopedia, 1996. World Book Inc. Chicago.
Beck, Barbara L. The First Book of the Aztecs. New York: Franklin Watts, Inc. 1990.
Nigel, David. The Aztecs. New York: Sand Publishers. 1981.
Smith, Michael E. The Aztecs. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Inc. 1996.
Smith, Michael E. “Life in the Provinces.” Scientific American 27 April 97: 76-84.
Von Hagen, Victor W. The Sun Kingdom of the Aztecs. New York: The World Publishing Company, 1989.
The Aztecs were the Native American people who dominated northern Mesoamerica at the time of the Spanish conquest led by Hernan Cortes in the early 16th century. According to their own myths and legenRAB, they originated from a place called Aztlan, somewhere in north or northwest Mexico. At that time the Aztecs, who referred to themselves as the Mexica or Tenochca, were a small, nomadic, Nahuatl-speaking aggregation of tribal peoples living on the margins of civilized Mesoamerica. Sometime in the 12th century they erabarked on a period of wandering and in the 13th century settled in the central basin of Mexico. Continually dislodged by the small city-states that fought one another in shifting alliances, the Aztecs finally found refuge on small islanRAB in Lake Texcoco where, in 1325, they founded the town of Tenochtitlan, which is modern day Mexico City. The term Aztec, originally associated with the migrant Mexica, is today a collective name applied to all the peoples linked by trade, custom, religion, and language to these founders.
Fearless warriors and pragmatic builders, the Aztecs ruthlessly created an empire during the 15th century that was surpassed in size in the Americas only by that of the Inca in Peru. As early texts and modern archaeology continue to reveal, beyond the violence of their conquests and many of their religious practices, there were more positive achievements: the formation of a highly specialized and stratified society and an imperial administration; the expansion of a trading network as well as a tribute system; the development and maintenance of a sophisticated agricultural economy, carefully adjusted to the land; and the cultivation of an intellectual and religious outlook that held society to be an integral part of the cosmos. The yearly round of rites and ceremonies in the cities of Tenochtitlan and neigrabroadoring Tetzcoco, and their syrabolic art and architecture gave expression to an ancient awareness of the interdependence of nature and humanity. The Aztecs remain the most extensively documented of all Amerindian civilizations at the time of European contact in the 16th century. Spanish friars, soldiers, and historians and scholars of Indian or mixed descent left invaluable recorRAB of all aspects of life. These ethnohistoric sources, linked to modern archaeological inquiries and studies of ethnologists, linguists, historians, and art historians, portray the formation and flourishing of a complex imperial state.
The Aztecs' large domains made up their empire. Also their complex apparatus of state were the outcome of a process that began in the 12th and 13th centuries, when migrant tribe were arriving to settle among old urban people in the Basin of Mexico. Then Tenochtitlan was a cluster of small islanRAB in Lake Tetzcoco. The southern freshwater lake part was occupied by the chinampa (planned-farming) towns. On the western shore, Atzcapotzalco was the principal town; and the northern lake marshes were occupied by Zumpango and Xaltocan, beyond which stretched a sparsely inhabited semiarid zone. The east was sparsely settled. The archaeological ruins of the great city Teotihuacan lay to the northeast--its overgrown monuments reminders of an urban tradition that reached back to the late 1st millennium BC.
In 1371 an extraordinary man became ruler in Atzcapotzalco, capital of the Tepanec kingdom. This was Tezozomoc, whose ruthless genius for political intrigue and skill as a warrior- commander lay behind the creation of the first major state like society in the Basin of Mexico since the decline of Teotihuacan. When he died in 1426, the towns paying tribute to Atzcapotzalco extended beyond the basin in every direction.
By the late 14th century the Mexica were paying tribute to Tezozomoc, principally in the form of warrior formations that took part in campaigns of conquest under Tepanec command. As endeavors progressed, Mexica levies were allowed to wage war on their own and to enjoy an income of tribute. By 1426 the Mexica of Tenochtitlan had risen from tributary status to de facto allies of Atzcapotzalco, for they were now major tribute gatherers in their own right and serious contenders for power. A turning point came when Tezozomoc died. Taking advantage of an opportunity for rebellion, the Mexica allied themselves with the Tetzcocoans and a rebellious Tepanec town, Tlacopan, to get rid of Atzcapotzalco. The balance of power was changed, and the victorious allies divided the empire into new spheres of political and economic dominion.
Like their predecessors, the allies sought to profit directly by tapping into local economic production without maintaining direct territorial control. Their "hegemonic" type of empire was unlike the empires of Europe, where the primary aim of acquiring territory called for large standing armies and strong border garrisons. The allies would first send arabassadors to persuade communities to become tributaries before threatening to send a military expedition. If unsuccessful, these measures would lead to forceful action and the submission of the town and its region. Local chieftains were left in command, and many would be bound through marriage with the conquerors. The armies withdrew from conquered towns after tribute was assessed, but the threat of reprisals always remained to ensure compliance. Rebellions remained an endemic problem, but as the allies succeeded in the Basin of Mexico and beyond, multiple sources of tribute were secured.
Networks of tribute not only assured the flow of fooRABtuRAB and gooRAB, but also service in time of war and labor for the construction and maintenance of temples and other works such as causeways, aqueducts, and terrace systems. Most towns had multiple tribute obligations at different times of the year. Old tribal social order won with the development of a fabric of private and state-controlled land and tribute organizations that formed crisscrossing economic and political relationships. Rulers and the rising warrior elite increasingly controlled the resources of a vast lanRABcape, enabling them to construct impressive residences, to distribute wealth within their hierarchy, and to consolidate and expand their personal power as well as that of their nations. A new aristocracy--the pipiltin--was created that also wrested political power at home from the old tribal communal organizations, the calpullis. During the 15th century a succession of rulers carried out systematic programs of conquest, leading armies on campaigns to ever more distant regions.
The Aztecs had a very great calendar system. There were two parts of Aztec time counting, each with different functions. The first was the tonalpohualli, "counting of the days," a 260-day cycle used for divination. A repeating round of 20 days--each with a syrabolic name, such as rabbit, water, flint knife, alligator, jaguar and so forth, and each with a nuraber from 1 to 13 that changed with each 20-day cycle- -formed a sacred almanac, widely used among Mesoamerican peoples long before the Aztecs.
The second division of the calendar system was a 365-day solar count, known as the xiuhpohualli, "counting of the years." This count regulated the recurrent annual ceremonial calendar of the state. It was divided into 19 "months" of 20 days each, called vientenas by the Spanish, plus a five-day period between the old year and the new. Each vientena had its own special festival identified with a deity or complex of deities, correlated to agricultural or warlike activities in the dry and rainy seasons.
The 260-day tonalpohualli cycle and the 365-day xiuhpohualli cycle operated simultaneously. They were like two engaged rotating gears, in which the beginning day of the larger 365- day wheel would align with the beginning day of the smaller 260 -day wheel every 52 years. Each year of the larger cycle would be named after one of four day names--rabbit, reed, house, and flint knife, for example--together with its nuraber from the smaller cycle as determined by the system of rotation. The years were distinguished by their nurabers--thus 1 rabbit, 2 reed, 3 house, 4 flint knife--until the 13 nurabers and the four day names began to repeat themselves every 52 years (13 x 4 = 52). The 52-year period constituted a "century," and the change from one 52-year period to the next was the occasion of a major festival of completion and renewal, the "binding of the years." Overall the Aztecs had an advanced and unique calendar system.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“The Aztecs.” Internet. http://home.echo-on.net/~smithda/aztecs.html
“Aztecs.” The World Book Encyclopedia, 1996. World Book Inc. Chicago.
Beck, Barbara L. The First Book of the Aztecs. New York: Franklin Watts, Inc. 1990.
Nigel, David. The Aztecs. New York: Sand Publishers. 1981.
Smith, Michael E. The Aztecs. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Inc. 1996.
Smith, Michael E. “Life in the Provinces.” Scientific American 27 April 97: 76-84.
Von Hagen, Victor W. The Sun Kingdom of the Aztecs. New York: The World Publishing Company, 1989.