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The Aztecs

Kevin Eckert
November 7, 2007
NAMS 200
The Aztecs
According to Aztec legend, the tribe originated from Aztlan, somewhere in the north of modern Mexico. At that time the Indigenous peoples, who called themselves the Mexica or Tenochca or Acolhuas, were a small, nomadic, Nahuatl-speaking concretion of peoples living on the margins of civilized Mesoamerica. Sometime in the 12th century they embarked on a period of wandering and in the 13th century settled in the central basin of México. The Mexica finally found refuge on small islands in Lake Texcoco where, in 1325, they founded the town of Tenochtitlan and would later form the triple alliance among all of the Indigenous populations . The three city-states all wanted to expand so as a result they fought one another with shifting alliances over land and control. The pre-Hispanic past was filled with wars that, like the conquest, were waged by warrior elites for control of a peasant population not directly involved2. After the triple alliance was implemented the Indigenous peoples became known as the Aztecs and the Empire was created.
Before the triple alliance was founded among the Aztecs there was still a religious presence. “When we die, it is not true that we die; for still we live, we are resurrected. We still live; we awaken. Do thou likewise1.” The builders of Teotihuacán believed in the immortality of ones soul, however this belief soon faded when wars raged among the Aztec territories. Religion was most prominent when the triple alliance was formed between the Mexica, Texcoco, and Tlacopan in 1428. Huitzilopochtli in his original role was just one of many gods who represented the eternal trinity of seed, earth and water but when the alliance formed he became the main god. (Padden, Pg. 11) Now, Huitzilopochtli was the god who represented the sun and war and much tribute was paid to him. “Hundreds of captives were taken back to Tenochtitlan and sacrificed Huitzilopochtli. Their breasts slashed open and...