- Known as the Aztecs
- Built their empire in the fifteenth century
- They would kidnap women from nearby communities and seizing land already ruled by others
- Tenochtitlan
- 1935 the Mexica settled on an island in a marshy region of Lake Texcoco
- Became their capital
- Modern day Mexico City
- Causing Mexica to develop the CHINAMPA system of agriculture
Agriculture
- Settled in a marshy region in Lake Texcoco
- fish, frogs, and water were some of the advantages
- Enabled them to develop chinampa agriculture
- in the dry season, they tapped water from canals to their plots and grew maize, beans, squashes, tomatoes, peppers, and chiles
- In later rulings, they expanded to Oaxaca, and areas between Tenochtitlan and the Gulf
Society
Warriors
- all men were potential warriors
- rewards and honors went to the military elite
- individuals could distinguish themselves on the battlefield, improving their social standing
- Men of noble birth received the best training and received the best opportunities to improve social status
- Accomplished warriors received land grants and tributes from commoners
- The best warrior formed a council that selected the ruler, discussed public issues and filled govt. positions
- Ate luxury foods such as turkey, duck, deer, boar and rabbit
- Wore bright capes and eagle feathers, as opposed to commoners, who wore coarse, burlap-like garments, and aristocrats who wore cotton.
Mexica Women
- Almost no public role
- Highly honored as mothers of warriors
- Under the authority of their fathers and later husbands
- Did not hinherit property or hold government positions
- Prodded toward motherhood and homemaking
- Arts and crafts made by women, therfore common at the marketplace
- If not dedicated to the temple, all Mexica women married
- Principal function was to have children, especially lmales, to be warriors
- Having children was equivalent to the capture of an enemy in battle
- If they died at childbirth, the same honors were given as those given to warriors who died in battlefield
Priests
- Ranked among the elite
- Special education - calendrical and ritual lore
- Presided over religious ceremonies believed to be necessary to the world
- Influenced the government strongly
- Read omens
- Explained forces that drove the world
- Sometimes became supreme rulers of the Aztec empire
- Motecuzoma II (1502-1520, reigned when Spanish invaded) was a priest
Cultivators and Slaves
- Cultivators and Slaves worked on lands owned by aristocrats and warriors
- contributed to the making of public works such as palaces, temples, roads, and irrigation systems
- A portion of which was distributed, the rest was kept in warehouses
- Slaves worked as domestic servants
- Most were Mexica, not foreigners
- Sometimes, younger family members were sold to slavery
- Cultivators delivered tributes to state
- Could be forced into slavery due to criminal behavior
Religion
Gods:
Tezcalipoca "The Smoking Mirror"
Tezcalipoca "The Smoking Mirror"
- giver and taker of life
- patron deity of warriors
- Supported arts, crafts, and agriculture
- Demanded sacrificial victims
- Especially favored Mexica
- Ritual Bloodletting
- Believed world began with godly sacrifices, and honored that belief by sacrificing in their society
- Priests performed acts of self-sacrifice
- pierced earlobes with cactus spines
- They believed that the gods let their blood flow, creating moisture in the earth, so they had ritual bloodletting's to continue their abundance in agriculture
- Essential to the world's survival
- Devotion to Huitzilopochtli
- honored him with a temple
- Celebrated him with rounds of sacrifice
- After 1487, reportedly sacrificed 80,000
- Some were Mexica criminals, others were tributes, others were captured by warriors
- Blood sustained the sun and secured moisture