AZTECS

The Aztecs

Introduction

Aztecs , an Indian people who dominated Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest 1521 . Their capital city was Tenochtitlan which is now Mexico City . They called themselves Technocas or Mexica . The term Aztec ' comes from the name of their legendary home . In a broader sense , Aztec ' is applied to their civilization , which flourished in Mexico during the 15th , 15th , and early 16th centuries

The Aztecs were short , sturdy people with almond- shaped eyes , dark coarse hair , and brown skin . They spoke Nahuatl , a language of the Uto-

br Aztecan Family . Descendants of the Aztecs form a large part of the Indian Population in and around Mexico City , and the Nahuatl language is still spoken ( Fagan 115

History and Invasion of Europeans

The legendary original home of the Aztecs was called Aztlan , or place of the seven legendary caves ' According to their records , the Aztecs left Aztlan in 1168 A .D . and wandered through much of Mexico until they settled in the Valley of Mexico in the 13th century . The main body of the Aztecs founded the city of Tenochtitlan about 1325 on an island in Lake Texcoco a smaller group founded the city of Tlateloco on a nearby island (Beck 428

The Aztecs were under the control of more powerful tribes until the reign of Itzcoatl in 1428- 1440 . Under his leadership , Tenochtitlan joined nearby towns to overthrow the Tepanecs , who were then dominating the valley . The Aztecs formed an alliance with two of the towns , Texcoco and Tlacopan which is now Tacuba and began to conquer the surrounding territory . Between 1460 and 1519 , the Aztecs became the chief power in the alliance and their empire reached its greatest extent . In 1473 Tenochtitlan conquered and annexed Tlateloco

In 1519 the Aztec Empire was invaded by a small Spanish army led by Hernando Cortez . As the Spaniards marched to the capital , they gained allies among tribes resenting Aztec power . Montezuma II , the Aztec emperor , welcomed Cortez to Tenochtitlan , but was seized as a hostage by the Spaniards (Davies 222

In the spring of 1520 , an army of Spaniards landed in Mexico to arrest Cortez because he had launched his campaign to conquer Mexico without proper authorization . Cortez withdrew his main army from the capital and went to the coast to meet the threat . The Aztecs revolted against the small force that had been left in Tenochtitlan . Cortez was able to seize the officers of the army that had been sent against him and gain the allegiance of most of the soldiers . He , then returned to Tenochtitlan with his army , but was unable to quell the uprising . When Montezuma tried to calm his people , they attacked him with stones and arrows . He died soon afterwards . On June 30 , 1520 , the dismal night the Spaniards retreated to the mainland , losing about half their number to fierce Aztec attacks

Montezuma was succeeded in turn by a brother and a nephew . In May 1521 , Cortez returned with reinforcements and laid siege to...