History of the Aztecs
Encyclopedia
The Aztecs were a Pre-Columbian
Mesoamerica
n people of central Mexico
in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. They called themselves Mexica (meˈʃikaʔ). The Republic of Mexico
and its capital, Mexico City
, derive their names from the word "Mexica".
The capital of the Aztec empire was Tenochtitlan, built on raised island in Lake Texcoco
. Mexico City is built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan. The Spanish colonization of the Americas
reached the mainland during the reign of Huey Tlatoani , Moctezuma II (Montezuma II)
. In 1521 Hernan Cortés
and an allied army of American Indians that far outnumbered the defending Aztecs, conquered the Aztecs through germ warfare, siege warfare, psychological warfare, and direct combat.
, there existed many city-states including Chalco
, Xochimilco
, Tlacopan
, Culhuacan
, and Atzcapotzalco. The most powerful were Culhuacan on the south shore of Lake Texcoco
and Azcapotzalco on the west shore.
As a result, when the Mexicans arrived in the Valley of Mexico as a semi-nomadic tribe, they had nowhere to go. In roughly 1248, they first settled on Chapultepec, a hill on the west shore of Lake Texcoco
, the site of numerous springs.
In time, the Tepanec
s of Azcapotzalco ousted the Mexica from Chapultepec and the ruler of Culhuacan, Cocoxtli, gave the Mexica permission to settle in the empty barrens of Tizaapan in 1299. There they married and assimilated into Culhuacan culture.
In 1323, they asked the new ruler of Culhuacan, Achicometl, for his daughter, in order to make her the goddess Yaocihuatl. Unknown to the king, the Mexica actually planned to sacrifice her. The Mexica believed that by doing this the princess would join the gods as a deity. As the story goes, during a festival dinner, a priest came out wearing her flayed skin as part of the ritual. Upon seeing this, the king and the people of Culhuacan were horrified and expelled the Mexica.
Forced to flee, in 1325 they went to a small island on the west side of Lake Texcoco, where they began to build their city Tenochtitlan, eventually creating a large artificial island. It is said that the Aztec god, Huitzlipochtli, instructed the Aztecs to found their city at the location where they saw an eagle, on a cactus, with a snake in its talons(which is on the current Mexican flag). The Aztecs, apparently, saw this vision on the small island where Tenochtitlan was founded.
Another Mexica (ma-shee-kah) group settled on the north side of this island: this would become the city of Tlatelolco
. Originally, this was an independent Mexica kingdom, but eventually it was absorbed by Tenochtitlan, and treated as a "fifth" quadrant. The famous marketplace described by Hernan Cortés
and Bernal Diaz del Castillo
was actually located in Tlatelolco.
In 1376, the Mexica elected their first tlatoani
, Acamapichtli
, following customs learned from the Culhuacan.
Initially, the Mexicans hired themselves out as mercenaries in wars between the different Nahua states.
From 1376 until 1427, the Mexicans were a tributary of Azcapotzalco. The Aztec rulers Acamapichtli
, Huitzilihuitl
and Chimalpopoca
were, in fact, vassals of Tezozomoc, the Tepanec
ruler of Azcapotzalco.
When Tezozomoc died in 1426, his son Maxtla
ascended to the throne of Azcapotzalco. Maxtla sought to tighten Azcapotzalco's grip on the nearby city-states in the Valley of Mexico
. In the process, Chimalpopoca, tlatoani
of Tenochtitlan, was assassinated by Maxtla's agents while Nezahualcoyotl
of Texcoco
was forced into exile.
would, in the next 100 years, come to dominate the Valley of Mexico
and extend its power to both the Gulf of Mexico
and the Pacific
shores. From the beginning of the Triple Alliance, Tenochtitlan was mostly in charge of the military and conquest, whereas the other two cities had other responsibilities. This military dominance of Tenochtitlan gradually led to this city becoming the dominant power in the alliance. When the alliance received tributes 2/5 went to Tenochitlan, 2/5 to Texcoco, and 1/5 to Tlacopan.
, began expanding the territory dominated by the alliance towards the south conquering Nahua speaking cities like Cuauhnahuac (now Cuernavaca
) and towards Huexotla, Coatlinchan, and Tepoztlan in the modern-day state of Morelos
which was then dominated by the Tlahuica. During this period the Nahuan cities immediately on the lakeside such as Xochimilco
, Culhuacan
and Mixquic were also subdued.
and Moctezuma I
. They were sons of Huitzilíhuitl
, the 3rd Hueyi Tlatoani, half-brothers to Chimalpopoca
, the 4th Hueyi Tlatoani, and nephews of Itzcoatl
, the 5th. Moctezuma I
succeeded Itzcoatl as the 6th Hueyi Tlatoani in 1449. Tlacaelel became the power behind the throne and reformed both the Aztec state and the Aztec religion.
Moctezuma I began the expansion in earnest. First he had to reconquer towns which were first conquered by Itzcoatl, but had since rebelled. He asked a number of smaller cities to contribute to the construction of a new Great Temple, and only Chalco
refused, which caused Moctezuma to start a war against them which lasted for several years. He then conquered Huastec territory under a pretext of securing Aztec merchants in that area, and then he went to war against the Mixtecs of Coixtlahuaca. Coixtlahuaca was successfully conquered although the Mixtec ruler Atonal received military assistance from the Nahua states of Tlaxcala and Huexotzinco, by now enemies of the Aztecs. After the defeat of Coixtlahuaca many Mixtec artisans were relocated to the Aztec capital. Later Moctezuma marched upon the Totonacan cities of Vera Cruz and conquered Xalapa
, Cosamaloapan, Cotaxtla (modern day Cuetlachtlan), Ahuilizapan (Modern day Orizaba
) and north into Huastec territory conquering Tuxpan
and Xilotepec.
during the reigns of four Hueyi Tlatoani, until his death in 1487.
Tlacaelel recast or strengthened the concept of the Aztecs as a chosen people
and elevated the tribal god/hero Huitzilopochtli
to the top of the pantheon of gods. In tandem with this, Tlacaelel increased the level and prevalence of human sacrifice, particularly during a period of natural disasters that started in 1446 (according to Durán). During the reign of Moctezuma I, he instigated the flower war
s in which the Aztecs fought Tlaxcala
and other Nahuan city-states.
To strengthen the Aztec nobility, he helped create and enforce sumptuary laws, prohibiting commoners from wearing certain adornments such as lip plugs, gold armbands, and cotton cloaks.
At the start of Tlacaelel's tenure, the Mexica were vassals. By the end, they had become the Aztecs, rulers of a socially stratified and expansionistic empire.
, ascended to the throne in 1469. During his reign, Tenochtitlan absorbed the kingdom of Tlatelolco
. Axayacatl's sister was married to the tlatoani of Tlatelolco, and, as a pretext for war, Axayacatl declared that she was mistreated.
He went on to conquer the Matlatzinca
and Mazahua
cities of Tollocan, Ocuillan, and Malinalco
west of the Valley of Mexico.
At this point Tenochtitlan experienced a brief "civil war" when the small city of Tlatelolco, considered a part of Tenochtitlan by the Aztecs, rebelled under their Tlatoani Moquihuix
, who sought to ally himself with the longstanding enemies of the Tenochca, the Chalca, Tlaxcalteca, Chololteca and Huexotzinca. The Tlatelolca were defeated and Axayacatl then ordered the execution of all the rulers who had aided him, including the ruler of Xochimilco.
Continuing campaigns in the west in 1479, he suffered an unprecedented defeat by the Tarascans at Tzintzuntzan
. This was the Aztecs' first great defeat; once recovered he had to consolidate control of the Huasteca my region which had already been conquered by his predecessor.
In 1481 Axayacatl's brother Tizoc
ruled briefly, but his rule was marred by the humiliation he received in his coronation war: fighting the Otomi
es at Metztitlan he brought home only 40 prisoners for sacrifice at his coronation ceremony. After this defeat Tizoc had to fight principally to maintain control of the already conquered territories, and failing to subdue new towns he was replaced, possibly poisoned, by his younger brother Ahuitzotl.
and Yopitzinco which didn't interest the Aztecs. Thus the Aztec empire had its largest geographical extent when the Spaniards arrived in 1519. In some sources, it claims that Moctezuma II, and the Aztecs, believed the arriving Spanish to linked to the supposed return of an exiled god, Quetzlcoatl, who was supposed to return pale and bearded.
The Aztecs were conquered by Spain
in 1521 after a long siege of the capital, Tenochtitlan
, where much of the population died from hunger and smallpox
. Cortés, with 508 Spaniards, did not fight alone but with as many as 150,000 or 200,000 allies from Tlaxcala
, and eventually other Aztec tributary states. It was not difficult for Cortes to find allies to fight with him, the Aztecs were not generally liked by the neighbouring city-states. Cuauhtémoc
, the last Hueyi Tlatoani surrendered to Cortés on August 13, 1521.
It took nearly another 60 years of war before the Spaniards completed the conquest of Mesoamerica (the Chichimeca
wars), a process that could have taken longer were it not for three separate epidemics that took a heavy toll on the Native American population. The Spanish conquest of Yucatán
took almost 170 years.
After the fall of Tenochtitlan, most of the other Mesoamerican cultures remained intact. In fact, the conquest of the Aztec empire did not have an immediate impact on other Mesoamerican cultures. If anything, the freedom from Aztec domination was probably considered a positive development by most of the other cultures.
As allies of the Spaniards, the Tlaxcalans gained the most. The Spaniards would eventually break the alliance, but not until decades later.
, set out to learn as much as they could of the Aztec culture.
All that changed rapidly. Eventually, the indigenous peoples were not only forbidden to learn of their cultures, but were also forbidden to learn to read and write in Spanish, and, under the law, they were reduced to the status of minor
s.
occurring from 1520–1521, decimated the population of Tenochtitlan and was decisive in the fall of the city. The other two epidemics, of smallpox (1545-1548) and typhus
(1576-1581) killed up to 75% of the population of Mesoamerica.
Whole towns disappeared, lands were deserted, roads were closed and armies were destroyed. The Spaniards, trying to make more of the diminishing population, merged the survivors from small towns into the bigger ones. This broke the power of the upper classes and dissolved the coherence of the indigenous society. In addition, the indigenous peoples collected in the larger towns were more susceptible to epidemics due to the higher population density.
The population before the time of the conquest is estimated at 15 million; by 1550, the estimated population was 4 million and less than two million by 1581. Thus, the "New Spain" of the 17th century was a depopulated country and many Mesoamerican cultures were wiped out.
In order to have an adequate supply of labor, the Spaniards began to import African slaves, although most of them eventually merged with the population.
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
n people of central Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. They called themselves Mexica (meˈʃikaʔ). The Republic of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and its capital, Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, derive their names from the word "Mexica".
The capital of the Aztec empire was Tenochtitlan, built on raised island in Lake Texcoco
Lake Texcoco
Lake Texcoco was a natural lake formation within the Valley of Mexico. The Aztecs built the city of Tenochtitlan on an island in the lake. The Spaniards built Mexico City over Tenochtitlan...
. Mexico City is built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan. The Spanish colonization of the Americas
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...
reached the mainland during the reign of Huey Tlatoani , Moctezuma II (Montezuma II)
Moctezuma II
Moctezuma , also known by a number of variant spellings including Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma and referred to in full by early Nahuatl texts as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, was the ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan, reigning from 1502 to 1520...
. In 1521 Hernan Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
and an allied army of American Indians that far outnumbered the defending Aztecs, conquered the Aztecs through germ warfare, siege warfare, psychological warfare, and direct combat.
Arrival in the Valley of Mexico
In the 13th century in the Valley of MexicoValley of Mexico
The Valley of Mexico is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with the present-day Distrito Federal and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations, including...
, there existed many city-states including Chalco
Chalco
Aluminum Corporation of China Limited, also known as Chalco , is a multinational aluminum company headquartered in Beijing, People's Republic of China...
, Xochimilco
Xochimilco
Xochimilco is one of the sixteen delegaciones or boroughs within Mexican Federal District. The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in the pre-Hispanic period...
, Tlacopan
Tlacopan
Tlacopan , also called Tacuba, was a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican city-state situated on the western shore of Lake Texcoco.Founded by Tlacomatzin, Tlacopan was a Tepanec kingdom subordinate to nearby Azcapotzalco...
, Culhuacan
Culhuacan
Culhuacan or Colhuacan was one of the Nahuatl-speaking pre-Columbian city-states of the Valley of Mexico. According to tradition, Culhuacan was founded by the Toltecs under Mixcoatl and was the first Toltec city...
, and Atzcapotzalco. The most powerful were Culhuacan on the south shore of Lake Texcoco
Lake Texcoco
Lake Texcoco was a natural lake formation within the Valley of Mexico. The Aztecs built the city of Tenochtitlan on an island in the lake. The Spaniards built Mexico City over Tenochtitlan...
and Azcapotzalco on the west shore.
As a result, when the Mexicans arrived in the Valley of Mexico as a semi-nomadic tribe, they had nowhere to go. In roughly 1248, they first settled on Chapultepec, a hill on the west shore of Lake Texcoco
Lake Texcoco
Lake Texcoco was a natural lake formation within the Valley of Mexico. The Aztecs built the city of Tenochtitlan on an island in the lake. The Spaniards built Mexico City over Tenochtitlan...
, the site of numerous springs.
In time, the Tepanec
Tepanec
The Tepanecs or Tepaneca are a Mesoamerican people who arrived in the Valley of Mexico in the late 12th or early 13th centuries. The Tepanec were a sister culture of the Aztecs as well as the Acolhua and others—these tribes spoke the Nahuatl language and shared the same general pantheon, with...
s of Azcapotzalco ousted the Mexica from Chapultepec and the ruler of Culhuacan, Cocoxtli, gave the Mexica permission to settle in the empty barrens of Tizaapan in 1299. There they married and assimilated into Culhuacan culture.
In 1323, they asked the new ruler of Culhuacan, Achicometl, for his daughter, in order to make her the goddess Yaocihuatl. Unknown to the king, the Mexica actually planned to sacrifice her. The Mexica believed that by doing this the princess would join the gods as a deity. As the story goes, during a festival dinner, a priest came out wearing her flayed skin as part of the ritual. Upon seeing this, the king and the people of Culhuacan were horrified and expelled the Mexica.
Forced to flee, in 1325 they went to a small island on the west side of Lake Texcoco, where they began to build their city Tenochtitlan, eventually creating a large artificial island. It is said that the Aztec god, Huitzlipochtli, instructed the Aztecs to found their city at the location where they saw an eagle, on a cactus, with a snake in its talons(which is on the current Mexican flag). The Aztecs, apparently, saw this vision on the small island where Tenochtitlan was founded.
Another Mexica (ma-shee-kah) group settled on the north side of this island: this would become the city of Tlatelolco
Tlatelolco (altepetl)
Tlatelolco was a pre-Columbian Nahua altepetl in the Valley of Mexico. Its inhabitants were known as Tlatelolca. The Tlatelolca were a part of the Mexica ethnic group, a Nahuatl speaking people who arrived in what is now central Mexico in the 13th century...
. Originally, this was an independent Mexica kingdom, but eventually it was absorbed by Tenochtitlan, and treated as a "fifth" quadrant. The famous marketplace described by Hernan Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
and Bernal Diaz del Castillo
Bernal Díaz del Castillo
Bernal Díaz del Castillo was a conquistador, who wrote an eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards for Hernán Cortés, himself serving as a rodelero under Cortés.-Early life:...
was actually located in Tlatelolco.
In 1376, the Mexica elected their first tlatoani
Tlatoani
Tlatoani is the Nahuatl term for the ruler of an altepetl, a pre-Hispanic state. The word literally means "speaker", but may be translated into English as "king". A is a female ruler, or queen regnant....
, Acamapichtli
Acamapichtli
Acamapichtli was the first tlatoani, or ruler, of the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan, and founder of the Aztec imperial dynasty. He became ruler in 1375 and reigned for 19 years.- Family and early life :...
, following customs learned from the Culhuacan.
Rise of the Aztecs
From 1376 until 1427, the Mexicans were a tributary of Azcapotzalco. The Aztec rulers Acamapichtli
Acamapichtli
Acamapichtli was the first tlatoani, or ruler, of the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan, and founder of the Aztec imperial dynasty. He became ruler in 1375 and reigned for 19 years.- Family and early life :...
, Huitzilihuitl
Huitzilíhuitl
Huitzilihuitl was the second tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, governing from 1396 to 1417, .- Family and childhood :...
and Chimalpopoca
Chimalpopoca
Chimalpopoca was the third king of Tenochtitlan .-Rule:On the day of Chimalpopoca's coronation in 1417 , his brother Tlacaelel I was named high priest...
were, in fact, vassals of Tezozomoc, the Tepanec
Tepanec
The Tepanecs or Tepaneca are a Mesoamerican people who arrived in the Valley of Mexico in the late 12th or early 13th centuries. The Tepanec were a sister culture of the Aztecs as well as the Acolhua and others—these tribes spoke the Nahuatl language and shared the same general pantheon, with...
ruler of Azcapotzalco.
When Tezozomoc died in 1426, his son Maxtla
Maxtla
Maxtla was a Tepanec ruler of Azcapotzalco from 1426 to his death in 1428. He succeeded his father Tezozomoc, possibly through assassination of his elder brother Tayauh. His reign saw a rapid decline in the fortunes of Azcapotzalco...
ascended to the throne of Azcapotzalco. Maxtla sought to tighten Azcapotzalco's grip on the nearby city-states in the Valley of Mexico
Valley of Mexico
The Valley of Mexico is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with the present-day Distrito Federal and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations, including...
. In the process, Chimalpopoca, tlatoani
Tlatoani
Tlatoani is the Nahuatl term for the ruler of an altepetl, a pre-Hispanic state. The word literally means "speaker", but may be translated into English as "king". A is a female ruler, or queen regnant....
of Tenochtitlan, was assassinated by Maxtla's agents while Nezahualcoyotl
Nezahualcoyotl
Nezahualcoyotl was a philosopher, warrior, architect, poet and ruler of the city-state of Texcoco in pre-Columbian Mexico...
of Texcoco
Texcoco
Texcoco was a major Acolhua city-state in the central Mexican plateau region of Mesoamerica during the Late Postclassic period of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican chronology. It was situated on the eastern bank of Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico, to the northeast of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan...
was forced into exile.
Aztec Triple Alliance
The Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and TlacopanTlacopan
Tlacopan , also called Tacuba, was a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican city-state situated on the western shore of Lake Texcoco.Founded by Tlacomatzin, Tlacopan was a Tepanec kingdom subordinate to nearby Azcapotzalco...
would, in the next 100 years, come to dominate the Valley of Mexico
Valley of Mexico
The Valley of Mexico is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with the present-day Distrito Federal and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations, including...
and extend its power to both the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
and the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
shores. From the beginning of the Triple Alliance, Tenochtitlan was mostly in charge of the military and conquest, whereas the other two cities had other responsibilities. This military dominance of Tenochtitlan gradually led to this city becoming the dominant power in the alliance. When the alliance received tributes 2/5 went to Tenochitlan, 2/5 to Texcoco, and 1/5 to Tlacopan.
The reign of Itzcoatl 1427-1440
The first Tlatoani of the Triple Alliance was Itzcoatl and he, along with his Texcocan co-ruler NezahualcoyotlNezahualcoyotl
Nezahualcoyotl was a philosopher, warrior, architect, poet and ruler of the city-state of Texcoco in pre-Columbian Mexico...
, began expanding the territory dominated by the alliance towards the south conquering Nahua speaking cities like Cuauhnahuac (now Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. It was established at the archeological site of Gualupita I by the Olmec, "the mother culture" of Mesoamerica, approximately 3200 years ago...
) and towards Huexotla, Coatlinchan, and Tepoztlan in the modern-day state of Morelos
Morelos
Morelos officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 33 municipalities and its capital city is Cuernavaca....
which was then dominated by the Tlahuica. During this period the Nahuan cities immediately on the lakeside such as Xochimilco
Xochimilco
Xochimilco is one of the sixteen delegaciones or boroughs within Mexican Federal District. The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in the pre-Hispanic period...
, Culhuacan
Culhuacan
Culhuacan or Colhuacan was one of the Nahuatl-speaking pre-Columbian city-states of the Valley of Mexico. According to tradition, Culhuacan was founded by the Toltecs under Mixcoatl and was the first Toltec city...
and Mixquic were also subdued.
Moctezuma I and Tlacaelel 1440-1469
Two of the primary architects of the Aztec empire were the half-brothers TlacaelelTlacaelel
Tlacaelel I was the principal architect of the Aztec Triple Alliance and hence the Mexica empire. He was the son of Emperor Huitzilihuitl and Queen Cacamacihuatl, nephew of Emperor Itzcoatl, and brother of Emperors Chimalpopoca and Moctezuma I.During the reign of his uncle Itzcoatl, Tlacaelel was...
and Moctezuma I
Moctezuma I
Moctezuma I , also known as Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina, Huehuemotecuhzoma or Montezuma I , was the fifth Aztec emperor - king of Tenochtitlan...
. They were sons of Huitzilíhuitl
Huitzilíhuitl
Huitzilihuitl was the second tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, governing from 1396 to 1417, .- Family and childhood :...
, the 3rd Hueyi Tlatoani, half-brothers to Chimalpopoca
Chimalpopoca
Chimalpopoca was the third king of Tenochtitlan .-Rule:On the day of Chimalpopoca's coronation in 1417 , his brother Tlacaelel I was named high priest...
, the 4th Hueyi Tlatoani, and nephews of Itzcoatl
Itzcóatl
Itzcoatl was the fourth emperor of the Aztecs, ruling from 1427 to 1440, the period when the Mexica threw off the domination of the Tepanecs and laid the foundations for the eventual Aztec Empire.- Biography :...
, the 5th. Moctezuma I
Moctezuma I
Moctezuma I , also known as Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina, Huehuemotecuhzoma or Montezuma I , was the fifth Aztec emperor - king of Tenochtitlan...
succeeded Itzcoatl as the 6th Hueyi Tlatoani in 1449. Tlacaelel became the power behind the throne and reformed both the Aztec state and the Aztec religion.
Moctezuma I began the expansion in earnest. First he had to reconquer towns which were first conquered by Itzcoatl, but had since rebelled. He asked a number of smaller cities to contribute to the construction of a new Great Temple, and only Chalco
Chalco
Aluminum Corporation of China Limited, also known as Chalco , is a multinational aluminum company headquartered in Beijing, People's Republic of China...
refused, which caused Moctezuma to start a war against them which lasted for several years. He then conquered Huastec territory under a pretext of securing Aztec merchants in that area, and then he went to war against the Mixtecs of Coixtlahuaca. Coixtlahuaca was successfully conquered although the Mixtec ruler Atonal received military assistance from the Nahua states of Tlaxcala and Huexotzinco, by now enemies of the Aztecs. After the defeat of Coixtlahuaca many Mixtec artisans were relocated to the Aztec capital. Later Moctezuma marched upon the Totonacan cities of Vera Cruz and conquered Xalapa
Xalapa
Xalapa-Enríquez, commonly Xalapa or Jalapa, is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the year 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of which it serves as municipal seat reported a population of...
, Cosamaloapan, Cotaxtla (modern day Cuetlachtlan), Ahuilizapan (Modern day Orizaba
Orizaba
Orizaba is a city and municipality in the Mexican state of Veracruz. It is located 20 km west of its sister city Córdoba, and is adjacent to Río Blanco and Ixtaczoquitlán, on Federal Highways 180 and 190. The city had a 2005 census population of 117,273 and is almost coextensive with its small...
) and north into Huastec territory conquering Tuxpan
Tuxpan
Tuxpan is both a municipality and city located in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The population of the city was 78,523 and of the municipality was 134,394 inhabitants, according to the INEGI census of 2005, residing in a total area of 1,051.89 km²...
and Xilotepec.
Tlacaelel
Tlacaelel was one of the primary architects of the Aztec empire. Rising to prominence during the war against the Tepanec in the late 1420s, Tlacaelel wielded power as something of a Grand VizierVizier
A vizier or in Arabic script ; ; sometimes spelled vazir, vizir, vasir, wazir, vesir, or vezir) is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in a Muslim government....
during the reigns of four Hueyi Tlatoani, until his death in 1487.
Tlacaelel recast or strengthened the concept of the Aztecs as a chosen people
Chosen people
Throughout history and even today various groups of people have considered themselves as chosen by a deity for some purpose such as to act as the deity's agent on earth. In monotheistic faiths, like Abrahamic religions, references to God are used in constructs such as "God's Chosen People"...
and elevated the tribal god/hero Huitzilopochtli
Huitzilopochtli
In Aztec mythology, Huitzilopochtli, also spelled Uitzilopochtli , was a god of war, a sun god, and the patron of the city of Tenochtitlan. He was also the national god of the Mexicas of Tenochtitlan.- Genealogy :...
to the top of the pantheon of gods. In tandem with this, Tlacaelel increased the level and prevalence of human sacrifice, particularly during a period of natural disasters that started in 1446 (according to Durán). During the reign of Moctezuma I, he instigated the flower war
Flower war
A flower war or flowery war is the name given to the battles fought between the Aztec Triple Alliance and some of their enemies: most notably the city-states of Tlaxcala, Huejotzingo, Atlixco and Cholula.-Sources:...
s in which the Aztecs fought Tlaxcala
Tlaxcala (Nahua state)
Tlaxcala was a pre-Columbian city state of central Mexico.Tlaxcala was a confederation of four altepetl — Ocotelolco, Quiahuiztlan, Tepeticpac and Tizatlan — which each took turns providing a ruler for Tlaxcala as a whole.-History:Tlaxcala was never conquered by the Aztec empire, but was...
and other Nahuan city-states.
To strengthen the Aztec nobility, he helped create and enforce sumptuary laws, prohibiting commoners from wearing certain adornments such as lip plugs, gold armbands, and cotton cloaks.
At the start of Tlacaelel's tenure, the Mexica were vassals. By the end, they had become the Aztecs, rulers of a socially stratified and expansionistic empire.
The reigns of Axayacatl 1469-1481 and Tizoc 1481-1486
Moctezuma I's son, AxayacatlAxayacatl
Axayacatl was the sixth Aztec Emperor, a ruler of the Postclassic Mesoamerican Aztec Empire and city of Tenochtitlan, who reigned from 1469 to 1481.He is chiefly remembered for subjugating Tlatelolco, Tenochtitlan's sister city, in 1473....
, ascended to the throne in 1469. During his reign, Tenochtitlan absorbed the kingdom of Tlatelolco
Tlatelolco (altepetl)
Tlatelolco was a pre-Columbian Nahua altepetl in the Valley of Mexico. Its inhabitants were known as Tlatelolca. The Tlatelolca were a part of the Mexica ethnic group, a Nahuatl speaking people who arrived in what is now central Mexico in the 13th century...
. Axayacatl's sister was married to the tlatoani of Tlatelolco, and, as a pretext for war, Axayacatl declared that she was mistreated.
He went on to conquer the Matlatzinca
Matlatzinca
Matlatzinca is a name used to refer to different indigenous ethnic groups in the Toluca Valley in the state of México, located in the central highlands of Mexico. The term is applied to the ethnic group inhabiting the valley of Toluca and to their language, Matlatzinca.When used as an ethnonym,...
and Mazahua
Mazahua
The Mazahua are an indigenous people of Mexico, inhabiting the northwestern portion of the State of Mexico and northeastern area of Michoacán, with a presence also in the Federal District owing to recent migration...
cities of Tollocan, Ocuillan, and Malinalco
Malinalco
Malinalco is a town and municipality located 65 kilometers south of the city of Toluca in the south of the western portion of the Mexico State. Malinalco is 115 km southwest Mexico City....
west of the Valley of Mexico.
At this point Tenochtitlan experienced a brief "civil war" when the small city of Tlatelolco, considered a part of Tenochtitlan by the Aztecs, rebelled under their Tlatoani Moquihuix
Moquihuix
Moquihuix was the fourth tlatoani of Tlatelolco. He died in 1473 in a military conflict with Tenochtitlan....
, who sought to ally himself with the longstanding enemies of the Tenochca, the Chalca, Tlaxcalteca, Chololteca and Huexotzinca. The Tlatelolca were defeated and Axayacatl then ordered the execution of all the rulers who had aided him, including the ruler of Xochimilco.
Continuing campaigns in the west in 1479, he suffered an unprecedented defeat by the Tarascans at Tzintzuntzan
Tzintzuntzan
Tzintzuntzan was the ceremonial center of the pre-Columbian Tarascan state capital of the same name. The name comes from the P'urhépecha word Ts’intsuntsani, which means "place of hummingbirds". After being in Pátzcuaro for the first years of the Tarascan empire, power was consolidated in...
. This was the Aztecs' first great defeat; once recovered he had to consolidate control of the Huasteca my region which had already been conquered by his predecessor.
In 1481 Axayacatl's brother Tizoc
Tízoc
Tizocic or Tizocicatzin , usually known in English as Tizoc, was the seventh tlatoani of Tenochtitlan.-Biography:...
ruled briefly, but his rule was marred by the humiliation he received in his coronation war: fighting the Otomi
Otomi people
The Otomi people . Smaller Otomi populations exist in the states of Puebla, Mexico, Tlaxcala, Michoacán and Guanajuato. The Otomi language belonging to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family is spoken in many different varieties some of which are not mutually intelligible.One of...
es at Metztitlan he brought home only 40 prisoners for sacrifice at his coronation ceremony. After this defeat Tizoc had to fight principally to maintain control of the already conquered territories, and failing to subdue new towns he was replaced, possibly poisoned, by his younger brother Ahuitzotl.
The reign of Moctezuma II Xocoyotzin
Moctezuma II was, although many sources depict him otherwise, a notable warrior who extended the tributary system, and consolidated the conquests made by his predecessors as well as conquering new territories. His campaigns reached as far south as Tapachula in the Soconusco region and the Chontal Maya states of Xicallanco in Tabasco. Only the Aztec archenemies of Tlaxcala, Huexotzinco and the Tarascans remained undefeated, as well as the Mixtec kingdoms of TututepecTututepec
Tututepec is a Mesoamerican archaeological site located in the lower Río Verde valley on the coast of Oaxaca that formed the nucleus of an extensive Mixtec state during the Late Postclassic period...
and Yopitzinco which didn't interest the Aztecs. Thus the Aztec empire had its largest geographical extent when the Spaniards arrived in 1519. In some sources, it claims that Moctezuma II, and the Aztecs, believed the arriving Spanish to linked to the supposed return of an exiled god, Quetzlcoatl, who was supposed to return pale and bearded.
Fall of the Aztec Empire
- For more on the conquest of Mexico by Spain, see also Spanish Conquest of MexicoSpanish conquest of MexicoThe Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The invasion began in February 1519 and was acclaimed victorious on August 13, 1521, by a coalition army of Spanish conquistadors and Tlaxcalan warriors led by Hernán Cortés...
, Siege of TenochtitlanSiege of TenochtitlanThe siege of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire, came about in 1521 through the manipulation of local factions and divisions by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés...
, and Hernán CortésHernán CortésHernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
.
The Aztecs were conquered by Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in 1521 after a long siege of the capital, Tenochtitlan
Siege of Tenochtitlan
The siege of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire, came about in 1521 through the manipulation of local factions and divisions by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés...
, where much of the population died from hunger and smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
. Cortés, with 508 Spaniards, did not fight alone but with as many as 150,000 or 200,000 allies from Tlaxcala
Tlaxcala (Nahua state)
Tlaxcala was a pre-Columbian city state of central Mexico.Tlaxcala was a confederation of four altepetl — Ocotelolco, Quiahuiztlan, Tepeticpac and Tizatlan — which each took turns providing a ruler for Tlaxcala as a whole.-History:Tlaxcala was never conquered by the Aztec empire, but was...
, and eventually other Aztec tributary states. It was not difficult for Cortes to find allies to fight with him, the Aztecs were not generally liked by the neighbouring city-states. Cuauhtémoc
Cuauhtémoc
Cuauhtémoc was the Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521...
, the last Hueyi Tlatoani surrendered to Cortés on August 13, 1521.
It took nearly another 60 years of war before the Spaniards completed the conquest of Mesoamerica (the Chichimeca
Chichimeca
Chichimeca was the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to a wide range of semi-nomadic peoples who inhabited the north of modern-day Mexico and southwestern United States, and carried the same sense as the European term "barbarian"...
wars), a process that could have taken longer were it not for three separate epidemics that took a heavy toll on the Native American population. The Spanish conquest of Yucatán
Spanish conquest of Yucatán
The Spanish conquest of Yucatán was the campaign undertaken by the Spanish conquistadores against the Late Postclassic Maya states and polities, particularly in the northern and central Yucatán Peninsula but also involving the Maya polities of the Guatemalan highlands region...
took almost 170 years.
After the fall of Tenochtitlan, most of the other Mesoamerican cultures remained intact. In fact, the conquest of the Aztec empire did not have an immediate impact on other Mesoamerican cultures. If anything, the freedom from Aztec domination was probably considered a positive development by most of the other cultures.
As allies of the Spaniards, the Tlaxcalans gained the most. The Spaniards would eventually break the alliance, but not until decades later.
The fate of the Aztec empire under Spanish rule
Cortés's stated intention was to maintain the structure of the Aztec empire. Initially, it seemed that the Aztec empire could survive under Spanish rule. The upper classes of the Aztec empire were initially considered as noblemen (to this day, the title of Duke of Moctezuma is held by a Spanish noble family). The upper classes learned Spanish, and several learned to write in Roman characters. Some of their surviving writings are crucial to our knowledge of the Aztecs. In addition, the first missionaries tried to learn Nahuatl and some, like Bernardino de SahagúnBernardino de Sahagún
Bernardino de Sahagún was a Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer who participated in the Catholic evangelization of colonial New Spain . Born in Sahagún, Spain, in 1499, he journeyed to New Spain in 1529, and spent more than 50 years conducting interviews regarding Aztec...
, set out to learn as much as they could of the Aztec culture.
All that changed rapidly. Eventually, the indigenous peoples were not only forbidden to learn of their cultures, but were also forbidden to learn to read and write in Spanish, and, under the law, they were reduced to the status of minor
Minor (law)
In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...
s.
The impact of epidemics on the Aztec Empire
The first epidemic, an outbreak of smallpoxSmallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
occurring from 1520–1521, decimated the population of Tenochtitlan and was decisive in the fall of the city. The other two epidemics, of smallpox (1545-1548) and typhus
Typhus
Epidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
(1576-1581) killed up to 75% of the population of Mesoamerica.
Whole towns disappeared, lands were deserted, roads were closed and armies were destroyed. The Spaniards, trying to make more of the diminishing population, merged the survivors from small towns into the bigger ones. This broke the power of the upper classes and dissolved the coherence of the indigenous society. In addition, the indigenous peoples collected in the larger towns were more susceptible to epidemics due to the higher population density.
The population before the time of the conquest is estimated at 15 million; by 1550, the estimated population was 4 million and less than two million by 1581. Thus, the "New Spain" of the 17th century was a depopulated country and many Mesoamerican cultures were wiped out.
In order to have an adequate supply of labor, the Spaniards began to import African slaves, although most of them eventually merged with the population.
Notable rulers
- AcamapichtliAcamapichtliAcamapichtli was the first tlatoani, or ruler, of the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan, and founder of the Aztec imperial dynasty. He became ruler in 1375 and reigned for 19 years.- Family and early life :...
- 'Handful of Reeds', First Aztec ruler (tlatoaniTlatoaniTlatoani is the Nahuatl term for the ruler of an altepetl, a pre-Hispanic state. The word literally means "speaker", but may be translated into English as "king". A is a female ruler, or queen regnant....
), began the construction of the Templo Mayor and succeeded in early local conquests.
- ItzcoatlItzcóatlItzcoatl was the fourth emperor of the Aztecs, ruling from 1427 to 1440, the period when the Mexica threw off the domination of the Tepanecs and laid the foundations for the eventual Aztec Empire.- Biography :...
- 'Obsidian Serpent', fourth ruler. Formed a coalition with other lakeside people against the Tepanecs, brought an end to the Tepanec domination of the basin of Mexico by sacking the city of Azcapotzalco, and founded the empire of the Triple AllianceTriple AllianceTriple Alliance may refer to:* Aztec Triple Alliance - Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tlacopan; better known as the Aztec Empire* Triple Alliance - England, France and the Dutch Republic...
.
- Ahuitzotl - 'Water Beast', eighth ruler. Was a fierce conqueror, renovated the Great Temple, sacrificed 2,000 victims at temple's opening ceremony, and extended the empire from the Pacific to Atlantic coast.
- Moctezuma IIMoctezuma IIMoctezuma , also known by a number of variant spellings including Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma and referred to in full by early Nahuatl texts as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, was the ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan, reigning from 1502 to 1520...
- 'Angry Lord, The Younger', 9th Ruler. Was the emperor of the Aztecs during the time of the three Spanish expeditions, the third of which was led by Hernán CortésHernán CortésHernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
. He was captured by Cortés when the Spaniards, after being welcomed into the city, took him hostage because of the fear of an uprising. Accounts of his death vary: according to some he was killed by his own people later (stoned to death) when Cortés used him to try to quell the uprising, according to others the Spaniards killed him when he had proved to be unable to control the uprising.