Transcript Aztec History PPT

The Aztecs
The Chichimec Period
Cultural Innovations
Social/Political Structure
The Chichimec Period
The Aztec originated from 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 embarked
on a period of wandering and in the 13th
century settled in the central basin of México.
The Chichimec Period
The Aztecs finally found refuge on small
islands in Lake Texcoco where, in 1325,
they founded the town of TENOCHTITLAN
(modern-day Mexico City).
Other Chichimecs followed who were
more civilized but stole women and
practiced sacrifice.
– brought knowledge of the Maya calender
system, cultivated crops with irrigation,
constructed with stone.
Aztec Origin Myth
Little is known of the earliest Aztecs, they did not keep
a written record. Their history was passed on by word
of mouth from one generation to the next. Legend has
it that they came from an Island called Aztlan, meaning
White Place - Place of Herons.
There is one codex, the Tira de la Peregrinacion,
commonly called the Migration Scrolls. The scrolls
have the Aztecs leaving Aztlan, which was described
as an island in a lake with Chicomoztoc depicted as
seven temples in the center of the island.
Aztec Origin Myth
The Aztecs believed Huitzilopochtli their war god was their protector,
now had them search for their promised land.
The Aztecs straggled into the Valley of Mexico, led by their chieftain
Tenoch. They were a poor, ragged people who survived on vermin,
snakes, and stolen food. They were hated and rejected by all the
surrounding inhabitants of the valley, for their barbarous and
uncultured habits.
Huitzilopochtli told Tenoch to lead his people to a place of refuge on
a swampy island in Lake Texcoco. When they reached their
destination, they were to look for an eagle perched on a cactus,
growing from a rock or cave surrounded by water. At that location,
they were to build their city and honor Huitzilopochtli with human
sacrifices. The city they built was called Tenochtitlán, the city of
Tenoch.
What is the meaning of the word
Aztlan?
Aztlan is the mythical place of origin of the Aztec peoples.
In their language (Nahuatl), the roots of Aztlan are the two words:
aztatl tlan(tli) meaning "heron" and "place of," respectively. 'Tlantli'
proper means tooth, and as a characteristic of a good tooth is that it
is firmly rooted in place, and does not move, the prefix of this word
is commonly used in Nahuatl to denote settlements, or place
names, e.g. Mazatlan (place of deer), Papalotlan (place of
butterflies) or Tepoztlan (place of metal).
The Nahuatl language is often said to include three levels of
meaning for its words or expressions: literal, syncretic and
connotative. The connotative meaning of Aztlan, due to the
plumage of herons, is "Place of Whiteness." The mythical
descriptions of Aztlan would have it to be an island. You would
replace -tlan with -tecatl to identify a resident or person from the
given place. So, for the examples above, we have that people from
Mazatlan would be Mazatecatl, someone from Tepoztlan a
Tepoztecatl, and someone from Aztlan an Aztecatl.
Mixeca/Aztec
Technically squatted in the area of Tenochtitlan and
were known as the Mixeca but today Aztecs is more
common.
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 records 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.
Basin of Mexico
Chain of interconnected lakes, 3-6, but
the Aztecs talked about three-Chalco,
Texcoco, and Xaltocan.
– Lake Texcoco
deepest and water flowed from it to other lakes
the Basin is about 3,000 sq miles and about
15% of that is covered by water.
Population estimates at around
A.D.1519 are between 1 to 1.2 million.
Aztec Empire
Tenochtitlan
How were they all fed?
Used the Chinampas (floating gardens) for
agriculture.
– 25,000 acres of chinampas at the time of contact.
– gardens never actually floated, but were created
by making use of the vegetaion in the swamps.
– Floating water plants were used to build up
gardens and then were dragged onto shore for
chinampas.
– They became anchored to the native cypress.
– Lake mud was piled on and canals were built.
Chinampas
However, although chinampas were very
productive, the number of people living in
the area at the time of contact could not
keep up with subsistence and surplus food
demands.
These marsh plots also brought in birds
and fish that could be gathered while they
were working.
Chinampas
Ancient Aztecs tending to chinampas
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/aztec-society.htm
Cultural Innovations:
Trade, Economics, Market System
Part of inter-related regions which
consisted of Morelos to the south, Puebla
to the east, Mezquital to the north, and
Toluca to the west.
– although many crops the same, some areas
had their specialty crops.
– tropical fruits, cotton, cacao from Morelos,
beans from Puebla.
– flowers were also a big part of the economy
because one of the great pleasures was of
the smelling of flowers.
Aztec Market (Tlateloco)
Market days were held once each five days, four
times each month. Sometimes daily in larger
towns.
– reflected community craft specializations as well as
imported goods.
– also slaves were traded, and dogs for food (400 on a
slow day).
Bernal Diaz de Castillo says that he didn’t even
have time to list how many things were offered
one day at the market of Tlateloco.
– commodities and goods exchanged by barter.
Cultural Innovations
Writing
– Nahuatl language spoken at conquest, living
language today.
– Many codices and glyphs to describe lifeways of
Aztecs, as well as Spanish accounts.
Several Significant Codices:
– Codex Borbonicus
– Florentine Codex
– Codex Mendoza
Codex Borbonicus
A scene from the Codex Borbonicus, which shows the
gods Tlachitonátiuh and Xolotl, while on the right are the
8 to 13 days of the sixteenth series of the ritual series.
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/aztecs4.htm
Florentine Codex
Human sacrifice
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/florentinecodex.htm
Codex Mendoza
Tribute
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/codex-mendoza.htm
Cultural Innovations
Art
– Stone carving to communicate ideas.
– Free-standing figures of Aztec deities.
– Aztec Calender stone.
– Atlantean figures and chocmools
Metallurgy
– acquired from Maya.
– Mostly gold, silver.
Art
Obsidian vessel carved
in the shape of a
monkey
Polychrome terracota
plaque with molded and
apliquéd sculpture of a
human face
Stone box with representations
of corn cobs
http://www.mesoweb.com/features/jpl/99.html
Jewelry
Necklaces found in the
Great Temple at Tenochtitlan
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/aztec-jewelry.htm
Masks
http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/aztec-masks.htm
Social Structure
Basic unit of social organization
– calpulli (clan)
– not all lineages within the clan were equal.
Membership by birth.
– families traced their descent through fathers,
which is a lineage, and these lineages make
up a calpulli.
– marry within the calpulli.
– one lineage provides leader of that calpule.
Four principle social categories:
Pipiltin– ruler of the city state and his relatives.
– only ones to own their own land
Macehualtin-commoner clan.
– serfs who worked others land.
Pochtea-merchant clan.
– owned communal land.
Tlacotin-slaves.
– no land, no rights.
– reversible status.
Political Organization
Divine King or ruler of Aztec
Each city (other than Tenochtitlan) ruled by a pettyking selected from the pipiltin.
Dual leadership-military and religious
– supreme leader chosen from special lineage, with brother
succeeding brother.
– court which ruled over military, justice, treasury, and
commerce.
Moctezuma II
http://www.rosehulman.edu/~delacova/florentin
e-codex.htm