The Aztec culture was a civilization that existed long ago, the word “Aztec” comes from an ancient land called “Aztlán”. This civilization spread very quickly when they joined other groups and military alliances. In this sense, the following post will be focused on Aztec culture: history and curiosities of this legendary culture.
What was the Aztec culture?
It is known as Aztec culture (tenochcas or mexicas) to the Mesoamerican peoples that existed in the Precolumbian era. Their power was so great that they managed to encompass large political-territorial entities, in this way they were a very powerful culture. However, with the arrival of the Spanish conquerors in the fifteenth century that power was lost.
The Aztec empire spanned Mexico and a large expanse of Central America. After going through several persecutions, they settled in the Texococo lagoon and there they founded Tenochtitlán in the year 1325. The city of Tenochtitlan was the capital of the Aztec empire, which constituted a pact between the Tlacopan (tepanecas), Texcoco (acolhuas) and México-Tenochtitlán peoples. Therefore, each of these regions had a political, social and religious organization. As a whole, it was a single State that with its might conquered and dominated neighboring peoples. In this way, they imposed their language (the Nahuatl) and their polytheistic religion (the cult of the Sun).
Due to the dominance that this culture generated towards its neighbors, when the European conquerors arrived in the fifteenth century, it was very easy to convince their rival neighbors to confront them and thus dominate them. When the Aztec empire ceased to be what it was, it was estimated that its population was approximately 22 million inhabitants. In addition, its population density was 72.3 inhabitants for each square kilometer of territory.
Where was the Aztec culture located?
The Mexica tribe were Mesoamerican nomads who were eradicated in Mexico-Tenochtitlán in the year 1325, a region that is currently located in Mexico, right in its capital city. Later, being in that territory, they spread to other states such as Puebla, Veracruz, Chiapas (the coast), Oaxaca, Guerrero, Hidalgo and part of the territory of what is now Guatemala.
the aztecs were ruled by Moctezuma II at the beginning of the 16th centurytheir domain and native language covered almost the entire territory of Mesoamerica.
Characteristics of the Aztec culture
The Aztec people worshiped the sun god called Huitzilopochtlithus demonstrating their religiosity. In this sense, they offered sacrifices to this god (they were human lives taken from those cities they conquered). They were also brave and fighters. Those societies conquered by the Aztecs were imposed taxes that they collected from Tenochtitlán and that was where their greatest wealth came from.
The Aztec culture I knew metal working, they had processes in the transformation of gold, bronze, silver and obsidian (with which they made their weapons and ornaments). Also they were characterized by being warmongersfor which their clothes were conformed according to the hierarchy they had, the feathers and the ornaments could be seen in them.
On the other hand, their documents were written using pictography (use of figures in your writing). Furthermore, they were able to build architectural complexes through their metric system. Were great astronomerswith their system they could observe the Moon, the Sun and Venus.
Their culture was also based on trends from other cultures such as the Teotihuacanos. In this sense, the Aztecs took Teotihuacán and among its ruins they carried out their religious acts (rites and human offerings): the men offered them to the Sun god and the women to the Moon goddess.
How was Aztec culture organized?
The Mexica tribe was made up of twenty clans or calpullis, generally they were of the same kinship, the same religious practice and the same territorial division. In addition, each territory was made up of a clan, its temple of worship and a authority called calpullec. Part of its organization were the social classes that existed, among them: the noble warriors, the commoners and the slaves.
Secondly, the altépetl They were the ones in charge of apply justice, its institutions served that purpose. When the conflict could not be resolved, then it was raised to judicial courts located in Mexico-Tenochtitlán and Texcoco. From there justice was imparted from the royal palace by the authorities who were there.
Aztec economic system
The aztec economy it was impressively prosperous, especially when they were in full imperial heyday. When conquering the surrounding towns they had cheap labor and in quantity. The clans were in charge of working the land and the production was distributed among their relatives, priests and chief. In this sense, they had innovative farming techniques called chinampas where the water from Lake Texcoco was used. On the other hand, his main trading system was barteras well as the slave trade, the textile and mining industries.
what was the aztec religion
The aztecs in polytheists. For example, the Mexicans had hybrid beliefs from other previous cultures, their beliefs were based on the worldview. The main veneration of him was to the God of the sunalthough there is evidence that they had other gods such as: Tezcatlipoca, Tlaloc, or Quetzalcoatl.
On the other hand, when Aztec society grew they worshiped more gods. Consequently this brought about a complex religion in which the gods already had relatives. Human sacrifices and rites were common, in this way the military caste was consolidated.
How were the Aztecs militarily organized?
The Aztec military organization he was formidable, this allowed him to impose his domain on his adversaries. Traders and merchants acted as informants before an invasion occurred. It was also possible that noble castes arose from intermarriages that made them resistant to vassalage.
The Mexica tribe was made up of a large number of commoners who handled basic instructions. There was also professional warriors that they came of the nobility and they were organized into warrior societies.
Wars were important among the Aztecs because the commoners rose from there. In this sense, from a very young age men received military instructions. The weapons they used to fight their wars were spears, obsidian swords, and shields.
Keep learning more history with this other post where we tell everything about the Mayan culture: