The Aztecs lived in central Mexico, building their capital city of Tenochtitlan in the middle of Lake Texcoco. They spoke Nahuatl and had an empire made up of city-states ruled by a tlatoani. The Aztec emperor, Moctezuma, confronted Hernán Cortés but died during a battle with the Spanish in 1520. The Aztecs had many gods and engaged in human sacrifice as part of their religion. They were skilled warriors who used weapons made of wood, stone, and obsidian. The Spanish campaign defeated the Aztecs in 1521 when they captured Tenochtitlan and the emperor Cuauhtemoc.

1. Aztecs
By: Marcos Castro 3/23
World History
SSWH8 The student will demonstrate an
understanding of the development of societies in
Central and South America

2. Geography
• Their continent was in Mexico.
• Popocatepetl means 'Smoking Mountain’,
Iztaccihuatl, meaning 'Sleeping Lady' or 'White
Lady’.
• Built their capital city, called Tenochtitlan, in
the center of enormous Lake Texcoco.

3. Culture
• Women wore sleeveless blouses and wraparound skirts. Nobles
dressed in brightly colored cotton clothes decorated in gold and
feathers. This was done to attract attention to themselves. The poor
wore clothes made of maguey fibres, and slaves did not wear
much.
• Ate the corn right off the cob and used the kernels in soup, called
pozole.
• Spoke Nahuatl.
• Empire was made up of a series of city-states known as altepetl.
Each altepetl was ruled by a supreme leader (tlatoani) and a
supreme judge and administrator (cihuacoatl). The tlatoani of the
capital city of Tenochtitlan served as the Emperor (Huey Tlatoani)
• Aztec or Nahuatl writing is a pictographic.

4. Leadership
• Moctezuma ninth Aztec emperor of Mexico,
famous for his dramatic confrontation with
the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés.
• He died in 1520 during a battle with the
Spanish, though the exact cause of his death is
a matter of disagreement.

5. Religion
• Many sources list more than a hundred different
gods or goddesses, while others list dozens more.
• Important deities were the rain god Tlaloc, the
god Huitzilopochtli patron of the Mexica tribe as
well as Quetzalcoatl the feathered serpent, wind
god, culture hero, and god of civilization and
order, and elusive Tezcatlipoca, the shrewd god
of destiny and fortune.

6. Military
• Every Aztec male was a warrior and received
basic military training from a young age, whether
trader, craftsman or farmer. In fact, military
achievement, particularly the taking of prisoners,
was the only vehicle for upward social movement
available for commoners.
• Warriors wore Ichcahuipilli, a quilted cotton
armor.
• They didn’t know how to forge mettle so they
constructed weapons out of wood, stone and
Obsidian.

7. End
• The Spanish campaign began in February
1519, and was declared victorious on August
13, 1521, when a coalition army of Spanish
forces and native Tlaxcalan warriors led by
Hernán Cortés and Xicotencatl the Younger
captured the emperor Cuauhtemoc and
Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire.

8. Achievements
• Chewing gum - the Aztecs were the first to notice that the sap of
the plant or the thick milky liquid of the sapodilla tree could be
chewed and quickly hardened into a chewable gum.
• Popcorn - The popped corn was eaten along with being an
ornament of the headdresses of the nobility as well as the
headdresses of the priests and Tlaloc, the god of maize and fertility.
• Chocolate - discovering now to grind the beans to remove the
sweet sap for drinking. Chocolate was highly expensive in the Aztec
culture as it was considered as currency.
• Anti spasmodic medication – They were really advanced with
medical surgeries as well and regularly used the passionflower to
relax muscles during surgeries to make operation more successful.