2. Aztecs
• Lake Texcoco in Central
Mexico
• Tenochtitlan (capital) on
a swampy island
• canals linking parts of
the city
• surrounded by
mountains (cool climate)
3. Aztec Architecture
• used grass and mud to
build houses
• built roads called
causeways
• built stone & brick
sculptures, palaces,
temples & government
storehouses
7. Aztec Religious
Beliefs
• priests offered human
sacrifices to make their
crops grow and to save the
universe
• most gods represented
forces of nature (sun, corn,
water, fire, mother, etc)
corn
water
rainsun
8. Aztec Government
• emperor ruled (nobles and priests helped)
• Fierce warriors defended the empire and
conquered and forced others to work as their
slaves
• had to pay tribute (a kind of tax) to the
government in goods or services
• war and tribute gained territory & economic
power
9. Aztec Economic
Activities
• tribute to the government in goods
or services (jewelry, clothes, crops
or working on projects)
• manufacturing and trade
• mostly based on agriculture
Harvesting wheat
Aztec market
10. A strong system of laws governed the economic operations of
the Aztec Empire. The main sources of income for the empire were
tribute and taxation. The conquered regions paid tribute to the
emperor and the Aztec citizenry paid taxes (with the exception of
priests, nobles, minors, orphans, invalids, and beggars). Merchants
paid taxes on the goods that they sold, artisans paid taxes based on
the value of their services, and barrios paid taxes through the crops
that they produced. Failure to pay taxes was punishable through
slavery or the confiscation of property.
Tribute System
11. The city of Tenochtitlan at the height
of its glory and power