The History and Culture of the Aztec

The World’s Greatest Civilizations: The History and Culture of the Aztec

By Charles River Editors

Tlaloc, Codex Rios, after 1566. Vatican Library

Introduction

Aztec Dancers, San Miguel de Allende. Photo: Alan McNairn

From the moment Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes first found and confronted them, the Aztecs have fascinated the world, and they continue to hold a unique place both culturally and in pop culture. Nearly 500 years after the Spanish conquered their mighty empire, the Aztecs are often remembered today for their major capital, Tenochtitlan, as well as being fierce conquerors of the Valley of Mexico who often engaged in human sacrifice rituals.

Ironically, and unlike the Mayans, the Aztecs are not widely viewed or remembered with nuance, in part because their own leader burned extant Aztec writings and rewrote a mythologized history explaining his empire’s dominance less than a century before the Spanish arrived. Naturally, Cortes and other Spaniards depicted the Aztecs as savages greatly in need of conversion to Catholicism. While the Mayans are remembered for their astronomy, numeral system, and calendar, the Aztecs have primarily been remembered in a far narrower way, despite continuing to be a source of pride to Mexicans through the centuries.

As a result, even though the Aztecs continue to interest people across the world centuries after their demise, it has fallen on archaeologists and historians to try to determine the actual history, culture, and lives of the Aztecs from the beginning to the end, relying on excavations, primary accounts, and more. The World’s Greatest Civilizations: The History and Culture of the Aztecs looks at this whole story, in an attempt to portray the Aztecs as they actually were. Along with pictures of Aztec art and ruins, this book describes the Aztecs’ lives, religion, art, cities, and empire, in an attempt to better understand the once dominant civilization.

Map of the Aztec Empire

The World’s Greatest Civilizations: The History and Culture of the Aztec

Introduction

Chapter 1: The History of the Aztecs

Chapter 2: The Aztec Empire

Chapter 3: The Aztec City of Tenochtitlan

Chapter 4: The Aztec Religion and Human Sacrifice Rituals

Chapter 5: Aztec Art and Architecture

Chapter 6: The Spanish Conquest