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Miss Cummings
Global History & Geography 9
Hernando Cortes and the
Fall of the Aztec Empire
AIM: To what extent did the culture and religion of
the Aztecs contribute to the fall of the empire?
Hernando Cortes Letter to Charles V
They have a custom, horrible, and abominable, and deserving punishment…Whenever they
ask anything of their gods, in order for their request to be fulfilled, they take many boys,
girls, men, and women, and in the presence of the statues of their gods they cut open their
chests. While they are still alive they take out their hearts and entrails. Then they burn the
organs, offering the smoke as a sacrifice to their gods…No year passes in which they do not
kill and sacrifice 50 souls at each temple in their kingdom… I did everything I could to steer
them away from their false gods and to draw them to our Lord God. Montezuma agreed that
I probably knew best…He said that as long as I taught the Aztecs our religion they would
follow my directions. Therefore, I removed the statues of the false gods, cleaned the
temples, and taught the people our religion. The rest of the Aztecs did not accept the new
religion that I was giving them. They did make sure, though, that they did not sacrifice any
more humans while I was in the city…
1. Why does Cortes oppose the religious beliefs of the native people?
2. Why do you think the Aztecs would not change their religious beliefs?
REMEMBER YOUR
Geography
Located in modern day Mexico, and Tenochtitlan was the
capital city and is located in what is now present day
Mexico City.
• Five square miles approximately 3200 acres
• Population 200,000
Geography
• Mountain
basin 7,500 feet above sea level, large lakes,
fertile soil. Teotihuacán and Toltec settle in valley, and
develop civilizations
An Early City-State
• Teotihuacán city-state rises in first century A.D.
• At peak, in 500s, city has up to 200,000 people
• Serves as center of trade, especially of
obsidian— volcanic glass
• City quickly declines; by 750 it is abandoned
Geography
Toltecs Take Over
• About 900, Toltecs rise to power; rule for about
300 years
• A warlike people, they rule by conquest
• They worship fierce war god and offer human
sacrifices
• Toltec ruler Topiltzin tries to change religion, end
human sacrifice
• Encourages worship of
Quetzalcoatl—“Feathered Serpent”—a new god
• He is exiled to Yucatán Peninsula; by early
1200s, Toltec rule ends
Warrior in armor.
Geography
Arrival of the Aztecs
• Aztecs (or Mexica) arrive around 1200, begin
working as soldiers
• By own legend, a god leads them to found city of
Tenochtitlán
Tenochtitlan
Religion
Birthplace of Quetzalcoatl
Temple of Quetzalcoatl with magnificent heads of plumed serpents built
into the walls were built for religious purposes.
Religion
Teotihuacan’s city state in 600-500 BCE
• From Pyramid of the Sun – 5 Gods, the 5th God came
down and built the Earth, he took on an Earthly Form
and was named Quetzalcoatl “Plumed Serpent”
• A calendar established based on the movement of
Venus. Created a “Venus War Cult ”—to go to war to
appease “Quetzalcoatl”
• Blood Sacrifice of Warriors as part of war.
• If no blood is offered to the gods, the world will end.
Religion
Main deity in the Aztec religion was Huitzilopochtli and was known
as both the sun god and war god.
• Human sacrifice was practiced heavily in the Aztec religion.
• Believed that these sacrifices gave power to the gods
which in turn would insure the survival of the Aztec
civilization.
• War captives were used in the sacrifices
• In times of peace the Aztec would have to resort to ritualistic
warfare.
•
In the year 1487 the Aztecs reported killing 84,400 war prisoners
in four days at the great pyramid of Tenochitlan.
• After a town was conquered the inhabitants where no longer
eligible of sacrifice and became Aztec citizens
Achievements
• Built Infrastructure
• Built causeways (raised roads) across water or wet
ground, so people could access the city.
• Built stone canals to bring water to the city and floating
gardens to raise food and flowers.
• Astronomy
• Calendar like the Mayans, but they also tracked the
movements of some planets and predict elipses
• Chinampas (Floating Gardens)
• Used to make up for lack of farmland; could harvest 2-3
crops per year
Achievements
• Written Record—Kept by the Priests
• Glyphs- symbols that represented both objects and sounds.
• Mathematics/Counting System
• Kept track of tax record and business details.
• Schooling
• Boys: studies religion or military skills
• Girls: learned cloth spinning and cooking
• Medicine
• Doctors create 1000s of medicines from plants
Political
The Aztec 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).
Political
• Aztecs Grow Stronger
• Triple Alliance—1428 agreement of Aztec
and two other city-states
• By early 1500s, Aztecs have large empire
and rule
• 5–15 million people
• Power comes from tribute resulting from
conquests
Political
• The Aztecs were ruled by an emperor, who lived in the
palace in the capital city.
• The emperor placed one noble in charge of each city.
The nobles were supposed run their city as the emperor
directed, but in truth, most nobles ran their cities any
way they wanted.
• The laws of the Aztec people were for ALL people, in
ALL cities.
• These laws were written down.
• If you broke the law, your punishment was listed, along
with the law.
• One Time Forgiveness Law*
Political
• The Aztec government was well organized, but both the
emperor and the nobles had their hands full with the problems
of a growing population.
• They needed to grow more food,
• They needed to build more schools,
• They needed to fill more storehouses.
• They needed to create more temples.
• They also needed more captives, people they could sacrifice to feed
their hungry gods.
• Around 1400 CE, the Aztecs answer was war.
• demanded tribute from conquered tribes.
• Tribute was paid in the form of food, clothing, building supplies,
captives, and whatever else of worth the conquered tribe might owe.
Either the conquered tribe paid the tribute, or they would be
sacrificed.
Political
Montezuma
• Leader of the Aztec in 1502
• Fears Quetzalcoatl—Aztec serpent God expected to return to
take his throne
• Calls for more tribute
Economics
• Agriculture
• Mainly Maize!
• * Tribute from conquered peoples
• Built Chinampas
• Pochteca—Special merchant class which specialized
in long distance trade
• Cacao beans and Gold dust were
often used as currency; bartering was
common
Aztecs had a huge supply of
gold in their empire.
Social
Social Classes
KING
PRIESTS
& WARRIORS
WARRIORS,
MERCHANTS,
ARTISANS & FARMERS
SLAVES &
PRISONERS OF WAR
Emperor—power is absolute, lives in palace, is
revered
Noble Class military leaders, officials, and priests
• Nobles Rule Aztec Society
• Nobles own vast estates, live life of
wealth and luxury
Commoners:
• Warriors—could become nobles by
capturing and killing enemies
• Merchants—often acted as spies for the
empire
• Artisans—passed skills to their children
• Farmers—made up most of the
population
Lowest Class— enslaved people
Though people were born into a certain class it was possible to move up
the ranks within a life time.
Hernando Cortes
1511-1540
Hernando Cortes
• Cortes has heard rumors about cities of gold in North America
• Governor wants Cortes to claim land and look for gold in
Mexico
• Cortes leaves for “gold” land to the West
Arrival of the
Spanish
Hernando Cortes —the
Spanish conquistador
(conqueror), landed on the
shores of central Mexico in
April 1519, seeking the 3
“G”s; Glory, God & Gold.
• With him were over 550
men, 16 horses, 14
cannons, and a few dogs.
Conclusion
1. What contributed to the fall of the Aztec Empire?
A. Too many Enemies
1) Aztecs used brutal force towards its neighboring tribes and
city-states and forced them to pay high tributes and hand
over people for human sacrifices.
B. Lack of Leadership
1)
Montezuma believed that Cortez was the God from the
prophecy; The bearded god that would conquer his people
and bring peace. He didn’t know how to confront him and
he was eventually captured and killed.
Conclusion
2. How did religion contribute to violence in the Aztec
culture?
A. Religion contributed due to the human sacrifices and
wars waged in need to satisfy their Gods.
3. Why were the Spanish able to easily beat the Aztecs?
A. Superior weapons, Guns, trained horses and dogs, and
fully loaded warships
4. How did smallpox affect the Aztec civilization?
A. It decimated the Aztec population and killed over
100,000 people
Conclusion
To what extent did the culture and
religion of the Aztecs contribute to the
fall of their empire?
Resources
Hernando Cortes
Founds Veracruz (city)
• Claims Mexico for Spain
• Burns his ships
• Prevents his men from
retreating
At first Montezuma’s messengers present
Cortes with gifts when he lands
• Cortes is not pleased
• “Is this all?”
• Captures messengers and fires
cannons to scare them
• Cortes tells them that he has a
disease which can only be cured by
gold
Arrival of the
Spanish
Pale skinned arriving from the East
• Hears of pale skinned people on the coast
• Thinks it Quetzalcoatl & Invites them to Tenochtitlan
Cortez Conquers
the Aztecs
Moctezuma
welcomed the
Spanish into
Tenochtitlan
(the Aztec
capital)
saying, "It
appears that
our Lord has
returned to his
country. Go
and receive
him worthily."