Aztecs
An introduction
What we are going to study...
Their religion.
What we are going to study...
Their agriculture.
What we are going to study...
Their incredible city.
What we are going to study...
Their culture.
What we are going to study...
Their tragic encounter with Hernan Cortes.
The History of the Aztecs
Origins
They Came from northern Mexico.
Origins
They left their homeland because one of their gods told them he had prepared a great place for them.
Quetzalcoatl
Origins
They were told they would know when to stop because they would see an eagle eating the fruit of a prickly pear cactus.
Origins
Notice anything about the flag of Mexico?
Nomadic Life
They were nomads for the next couple of hundred years.
Nomadic Life
Reason #1
Still looking for the sign.
Nomadic Life
Reason #2 They were really bad neighbors.
They had a habit of
kidnapping
and sacrificing
their neighbors
to the gods.
$800 a month. Nice neighbors but they may sacrifice you to their gods.
Valley of Mexico
They slowly wandered south until they came to the Valley of Mexico (present day Mexico City.)
The Incident
Lake Texcoco
After this gruesome incident the king and his warriors chase the Aztecs to an island in Lake Texcoco. The king thought no one could survive on the island because it was full of swampy land.
Lake Texcoco
It was here they saw their sign...an eagle eating the fruit
of a prickly
pear cactus.
Tenochtitlan
It is on this swampy island that no one wanted that the Aztecs build the great city of Tenochtitlan.