1 / 10

Aztecs/ Mexica Destination Part 2

Aztecs/ Mexica Destination Part 2. Geography. Aztecs lived in the central Mexican valley. Built on marshy land and drained the water and constructed artificial islands that they cultivated with crops.  Nearby terrain consisted of very jagged mountains and a couple of volcanoes. Culture.

yori
Download Presentation

Aztecs/ Mexica Destination Part 2

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Aztecs/ Mexica Destination Part 2

  2. Geography • Aztecs lived in the central Mexican valley. • Built on marshy land and drained the water and constructed artificial islands that they cultivated with crops. •  Nearby terrain consisted of very jagged mountains and a couple of volcanoes.

  3. Culture • Made up of multiple cultures • Spoke Nahuatl • 2 main social classes: • 1) pilli (nobles, gov’t and athletes) • 2) Maccualli (famers, slaves, and merchant) • Education: equal for all • 1) Calmerac: nobles- became preists, teachers, leaders • 2) Telapochcaili: taught culture and gender skills

  4. Culture/ Gender Roles • Adult girls were instructed to get married or work in the temples. In school girls were taught to cook, clean, and run a home • Adult men were to join the military or get trained in a trade. They were taught to fight, leadership, and trades • Marriages were arranged

  5. Government • Itzcoatl founder and father or Aztecs in 1440. • strict caste system; at the top were nobles, while at the bottom were serfs, indentured servants and slaves • Very strong military. Only lose reported was against the Spanish • Like the Incans, they used work and farming as money.

  6. Homes • Built of mud bricks • Separate sections were for cooking and sleeping. Another for worship and bathing • Nobles’ houses were larger with more rooms

  7. Religion • Polytheistic: worshipped gods, dates, directions, and colors. • They believed in skepticism and prophecies. The earth was a flat disk with thirteen layers of heaven and nine layers of hell. The gods lived in the layers. Thirteen was a lucky number because of this. • Story of creation: took the gods 5 tries to make it happen. Different attemptswere foiled due to the inter-fighting between the gods. Nanauati sacrificed himself to become the sun. Others sacrificed themselves to send him into the air. • Quetzalcoati created humans. He tripped in the underworld scattering the bones thus creating different types of people. • Afterlife: Depended on how they died. If sacrificed, then they joined the battle against darkness. Some would be reincarnated. Some would have to travel through the 9 levels of the underworld. • Calendar and sun: Focused on keeping nature in balance. Blood was always necessary to appease the gods, so human sacrifice was needed to keep balance. • Fearing the world would end, Aztecs would go into mourning and mass killings to appease the gods. When the constellation Pleiades shown in the sky, the knew they were safe for another 52 years. Thus the Aztec calender

  8. Gods • Cultural Gods • Tezcatlipoca –omnipotent universal power • Quetzalcoatl – god of life, the wind and the morningstar • Tlaloc–god of rain, storm, water and thunder • Mixcoatl– god of war, sacrifice and hunting • Huitzilopochtli – the patron god aka the sun • Nature gods • Metztli – The Moon • Tlaltecuhtli – Goddess of the Earth • Chalchiuhtlicue– goddess of springs • CentzonHuitznahua – Gods of the stars • Gods of creation • Ometeotl/Ometecutli– The double-gendered creator god • Huehueteoti- god of origin, time, fire and old age • Coatlicue- female progenitor goddesses • Gods of Pulque and excess • Tlazolteotl – Goddess of filth and guilt and of cleansing • Tepoztecatl – God of Pulque worshipped at Tepoztlan • Xochiquetzal – Goddess of pleasure and indulgence • Mayahuel – Goddess of Pulque and Maguey • Gods of death and the underworld • Mictlantecutli – Lord of the underworld • Mictlancihuatl – Queen of the underworld

  9. Engineering/ Science • The capital city Tenochtitlan was built in 1352 near lake Texcoco • They built dams, barriers and aqueducts to keep the lakes salt water away from their fresh water. They built three bridges to the main land. They also dug out a vast system of canals throughout their island for transportation • They dug up mud out of the bottom of the canals, built small islands, and used them as gardens for each family.  • They developed a solar calendar from observations of movements of celestial bodies. This calendar had 360 days with five “hollow” or “idle” days. These five days were unlucky and nobody fought or worked those days. Each day had its own symbol. It took 260 days to complete a full cycle. • The Aztecs also learned about botany, the study of plants. Horticulturists knew about soil, crop rotation, trees, herbs, medicinal plants, flowers, and seeds. • They helped to align temples and buildings with the path of the sun and celestial bodies and make buildings with precision.

  10. Downfall • Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes overthrew the Aztecs by force and captured Tenochtitlan in 1521. • The Spaniards waged a three month war against the Aztecs. They kept them from their farm islands and were able to wear them down by starving them out. • The Aztecs used their Atlatl to tear down the Spaniards, but were still not able to push them back. • The Spaniards then destroyed the Aztecs like the Icans. Little is left from their world.

More Related