Aztec Empire

The Aztec Empire was a powerful civilization that ruled much of central Mexico in the 1400s and early 1500s. The Aztecs called themselves the Mexica. Their empire grew up around a giant capital city called Tenochtitlan, built on an island in the middle of a lake. At its peak, the empire ruled over five million people. It was destroyed by Spanish invaders in 1521.

According to Aztec legend, their gods told them to build a city where they saw an eagle eating a snake on top of a cactus. They saw this sign on a small island in Lake Texcoco. So in 1325, they began building Tenochtitlan there. To make more land, they built floating gardens called chinampas. Workers piled mud and plants on top of woven mats and anchored them to the lake bed. The chinampas grew corn, beans, squash, and chili peppers.

Tenochtitlan became one of the largest cities in the world. By 1500, around 200,000 people lived there. That was bigger than London or Paris at the time. Long stone causeways connected the island to the shore. Aqueducts carried fresh water into the city. At its center stood the Templo Mayor, a tall double pyramid with two temples on top.

The Aztecs worshipped many gods. The most important were Huitzilopochtli, the sun and war god, and Tlaloc, the rain god. The Aztecs believed the gods needed human blood to keep the sun moving across the sky. So priests performed human sacrifices, often using prisoners captured in battle. Historians still debate how often these sacrifices happened. Spanish writers claimed huge numbers, but some scholars think those reports were exaggerated.

Aztec society had clear levels. The emperor ruled at the top. Below him were nobles, priests, and warriors. Most people were farmers or craftworkers. At the bottom were enslaved people, though enslaved people in Aztec society could sometimes earn their freedom. Kids went to school, which was unusual for the time. Boys learned fighting or trades, and girls learned weaving and cooking.

In 1519, a Spanish soldier named Hernán Cortés landed on the coast of Mexico with about 500 men. The Aztec emperor Moctezuma II welcomed him into Tenochtitlan, perhaps thinking he was a returning god. That trust was a mistake. Cortés took Moctezuma prisoner. Then Cortés joined forces with other native peoples who hated Aztec rule. Smallpox, a disease the Spanish brought, killed huge numbers of Aztecs who had no protection against it. In 1521, Tenochtitlan fell.

The Spanish tore down the Aztec city and built Mexico City on top of the ruins. But the Aztec story is not gone. More than a million people in Mexico still speak Nahuatl, the Aztec language, today.