Aztecs

, also known as the Aztec Calendar Stone, at the National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City]]

The **Aztecs** were Native American people who lived in Mesoamerica. They ruled the Aztec Empire from the 14th century to the 16th century.

The name "Aztec" comes from the phrase "people from Aztlan". Legends say that Aztlan was the first place the Aztecs ever lived.  "Aztlan" means "place of the herons" in the Nahuatl language.p.&nbsp;8

Often the term "Aztec" refers just to the people of Tenochtitlan. This was a city on an island in Lake Texcoco. These people called themselves the Mexica which is why the country is called Mexico, or the Nahua which is why their language is called Nahuatl. This civilization lived in central Mexico between the 14th and 16th centuries. Their capital city was Tenochtitlan, built where Mexico City stands today. The Aztec civilization ended when Spanish forces conquered them in 1521.

## History 
Before the Spanish Empire conquered them, the indigenous (native) people  lived in many separate city-states.  These were small cities with farmland around them.  Each state had its own ruler.  Around 1100 AD, these city-states started to fight each other for power and control of the area's resources.

Historians think the Aztecs came to central Mesoamerica around 1200.  They came from what is now northwest Mexico.  According to historian Lisa Marty:

By 1325, the Aztecs had built Tenochtitlan on an island in Lake Texcoco. Tenochtitlan became a city-state that gradually became more and more powerful.  The Texcoco empire made an alliance with some other powerful city-states, including Tenochtitlan, and won the war.  These allies were supposed to share power equally as they started to gain control of more land.  However, by 1430, Tenochtitlan became the most powerful member of the alliance.  It became the capital city of the Aztec Empire, and its ruler became the 'high king' of the Empire.

File:Tira-1.jpg|Aztec drawing of the Mexica leaving Aztlan
File:Region Mesoamerica.png|Map of Mesoamerica
File:Centroamerica prehispanica siglo XVI.svg|Map of city-states in the 16th century

## The Aztec Empire
The Aztec Empire existed between about 1438 AD and 1521 AD.

## Religion 
The Aztecs believed in many gods. Two of the most important gods they worshipped were *Huitzilopochtli*, the god of war and the sun, and *Tlaloc*, the rain god. Another important god was *Quetzalcoatl* (feathered snake), the god of learning and civilization.

The Aztecs did many things to keep the gods happy. These things included human sacrifices.  They believed this helped keep the world from ending. 

File:Huitzilopochtli telleriano.jpg|Huitzilopochtli, as depicted in the Codex Telleriano-Remensis
Image:Quetzalcoatl telleriano2.jpg|Quetzalcoatl in the Codex Telleriano-Remensis
File:Black Tezcatlipoca.jpg|Tezcatlipoca in the Codex Borgia
File:Young man offered to Tezcatlipoca Huitzilopochtli Toxcatl. Spanish report by Sahagún.jpg|Spanish drawing of a human sacrifice

## Food 
The Aztecs ate plants and vegetables that could grow easily in Mesoamerica. The main foods in the Aztec diet were maize, beans, and squash. They often used tomatoes and chili as spices.  Aztec markets sold fruit, vegetables, spices, flowers, dogs, birds, and cocoa beans. They also created chocolate. However, they did not have sugar, so their chocolate was a strong liquid with chili in it.   These foods later spread around the world.

## Social structure 
In Aztec society, there were different social classes with different social statuses.  The most important people were the rulers.  Their last king was Cuauhtemoc.  He surrendered control of the Aztec Empire to Hernan Cortes during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.

Next were nobles.  These were the Empire's powerful members of the government; great warriors; judges; and priests.  These people enjoyed a high social status.

The next social class was the commoners (common people).  These were the Empire's everyday workers.  Most of them farmed, ran stores, or traded.  Other workers included artisans, regular soldiers, and fishers.  Commoners were allowed to own land as a group or a family.  However, a single person was not allowed to own land.  The Aztecs also sacrificed some prisoners of war to their gods.  However, if they had the money, they could buy their own freedom and become commoners.  They had an accurate calendar which consisted of 365 days, based on the movements of the sun. They also had a religious calendar which was made up of 260 days.

The Aztecs also studied and taught many complex subjects, including geometry, mathematics, debate, law, music, poetry, architecture, and agriculture.

## Sports
The most popular Aztec sport was Tlachtili. They played this game using rubber balls and vertical hoops on opposite walls in the middle of the court. The game's goal was to shoot the ball into the hoop using their knees. The first team to score won the game.

## End of the Aztec Empire
Between 1519 and 1521, the Spanish conquistador, Hernán Cortés, allied with Tlaxcala and other enemies of the Aztecs.  The conquistadors defeated the Aztecs, took their empire, and made it into a Spanish colony. Some Aztecs did not want to fight against the soldiers of Cortés, because they thought they were gods.

## Aztecs today 
Today, many Mexican people have Aztec and other Native American forefathers. People still use Aztec symbols in Mexico. On the Mexican flag, there is a picture of an eagle on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. This was an Aztec symbol. Even the name *Mexico* is an Aztec word.

## References