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Welcome to
AZTECS
I
n 1521, an empire came tumbling down. The Aztecs had
ruled in Mesoamerica for 200 years but the Spanish, led
by the fearsome Hernán Cortés, were closing in, eager to
claim this part of the New World for themselves. It was the
end of a rich culture and an entire civilisation – but even so, the
Aztec legacy lives on today.
In All About History Book of the Aztecs, uncover the
gruesome truth behind human sacrifice and learn what
everyday life was really like. Walk the streets of Tenochtitlán,
meet the extensive pantheon and cook up some authentic
recipes as you explore the world of the Aztecs.
AZTECS
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All About History Aztecs Fourth Edition (AHB4166)
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Part of the
bookazine series
CONTENTS
8 Secrets of the Aztecs
14 Origins of the Aztecs
50
LIFE &
SOCIETY
22 Aztec Art Gallery
72
32 Religion and Beliefs
37 Fast Facts on Human Sacrifice
38 Inside an Aztec Home
42 How to... play Tlachtli
108
44 F ood and Drink
50 L ife in Tenochtitlán
56 Politics of the Pyramid
WAR &
32
EMPIRE
62 Moctezuma II
66 The Aztec Empire
71 Eagle Warrior 80
72 S tudy at the Telpochcalli
14
DOWNFALL
76 Hernán Cortés
80 Fall of the Aztecs
90 After the Spanish Invasion
94 What if the Aztecs weren’t defeated?
8
66
LEGACY
100 Rediscovering Tenochtitlán
108 Inside Templo Mayor
110 Aztecs in Modern Mexico
76 116 Diego Rivera’s History of Mexico
118 R emains of the Empire
Secrets of the Aztecs
S ecrets
of the
Aztecs
A civilisation now lost in time, the ancient Aztecs were
masters of science and technology, creating medicines,
machines and mega-structures unsurpassed on Earth
Written by Robert Jones
D
espite being isolated within the deep, and various other symbols accounting for 20 and
dark, unforgiving jungles of Central multiples thereof. According to the Vergara, as well
America, for over 300 years the as other codices, this system was employed for tax
ancient Aztecs defied their reputation purposes, which was largely based on land owned,
as blood-obsessed barbarians by as well as for commerce, with quantities of produce
pioneering many of the scientific and technological traded with precision thanks to the creation of hard
advances we take for granted today. What’s more, and fast rules for addition, subtraction, division and
they did so across a broad range of fields, from multiplication. Of all the pre-Columbian peoples
astronomy to medicine, hoarding their acquired of Central America, the Aztecs were arguably the
knowledge within huge libraries of codices that most accomplished mathematicians, using a unique
contained the secrets to the vast and impressive numbering system for arithmetic, record keeping
society they had built. and even in a taxation system for Tenochtitlán and
Unfortunately, much of this knowledge was lost the surviving lands.
forever when the Spanish conquistadors of Hernán Land was also measured mathematically, with
Cortés brought the civilisation to their knees in the a selection of algorithms utilised to calculate area,
early-16th century, with these supposedly heretical the most basic being the multiplication of length
texts burned en masse. Luckily, a few records of by width, while multiplying the averages of two
Aztec scientific knowledge survived and today opposite sides by an adjacent side used for irregular
historians are working tirelessly to unlock their shapes. Land was measured in terms of ‘land
secrets. Read on to discover some of their most rods’, which was the standard Aztec unit of linear
impressive scientific knowledge. measurement, measuring in at 2.5 metres (8 feet)
Buried deep within the Codex Vergara (a in length. For measurements under a land rod, a
cadastral manuscript) lies a wealth of information variety of other symbols including arrows, hearts
about Aztec mathematics, which has now been and hands were used for indication. This level of
decoded and revealed to be a vigesimal system, mathematical precision also stretched into other
rather than our decimal system in use today. The areas, such as construction, which was one area
Aztec vigesimal system uses 20 as its base (rather where the Aztecs were most advanced in terms of
than 10, as in a decimal system), with written dots technological prowess. Evidence that the Aztecs
equating to one, hyphen-style bars equating to five were great builders is plentiful in modern Mexico.
8
THE AZTECS
Mexico, 14-16th century
The Aztecs
Brief were a Nahaltl-
speaking people of
Bio
Mesoamerica who
grew to dominate the
entirety of Mexico during the
14th, 15th and 16th centuries.
While their origin is unsure,
recent evidence suggests the
culture grew out of a tribe of
hunter-gatherers occupying
the northern Mexican plateau
prior to the 12th century. Their
capital city, Tenochtitlán, was
founded on Lake Texcoco
and it remained the heart of
their empire until the Spanish
invasion of Hernán Cortés led to
its collapse in 1520.
Secrets of the Aztecs
As can be seen in the ‘El Templo Mayor’
boxout, the Aztecs became specialists at building
stepped pyramid temples and public buildings,
cutting, carving and hauling vast stone blocks and
arranging them with exact geometrical precision.
They were also excellent house builders, with
even the poorest commoner typically living under
human-made shelters, with the average dwelling
measuring in at approximately 20 square metres
(215 square foot) in the capital city of Tenochtitlán.
Due to their environment, Aztec houses tended
to be built on elevated platforms crafted from
wattle-and-daub, with codices indicating that they
stood approximately 40 centimetres (15 inches)
off the surface. This was particularly important
in the swampy city of Tenochtitlán. Walls were
constructed from wooden frames and then filled in
with stone, sand, lime and clay with adobe bricks
– sculpted from a mixture of water, sand and clay –
very common.
Roofs ranged in both design and construction
materials, with both flat-pole and peaked roofs
widespread and everything from straw through
to wood and bricks used. Judging from excavated
evidence as well as the information deciphered
from surviving codices, a selection of construction
tools were utilised in each build, ranging from
cutting tools such as knives and axes through
to trowels and picks, with additional carvings
undertaken if the house’s patron was particularly
wealthy. Important nobles would often have their
dwellings painted, with the Aztecs only using
natural plant and animal ingredients – such
as beetles, for instance the cochineal species
containing red carminic acid – to create coloured
dyes and paints. Buildings were arranged within
a city in terms of importance, which relied largely
upon the Aztecs’ mastery of astronomy.
As revealed in the Codex Mendoza, Aztec priests
and nobles were accomplished astronomers,
accruing and storing the knowledge of deciphering
the night sky for centuries and handing it down
through generations in isolation from the wider
Mis ufrcohm o ft hwehira to wwen kwnroitwin agbs oauntd t hreec Aorzdtescs
“By harnessing the
secret knowledge of
the celestial cycles,
the Aztecs could use
astromony to track the
length of a solar year”
10
