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Origins of the Aztec See Also: Aztlán The Aztecs' legendary home was Aztlan, a Nahuatl word likely meaning "place of the heron". It is generally thought that Aztlan was somewhere to the north of the Valley Of Mexico ; some experts have placed it as far north as the American Southwest , while others sugest is a mythical place, since Aztlan can also be translated as "the place of the origin". Whatever caused them to leave Aztlan, the Mexica came to the Valley of Mexico at some point or in waves between the 12th and 14th centuries. The mythical story of this travels is recorded in the Spanish Colonial -era Aubin Codex , among other codices. But the true origin of the Mexica is uncertain. The Aztecs arrive in the Valley of Mexico In the 13th and 14th centuries in the Valley, there existed many city-states including Cholula , Huexotzingo , Tlaxcala , Chalco, Xochimilco, Tlacopan , Culhuacan, and Atzcapotzalco . The most powerful were Culhuacan to the south, and Azcapotzalco to the west. As a result, when the Mexica arrived in the Anahuac valley as a semi-nomadic tribe, they had nowhere to go. They settled temporarily in Chapultepec, but this was under the rule of Azcapotzalco and they were soon expelled. The Mexica then went to the area dominated by Culhuacan and, in 1299, the ruler Cocoxtli gave them permission to settle in the empty barrens of Tizapan. They married and assimilated into Culhuacan culture. In 1323, they asked the new ruler of Culhuacan, Achicometl, for his daughter, in order to make her the goddess Yaocihuatl. Unbeknownst to the king, the Mexica actually planned to sacrifice her. As the story goes, during a festival dinner, a priest came out wearing her flayed skin as part of the ritual. Upon seeing this, the king and the people of Culhuacan were horrified and expelled the Mexica. Forced to flee, in 1325 they went to a small islet in the center of the lake where they began to build their city Tenochtitlan, eventually creating a large artificial island. Another Mexica group settled on the north shore: this would become the city of Tlatelolco . Originally, this was an independent Mexica kingdom, but eventually it was taken over by the Tenochca Mexica and treated as a "fifth" quadrant. The famous marketplace described by Cortés and Díaz was actually located in Tlatelolco. In 1376, they elected their first '' Hueyi Tlatoani '', Acamapichtli , following customs learned from the Culhuacan. Rise of the Aztecs Initially, the Mexica hired themselves out as Mercenaries in wars between the Nahua s. From 1376 until 1427 , the Mexica were a tributary of Azcapotzalco. The Aztec rulers Acamapichtli , Huitzilihuitl and Chimalpopoca were, in fact, vassals of Tezozomoc , the Tepanec ruler of Azcapotzalco. When Tezozomoc died in 1426, his son Maxtla ascended to the throne of Azcapotzalco. Shortly thereafter, Maxtla assassinated Chimalpopoca , the Aztec ruler. In an effort to defeat Maxtla, Chimalpopoca's successor, Itzcoatl , allied with the exiled ruler of Texcoco , Nezahualcoyotl . This coalition became the foundation of the Aztec Triple Alliance . Itzcoatl and Nezahualcoyotl and their allies subsequently besieged Azcapotzalco , took Maxtla captive, and sacrificed him. Aztec Triple Alliance See Also: Aztec Triple Alliance The Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco , and Tlacopan would, in the next 100 years, come to dominate the Valley Of Mexico and extend its power to both the Gulf Of Mexico and the Pacfic shore. Over this period, Tenochtitlan gradually became the dominant power in the alliance, and the Triple Alliance territories became known as the Aztec Empire. Tlacaelel and Moctezuma I Two of the primary architects of the Aztec empire were the brothers Tlacaelel and Moctezuma I , nephews of Itzcoatl. Moctezuma I succeeded Itzcoatl as ''Hueyi Tlatoani'' in 1449 . Tlacaelel became the power behind the throne and reformed both the Aztec state and the Aztec religion. Tlacaelel Most of the Aztec empire was forged by one man, Tlacaelel who lived from 1397 to 1487 . Although he was offered the opportunity to be ''tlatoani'', he preferred to operate as the power behind the throne. His title was "Cihuacoatl" (roughly equivalent to "counselor"), but as reported in the Ramírez Codex, "what Tlacaelel ordered, was as soon done". Tlacaelel gave the Aztec government a new structure. He ordered the burning of most Aztec books (his explanation being that they were full of lies). Having done so, he rewrote the history of the Aztec people. Reform of the Aztec religion In addition, Tlacaelel reformed Aztec religion, by putting the tribal god Huitzilopochtli at the same level as the old Nahua gods Tlaloc, Tezcatlipoca, and Quetzalcoatl. Tlacaelel thus created a common awareness of history for the Aztecs. He also created the institution of ritual war (the Flower War s) as a way to have trained warriors, and created the necessity of constant sacrifices to keep the Sun moving. Some writers believe that the upper classes were aware of this forgery, which would explain the later actions of Moctezuma II when he met Cortés . But eventually this institution helped to cause the fall of the Aztec empire. For further details, see Tlatoani . The height of the Empire Moctezuma I's son, Axayacatl , ascended to the throne in 1469 . During his reign, Tenochtitlan absorbed the kingdom of Tlatelolco . Axayacatl's sister was married to the ''tlatoani'' of Tlatelolco, and, as a pretext for war, Axayacatl declared that she was mistreated. He went on to conquer Matlazinca and the cities of Tollocan , Ocuillan , and Mallinalco . He was defeated by the Tarascan s in Tzintzuntzan , the Aztec's first great defeat, but recovered and took control of the Huasteca region, conquering the Mixtecs and Zapotecs . In 1481 Axayacatl's son Tizoc ruled briefly, but he was considered weak and was replaced, possibly poisoned, by his younger brother Ahuitzotl who had reorganized the army. The empire reached its height during Ahuitzotl 's reign. His successor was Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin (better known as Moctezuma II ), who was ''Hueyi Tlatoani'' when the Spaniards arrived in 1519 . Fall of the Aztec Empire For more on the conquest of Mexico by Spain, see also Hernán Cortés , Spanish Conquest Of Mexico and Siege Of Tenochtitlan . The Aztecs were conquered by Spain in 1521 , after long battle and a long Siege Of The Capital, Tenochtitlan , where much of the population died from hunger and Smallpox , Cuauhtémoc surrendered to Hernán Cortés . Cortés, with his up to 500 Spaniards, did not fight alone but with as many as 150,000 or 200,000 allies from Tlaxcala , and eventually from Texcoco, who were resisting Aztec rule. He defeated Tenochtitlan's forces on August 13 , 1521 . After the fall of the Aztec Empire The Conquest of Mesoamerica The Fall Of Tenochtitlan usually is referred to as the main episode in the process of the conquest of Mesoamerica. Accounts of the Spanish Conquest Of Mexico often stop with the fall of Tenochtitlan and leave the reader to assume that the rest of the conquest was quick and easy. However, the process of conquering Mesoamerica was much more complex and took longer than the three years that it took Cortés to conquer Tenochtitlan. It took almost 60 years of wars for the Spaniards to conquer Mesoamerica ( Chichimeca wars), a process that could have taken longer were it not for three separate Epidemics that took a heavy toll on the Native American population. The Spanish Conquest Of Yucatán took almost 170 years. After the fall of Tenochtitlan, most of the other Mesoamerican cultures were intact. In fact, the conquest of the Aztec empire did not have an immediate impact on other Mesoamerican cultures. If anything, the freedom from Aztec domination was probably considered a positive development by most of the other cultures. Initially, the Tlaxcalans were important allies of the Spaniards. Eventually, the Spaniards would break the alliance, but that would not happen until decades later. The fall of the Mesoamerican cultures was a long process. The fall of the Aztec empire was just the first chapter in the process of conquering Mesoamerica, certainly not the final chapter. A combination of factors were involved in the fall of the Mesoamerican cultures. The most significant of these was the deadly toll of the epidemics which decimated the Native American peoples far more than the military power of Spain. This fact has been slowly understood by scholars. The fate of the Aztec empire under Spanish rule Cortés' stated intention was to maintain the structure of the Aztec empire. Initially, it seemed that the Aztec empire could survive under Spanish rule. The upper classes of the Aztec empire were initially considered as noblemen (to this day, the title of Duke of Moctezuma is held by a Spanish noble family). The upper classes learned Spanish, and several learned to write in Roman characters. Some of their surviving writings are crucial in our knowledge of the Aztecs. In addition, the first missionaries tried to learn Nahuatl and some, like Bernardino de Sahagún, set out to learn as much as they could of the Aztec culture. All that changed rapidly. Eventually, the Indians were not only forbidden to learn of their cultures, but also were forbidden to learn to read and write in Spanish, and, under the law, they had the status of Minor s. The impact of epidemics on the Aztec Empire The first epidemic, an outbreak of Smallpox (cocoliztli) occurred from 1520-1521 and decimated the population of Tenochtitlan and was decisive in the fall of the city. The other two epidemics, of smallpox (1545-1548) and Typhus (1576-1581) killed up to 75% of the population of Mesoamerica. Whole towns disappeared, lands were deserted, roads were closed and armies were destroyed. The Spaniards, trying to make more of the diminishing population, merged the survivors from small towns into the bigger ones. This broke the power of the upper classes and dissolved the coherence of the indigenous society. In addition, the indigenous peoples collected in the larger towns were more susceptible to epidemics due to the higher population density. The population before the time of the conquest is estimated at 15 million; by 1550, the estimated population was 4 million and less than two millions by 1581. Thus, the "New Spain" of the 17th century was a depopulated country and many Mesoamerican cultures were wiped out. Because of the fall of their social structure, the population had to resort to the Spanish to maintain some order. In order to have an adequate supply of labor, the Spaniards began to import black slaves, although most of them eventually merged with the population. Great leaders
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