The Aztecs

The Aztec empire was very strong. With more than 15 million people in the land, the Aztecs were bigger and richer than any other city in Spain. The capital, alone, consisted of 250,000 people. The Aztecs spoke a language called Nahuatl. They had trade and commerce, loved art (especially art and songs), and were very religious. Their god of the sun was Huitzilopochtli, and their god of the sky was Quetzalcoatl. They believed that since the gods sacrificed themselves to create the universe, it was important for them to sacrifice themselves. As a result, their sacrifices were made eighteen times a year. The most important emperor the Aztecs had was Montezuma. Montezuma had a dream which depicted new people coming to help the Aztecs prosper. However, the opposite of this happened. Spanish people came and conquered the Aztecs in  A. D. 1519, and renamed their capital Mexico City. There were many things the Spanish had which the Aztecs had never seen before, such as horses, wheeled vehicles, steel weapons, cannons, gunpowder, and also, infectious diseases which half the Aztecs were dead from, within a year of the Spanish arrival. However, there were also many things the Aztecs had which the Spanish didn’t, such as maize (corn), chocolate, vanilla, tomatoes, rubber, suspension bridges, pyramids, and a sewage system. The Aztecs fell within two years of the Spanishs’ arrival. Other reasons for their downfall, were human sacrifices and many enemies and fighting. The Aztec were a great civilization, with a very interesting history.