aztec society - mrs. ross - hart high school - home · · 2013-11-21microsoft word - aztec...
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AZTEC SOCIETY
DAILY LIFE For most commoners, life revolved around farming or household duties. Men and women divided the labor. Men fished and farmed. Women worked at home; grinding grain and weaving cloth. Some commoners worked as artisans, creating bowls, plates, and other items for noble families. Others were long-‐distance traders. Artisans and traders were well respected members of Aztec society. Finally, some Aztec citizens (nobles) were teachers. Teachers were highly respected, as all Aztec children (no matter what social class) attended school for some time.
Commoners lived humble lives. Extended families lived in adjoining homes around a central courtyard. They wore plain clothes made from coarse fiber. They ate mostly corn, beans, and chili peppers. Nobles lived more comfortably in large, two-‐story homes. Their clothes were made of the best cotton and decorated with colorful designs. They also ate the best food, including turkey and other meats.
Aztec household.
Aztecs farming on chinampas.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
AZTEC RULE War was a large part of Aztec life, and to continue expanding the Aztec needed a strong king. The king came from the noble class and was chosen by a council of nobles. He had five royal advisors to help him run the government. Four of these advisors were military commanders, and the fifth was an official who managed the day-‐to-‐day running of the government. Once a new king was chosen he had to immediately prove his military skills by going to war. Beneath the royal advisors was a level of lesser government officials made up of judges, clerks, tax collectors, and others. At the local level, citizens were divided into small districts called calpulli. A local chief led each calpulli. Although the Aztec government was based on a strong ruler, the Aztec never created a true central government. Their efficient government hierarchy did not extend past the capital of Tenochtitlan. Instead the Aztec controlled a loose collection of city-‐states ruled by local chiefs or noble families. The Aztecs maintained control through the threat of military force. Tribute was essential to Aztec rule. Tribute goods ranged from clothing and military supplies to jewelry, food, and building materials. Captives were also given as tribute. These captives were sacrificed to the Aztec gods. The Aztecs mastered the use of fear to keep their conquered subjects in line.
King
Nobles
Commoners
Slaves
• Warrior king from noble class • Chosen by council of nobles • Lived in imperial city of Tenochtitlan
• Helped king run Tenochtitlan • Made up 5-‐10% of population • Traced their ancestry back to the first Aztec king • Teachers and priests came from this class
• Merchants and artisans held special status and received extra privileges
• Most Aztecs were farmers
• Worked for noble families • Some commoners sold themselves
into slavery to avoid poverty • Some were taken captive during war • Could marry, own property • Children born free • Could purchase freedom
AZTEC ECONOMY The economy of Tenochtitlan depended on help from surrounding areas, which came in two ways. The first was through tribute. Without tribute the Aztec capital would have collapsed, unable to support itself financially. The second was through merchants who sold items in the markets of Tenochtitlan and traveled long distances to trade in neighboring lands. Merchants moved goods without the use of carts or metal tools, instead using either canoes or slaves to transport items. Merchants also were greatly respected by all citizens and received special privileges over other commoners.
About half the population of Tenochtitlan were farmers. Farmers were a vital part of Aztec society, and needed to keep pace with a growing population. Farmers worked all day to provide enough food for the people of Tenochtitlan. Farmers in the local city-‐states were governed by the local chief and had to grow extra food to bring to Tenochtitlan as tribute.
While the Aztec did barter, they also used cacao beans as currency. Cacao beans were mostly used as currency in the local markets of Tenochtitlan. Merchants who traveled traded rare items they had (like jewelry) for other rare items found in other civilizations (like rubber, cotton, and jaguar skins) that could be sold in Tenochtitlan for a profit due to its rarity.
Trade between Aztec merchants and a neighbor.
CASE STUDY: TENOCHTITLAN At the time of the Spanish conquest in 1521, the Aztec capital city on Tenochtitlan was among the largest cities
in the world, with perhaps as many as 200,000 inhabitants. In less than 200 years, it evolved from a small settlement on an island in the western swamps of Lake Texcoco into the most powerful political, economic, and religious center of the greatest empire of Precolumbian Mexico. Tenochtitlan was a city of great wealth, obtained through the spoils of tribute from conquered regions. Of astounding beauty and impressive scale, its towering pyramids were painted in bright red and blue, and its palaces in dazzling white. Colorful, busy markets with a bewildering array of foods and luxuries impressed native visitors and conquering Spaniards alike. Most of the construction in Tenochtitlan took place during the reigns of four Aztec kings in the 1470s. Built largely upon land reclaimed from Lake Texcoco, the city was laid out on a grid, inspired by the still visible ruins of the ancient city of Teotihuacan of a thousand years earlier. Its network of streets and canals teemed with canoes that transported people and goods within the city and across the lake to towns on the shore, to which it was linked by three raised causeways. Two aqueducts supplied fresh water. At the heart of Tenochtitlan was the Sacred Precinct, the religious and ceremonial center not just for the city, but of the empire as well. The temples of the most important Aztec gods were here. There was also a ballcourt, priests’ quarters, and schools for training young noblemen for the priesthood. Adjacent to the Sacred Precinct, [large] palaces of the king and nobles included beautiful gardens, aviaries, and zoos. Administration buildings were there as well. Commoners lived at a distance and were organized into neighborhoods called calpulli, with their own local temples and markets. On a fateful day in August 1521, life in the magnificent urban center changed forever. Shortly after the fall of Tenochtitlan, the Spaniards [destroyed] the already devastated city and built the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Spain on its ruins. They named the new metropolis Mexico City, which today, again, is one of the most populous cities in the world. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art