Quiz Questions

1. Who is the god of games?

2. What is the basketball like game the Aztecs played?

3. Who is the god of rain?
4. What 3 factors contributed to the fall of the Aztec Empire?

                                               Games

1. 9 Levels

2. Inca Ball

                            The Fall of the Aztec Empire

      Many factors contributed to the fall of the Aztec empire. Here are a few of the obvious ones.

                                                          Sacrificing

       Killing thousands of people for their gods declined the population. Because of this, The Spanish out ranked the Aztecs. Also many sacrifices caused hatred around the surrounding people. Such as the powerful city-state, Tlaxcala, who joined the Spanish in the end because many of their eople were killed.

                                               Diseases

        Disease played a huge role in the fall of the Aztec Empire. When Cortes and his army were in Mexico, another Spanish army came from Cuba to make sure that he followed orders. Cortes didn't want none of that, so he went to fight the army. In that new army was an African being held as a slave who had smallpox which is very contagious. One of Cortes' men contracted the disease.  When they returned, the Aztec army quickly overwhelmed the Spanish, killing many and causing the rest to retreat.  The soldier was killed, and, likely when his body was looted, an Aztec caught the disease. Forthwith, the smallpox spread across the population. Unfortunately, the people had no resistance and they did not know how to treat it. It is said that 25% of the population had died by the smallpox.

                                               Tactics

      The Aztecs got wise to the ways of the Europeans, and they almost won. But, Cortes still used clever tactics in the final siege that, in combination with his native allies and the epidemics of disease, brought about the fall of the Aztec empire.

References:

1. http://www.aztec-history.com/fall-of-the-aztec-empire.html

                                                     Art 

         During the time of the Aztecs, they had a lot of art depicting their culture and their life. In their art, they would use insects, birds, fish, and animals. They also used many of their gods in their art. They would often show gods, or priests dressed as gods in a ritual, or Aztec warriors in their finery. Stories were written in pictures which also gave art an opportunity. The pictures may show the latest conquest, their daily lives, or the sacrifices of the priests. Art was made out of gold, feathers, silver, copper, coral, clay, jewels, and stone. Mosaics were also commonly used in Aztec art. Ancient Aztec art looks very lifelike.  Many of their statues of people, as well as animals, looked amazingly realistic.  They also show age, and a great deal of expression. Most of their art was about death. It reflected the people's passion to avoid death and disaster, and then to conquer even that if it came. They also had masks that would be covered in turquoise or shells.

Aztec double headed serpent

References:

1. http://www.aztec-history.com/ancient-aztec-art.html

                                                     Food

        Aztec food was a rich combination of many foods that we take for granted today. Maize was there main food product. Corn could be ground into flour and used to make tortillas (a sort of flat bread, sometimes used to wrap a filling to make tacos), tamales and even drinks. The Aztecs also had beans and squash. They also ate chilies, tomatoes, limes, cashews, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts, and chocolate.  The Aztecs domesticated bees for honey, and turkeys for meat and eggs, also dogs and duck.  They hunted and fished as well, and used animals such as deer, rabbits, iguana, fish, and shrimp for food.  Even insects, such as grasshoppers and worms were harvested. Also large amounts of algae were collected from the surface of the Texcoco Lake water. The Aztecs used it to make bread and cheesy type foods. The cocoa beans were used to make a thick chocolate drink, but far different than the hot chocolate we know today. Since they didn't use sugar, the Aztecs added peppers, corn meal, and spices. 

Maize (Corn)

References:

1. http://www.aztec-history.com/aztec-food.html

 Climate and Location

         Because of where the Aztecs lived it had an huge effect on what kind of weather they had. The Aztecs were known as a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica people of central Mexico in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. They called themselves Mexica. The capital of the Aztec empire was Tenochtitlan. It was built on raised island in Lake Texcoco. The Aztec lived in the Valley of Mexico in South-Central Mexico. The empire stretched for more than 80,000 square miles through many parts of what is now central and southern Mexico. It reached from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf coast and from central Mexico to the present-day Republic of Guatemala. Because of the high altitude of the Aztec's mainland, it was cool. The average was around 12 degrees Celsius. This made there area only good for limited amounts of crops and because there was also frost sometimes, the crops could easily die. The rainy season the Aztecs experienced lasted from May to October. The rainfall amount was about 450 mm in the north and up to 1000 mm in the south. 

The Aztec Empire

References:
1. http://www.crystalinks.com/azteculture.html

2. http://www.houstonculture.org/mexico/aztecs.html

3. https://sites.google.com/site/theamazingaztecs/aztec-climate-and-enviroment

            Clothing & Jewelry

         The Aztecs had a great variety of colorful clothing. The ones that made the clothing were the women. the clothing was generally made of cotton, or ayate fiber, which was made from the Maguey Cactus. This was accomplished by first twisting cotton and fibers onto a stick, which was weighted down with a clay spindle whorl, in order to make thread. Through their simple hand tools, they were able to use this thread to make cloth for use in capes and loincloths for the men. The females wore sleeveless blouses with a long wraparound skirt, and the men wore the capes generally over one shoulder. Slaves and the common people would wear only a simple loincloth. If the man had a higher social status it might be embroidered or have fringes on the two ends. The men would also wear a cloak made from a triangular cloth known as a tilmatli or tilma. They could use it like an apron to carry things or worn as a cloak. On the other hand, the upper class wore more brightly colored clothes and also wore symbols with their particular affiliation on the clothing, pendants, and feathers too. Jewelry was also a very important part in how they dressed. To the Aztecs, the amount of decoration on the clothing indicated the wealth of the wearer. The Aztecs favorite addition to the clothing was copper, gold, jade, silver, turquoise, and emerald. But, the upper class would wear bracelets, necklaces, and earrings.

Aztec women clothing

Brightly colored Aztec fabric

  

Aztec jewelry

References:
1. http://www.aztec-indians.com/aztec-clothing.html
2. http://www.aztec-history.com/ancient-aztec-clothing.html