Aztecs

What caused the fall of the Aztec empire? We do know that there were a number of factors involved, not just one. There are probably many factors that we don't know about that were already contributing to the weakness of the empire. But let's look at some of the most obvious, immediate factors:#

There's little doubt that the contributed to the fall of the Aztec Empire, and in more ways than one. First, killing thousands of people, whether you or your neighbours, simply can't be good for a society. The loss of people in a loss that can't be calculated. Who knows how it would have been different if these people and their children had swelled the ranks that fought the Spanish, not to mention the other contributions they would have made.

And although the Aztecs certainly weren't the first people ever to sacrifice humans, the fact that they did and the incredible number they sacrificed led to the hatred of some of the surrounding peoples. The powerful city-state of Tlaxcala was one of these. Many of their own had been sacrificed, and in the end they joined the Spaniards to fight the Aztecs. It may be that the Spanish simply were an excuse to start what was already an inevitable civil war.

Lastly, it's believed that the horror of human sacrifice highly motivated the Spaniards to conquer what they considered an evil culture

Hiya if you want an answer for "How did the Aztec rise to power over other cultures? then read on because this is the answer you are looking for its

The Valley of Mexico is part of the central highlands and lies at an altitude of about a mile and a half. At the low point of the Valley there is a large lake that made human life sustainable in the generally dry country. Long before the Aztecs came to the Valley of Mexico the land had seen the rise and decline of a number of other tribal groups. One of these groups built the great city of Teotihuacán. From Teotihuacán its people built an empire. This was during the period of the fourth to the sixth centuries A.D. About 600 A.D. the empire of Teotihuacán was overthrown. Centuries later another empire was created by the people of the city of Tollan (Tula), known as the Toltecs. Their empire lasted from about the tenth to the twelfth century. Near the end of the twelfth century Tula was captured and burned by its enemies. The Aztecs did not come to the Valley of Mexico until the fourteenth century.

Despite the rise and fall of empires there was a continuity of culture in the Valley of Mexico. Agriculture and other technologies were passed down from generation to generation. A religion evolved as each dominant group absorbed the gods and rituals of their predecessors. The temples often survived the collapse of an empire. The pyramidal temples of Teotihuacán were honored and utilized by the Aztecs seven centuries after the demise of the Teotihuacán empire.

Many gods survived in the culture of the Valley of Mexico but one particular one is of special historical interest, the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl. Depictions of Quetzalcoatl are found in Teotihuacán. The Toltecs also worshipped Quetzalcoatl and one king was identified with Quetzalcoatl. That king, personifying Quetzalcoatl, was apparently driven from power and journeyed with his supporters to the Gulf Coast sailed away vowing to return one day to claim his kingdom. That legend survived several centuries and was a part of the culture of the Aztecs when Cortez and his conquistadores appeared on that same coast.

The Aztecs arrived in the Valley of Mexico as homeless wanderers about 1300 A.D. They had to eak out a precarious existence by allying themselves with more powerful tribes in the area. They finally settled on a marshy island in the Lake. The Aztecs were successful in retaining this site in part because it was generally an undesirable location and in part it was at an intertice of local empires. Any tribal group considering capturing the Aztecs and their territory risked provoking their more powerful neighbors into a major war.

So the Aztecs were left to build their island and a city upon it. They literally built the island in the sense that they extended the island. They did this by driving stakes into the lake bed around an area and lashing the stakes together then filling the enclosure with mud dredged up from the lake bed. The space between the enclosures then served as canals which facilitated the transport of material within the city. The city of Venice was created by a similar process of refugees settling on the sandbar at the mouth of the Po River.

The Aztecs called their city Tenochtitlán after a name the Aztecs used for themselves, Tenochca. The other name they used for themselves was Mexica. They did not call themselves Aztecs.

The founding date of Tenochtitlán was 1325 A.D. The Aztecs of this early Tenochtitlán had accepted the overlordship of the Tepanecs of the city of Azcapotzalco. The Tepanecs were expansionists and defeated the rival empire of Texcoco, but over-reaching leaders of the Tepanecs brought into existence a coalition of peoples who defeated the Tepanecs and restored Texcoco. That coalition included the Tlaxcalans from outside the Valley, a people who were later the crucial allies of Cortez. From the political turmoil following the collapse of Tepanec power the Aztecs emerged as an independent force. They acquired some territory on the shore of the Lake and formed an alliance with Texcoco and Tlacopan, the Triple Alliance. The terms of the Triple Alliance called for the division of any spoils of war into five parts, two parts of which would go to Tenochtitlán, two parts to Texcoco and one part to Tlacopan.

It wasn't. It was a very advanced civilization which dominated central Mexico and given enough time, would have discovered the Europeans and not the other way around.

They were destroyed because the Spanish conquistadoreshad superior technology, brought many diseases with them - being smallpox the most deadly of them all - and allied themselves with the Tlaxcalan civilization, who were mortal enemies of the Aztecs.

So, a combined force of thousands of warriors led by Hernan Cortes conquered a disease-ridden Tenochtitlan in 1521.

The Jaguar and Eagle Aztec Warriors

Those Aztec warriors who demonstrated the most bravery and who fought well became either jaguar or eagle warriors. Of all of the Aztec warriors, they were the most feared. Both the jaguar and eagle Aztec warriors wore distinguishing helmets and uniforms. The jaguars were identifiable by the jaguar skins they wore over their entire body, with only their faces showing from within the jaguar head. The eagle Aztec warriors, on the other hand, wore feathered helmets including an open beak.

Aztec Weapons and Dress

The Aztec warriors carried a variety of weapons, including stabbing javelins, wooden spears, ob sidian knives, and clubs. In addition, they flung firestones at their enemies using slings made of wool. Most of the Aztec weapons were actually designed to stun and capture opponents rather than to kill them. In this way, opponents could be easily brought back to the temple for sacrifice. To protect themselves, Aztec warriors used round shields, which they fringed with feathers. The remainder of the costumes worn was dependent upon military ranking of the Aztec warrior.