All about the ancient tribes
The Aztec Empire that existed in 1519 was the most powerful Mesoamerican state that had ever existed. The multicultural and multilingual realm covered more than 80,000 square miles and included several areas that are today a part of central and southern Mexico.
The Aztecs (/aeztks/) were a Mesoamerican society that thrived in central Mexico during the post-classic era, roughly between the years 1300 and 1521.
Aztec Empire. Since 1428, these three city-states dominated the region in and around the Valley of Mexico until 1521, when they were vanquished by the combined forces of Spanish conquistadors and their local allies fighting under the command of Hernán Cortés.
In the year 1300 of the Common Era (CE), a nomadic Indian tribe made their way into the Valley of Mexico. The Aztecs were the name given to this people group. The Valley of Mexico was already home to a number of different indigenous communities when the Aztecs made their way there. They had already seized possession of the most desirable property.
Aztecs, also known by their self-given name Culhua-Mexica, were a Nahuatl-speaking people who governed a huge empire in what is now the central and southern regions of Mexico during the 15th and early 16th centuries.
The Aztecs created an empire that spanned most of the central Mexican highlands somewhere between the years 1345 and 1521 A.D. At the height of their power, the Aztecs exercised authority over an area that encompassed more than 80,000 square miles, spanning from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of the Pacific Ocean and extending south into what is now Guatemala.
The invasion of the Aztec Empire by the Spanish.
Date | February 1519 – 13 August 1521 against the Aztec Empire, after 1522 – 17 February 1530 against the Tarascan state |
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Result | Spaniard and indigenous allied victory |
Territorial changes | Annexation of the Aztec Empire, Tarascans, and others by Spanish Empire |
Is it possible that there are still Aztecs living today? Both yes and no The Nahuatl language, which was spoken by the Aztecs, is still spoken by around one and a half million people today. In addition, there are a great number of indigenous communities that continue to practice ceremonies that date back to the Aztec civilization.
The Aztecs, now headed by Cuauhtemoc, ultimately capitulated after 93 days of struggle on the fatal day of August 13, 1521 CE. They had run out of food and were being devastated by the smallpox illness, which had been introduced to the Aztecs by one of the Spaniards previously. The city of Tenochtitlan was pillaged, and its monuments were obliterated.
In the beginning, there were the Aztecs. Indigenous peoples who lived in sophisticated societies began settling in what is now Mexico more than 13,000 years ago. The Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, and Maya civilisations were all more technologically accomplished than the Aztecs, who went on to build the vast Aztec empire.
Anahuac was the name given to the area that is now known as Mexico by the pre-Hispanic people who lived in the Valley of Mexico. In the Mayan language known as Nahuatl, this word had two meanings: one was that of ″land surrounded by water,″ and the other was that it referred to the entire cosmos.
Cortez and his expedition were successful in bringing down the Aztec Kingdom due to a combination of three factors: the weakness of that empire, the strategic advantages offered by Spanish technology, and the presence of smallpox.
On a regular basis, tributes were exacted, and prisoners were sent to Tenochtitlan for the purpose of being sacrificed. The Aztec empire expanded to span the majority of northern Mexico, a region that was around 135,000 square kilometers in size, as a result of this strategy.
In the year 1519, the Spanish conqueror launched an expedition that landed in what is now the country of Mexico. Even though there were only about 500 Spanish soldiers, they were nonetheless able to capture Montezuma II, the Emperor of the Aztecs.
More than three million Aztecs perished as a result of the smallpox epidemic; with such a severely depleted population, it was very simple for the Spanish to conquer Tenochtitlán.