Smith, “Aztec Culture” p. 1 AZTEC CULTURE: AN OVERVIEW By Dr. Michael E. Smith, Arizona State University, © 2006, Michael E. Smith This essay is based on several encyclopedia entries I have written over the past few years. One reason for posting this work on the internet is the poor quality of the entry for “Aztec” in the Wikipedia. Aztec culture flourished in the of the Aztec empire; as a result we have far highlands of central Mexico between the more information about the history of the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, AD. As the Mexica than about the other Aztec city-states. last in a series of complex urban civilizations Ritual almanacs such as the Codex Borgia and in Mesoamerica, the Aztecs adopted many the Codex Borbonicus were consulted by traits and institutions from their predecessors priests for use in rituals and divination. These such as the Maya and Teotihuacan. The Aztecs documents, rich in imagery of gods and sacred also devised many innovations, particularly in events, were structured around a second Aztec the realms of economics and politics. Aztec calendar, the 260-day ritual cycle. Tribute civilization was destroyed at its height by the records were used to record local payments to invasion of Spanish conquerors under lords and kings as well as the imperial tribute Hernando Cortés in 1519. The Aztec peoples, of the Mexica empire. The best-known Aztec who spoke the Nahuatl language, survived and codex is the Codex Mendoza, a composite intermarried with the Spaniards; today there document from 1541 with a history section are still over one million speakers of Nahuatl (depicting the conquests of the Mexica kings), in rural areas of central Mexico. a tribute section (province-by-province tribute of the empire), and a section showing daily life Sources and the Aztec life cycle from birth to death. Modern knowledge of the Aztecs Other important documents on Aztec comes from both archaeological fieldwork and culture include first-hand accounts of the historical documents. The Aztecs, like many conquerors Hernando Cortés and Bernal Díaz other Mesoamerican cultures, used a limited del Castillo; the systematic descriptions of form of writing that consisted of pictorial religion, social customs, and other topics by representations painted on bark paper and early Spanish priests such as Bernardino de animal hides. Although very few authentic Sahagún and Diego de Durán; and a wealth of pre-Spanish examples have survived, these Spanish colonial-period administrative manuscripts (called codices) continued to be documentation in both the Spanish and painted in the indigenous style well into the Nahuatl languages. colonial period. There are three main types of Because Spanish cities were built over codex: historical accounts, ritual almanacs, the top of the ruins of conquered Aztec cities, and tribute records. The dynasty of each Aztec it has been difficult for archaeologists to city-state kept written histories of the deeds of excavate these sites. Construction work in past kings and other important events, using Mexico City, built over the ruins of the the native year-count calendar to provide dates Mexican capital Tenochtitlan, has turned up for events. Most of the surviving examples many important finds. In 1790 some of the come from the Mexica of Tenochtitlan, rulers major Aztec monumental stone sculptures Smith, “Aztec Culture” p. 2 were excavated, including the so-called language in central Mexico related to calendar stone. The uncovering in 1978 of the languages of northern Mexico and the giant Coyolxauhqui stone led to the excavation southwestern United States. These migrants of the central temple-pyramid of Tenochtitlan, arrived in central Mexico at a time of low the Templo Mayor. Other Aztec remains have population and abundant land, and people been excavated in Mexico City, particularly settled throughout the rich valleys of highland during the expansion of the underground metro central Mexico spreading the Nahuatl system. Outside of Mexico City, several large language. This influx of new population Aztec temples were excavated in the 1930s, signaled the start of the Early Aztec period, including Tenayuca, Malinalco, Calixtlahuaca, AD 1150-1350. The leaders of the immigrant and Teopanzolco. Since 1980 excavations and groups established dynasties and traced their intensive surface survey at smaller Aztec sites legitimacy back to the Toltec kings. A system has provided much new information on Aztec of numerous small city-states developed, each culture in rural and provincial areas. with a hereditary king (called a tlatoani) who ruled from a town or small city, a hereditary Origin and Development nobility who aided the king, and a mass of The roots of Aztec civilization go back commoners who lived scattered throughout the to the large, Classic-period city of Teotihuacan farmland that surrounded the capital. (AD 200-700). Teotihuacan was the capital of a small empire in central Mexico, and its The Early Aztec peoples were divided merchants traded with cities all over into a number of different ethnic groups, each Mesoamerica, including the Classic-period located in its own region of central Mexico. Maya cities. All of the buildings in this city of The Mexica of Tenochtitlan were the best- 150,000 inhabitants were arranged in a strict known of these groups, which also included grid pattern aligned to the cardinal directions. the Acolhua of Texcoco, the Tepanecs of The collapse of Teotihuacan initiated a period Azcapotzalco, and other groups such as the of warfare and conflict (AD 700-900), and Chalca, Xochimilca, Tlahuica, and several smaller fortified cities rose to Tlaxcalteca. These Aztec ethnic groups all prominence, including Xochicalco, Cacaxtla, spoke Nahuatl, and they shared a common and Teotenango. This period was followed by central Mexican Aztec culture that was the Toltec period (AD 900-1150). The Toltec expressed in religious, economic, social, and peoples, whose capital was Tula, maintained political institutions and practices. trading relationships with distant areas of The start of the Late Aztec period (AD Mesoamerica, although they did not dominate 1350-1520) was marked by a population central Mexico as their Teotihuacan ancestors explosion. The Aztec population grew from had. The collapse of Tula coincided with the around 500,000 persons to over 3,000,000. arrival of Nahuatl-speaking Aztec immigrants The entire landscape of central Mexico was in central Mexico during the twelfth century filled in by settlements, and agricultural AD. The Aztecs adopted many characteristics practices were greatly intensified to feed the from these earlier civilizations, including gods, growing population. Competition among city- rituals, economic institutions, and principles of states escalated, and by 1400 much of central kingship and city planning. Mexico came under the control of small-scale In their pictorial histories the Aztec empires centered at Azcapotzalco, Texcoco, peoples claimed to have migrated to central Cuauhnahuac, and a few other cities. In a Mexico from a place in the north called major war in 1428, Tenochtitlan overthrew Aztlan. This account matches the linguistic Azcapotzalco and joined with Texcoco and history of Nahuatl, which is an intrusive Tlacopan to form the Triple Alliance or Aztec empire. The empire immediately began a Smith, “Aztec Culture” p. 3 process of expansion by military conquest. By to their owners. Although commoners could the time Cortés arrived in 1519, the Mexica never cross the hereditary line to become had emerged as the dominant force behind the nobles, several lines of social mobility allowed empire and vast quantities of tribute flowed commoners to raise their position in society. into Tenochtitlan from all parts of northern Success on the battlefield brought status and and central Mesoamerica. privileges, and merchants and priests could advance to higher levels of wealth or status. Social Organization The basic principle of Aztec social Economics organization was the division of society into The Aztec economy was based on two social classes, the nobility and the agriculture. Staple crops included maize, commoners. The nobility was a hereditary beans, amaranth, and squash. The population group whose members occupied most of the explosion of the Late Aztec period brought important political positions and controlled about widespread intensification of agriculture most of the economic resources in Aztec throughout central Mexico. Stone terraces society. The king (tlatoani) occupied the were built in hilly locations, rivers were highest level of the nobility. Lords with the dammed for canal irrigation, and the shallow title tecuhtli were high-ranking chiefs with swampy lakes of the southern Valley of important political and military roles. Other Mexico were converted into highly fertile nobles were called pilli. This social hierarchy fields through the construction of raised fields within the nobility was marked by tribute (chinampas). In spite of the increasing yields payments (lower-ranking nobles paid tribute to of Aztec agriculture, famines and food kings) and by the sizes of the houses or shortages became regular events in the Late palaces of the nobles. Nobles formed social Aztec period, resulting in periods of social and political alliances with nobles in other unrest and a general pattern of malnutrition for city-states through arranged marriages and commoners. A variety of alternative food other ties, and the entire Aztec nobility of sources were exploited,