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Aztecs

Explorer · ages 7 and underAdapted from Wikipedia
The "Aztec calendar stone" or "Sun Stone", a large stone monolith unearthed in 1790 in Mexico City depicting the five eras of Aztec mythical history, with calendric images.

Who Were the Aztecs?

The Aztecs were a group of people who lived in central Mexico a long time ago. They lived there from about 1300 to 1521. Many different groups were part of the Aztec world, and many of them spoke a language called Nahuatl.

Their towns were called altepetl, which means city-states. In 1427, three of these city-states joined together to form the Triple Alliance. The three cities were Tenochtitlan, Tetzcoco, and Tlacopan.

Life in the Aztec World

The Aztecs built their great city, Tenochtitlan, on small islands in Lake Texcoco. People moved around the city on canals. Today, Mexico City stands in the same place.

Farmers grew maize, which is also called corn. They also made islands on the lake for growing food. Some people were nobles, and most people were commoners.

Why We Remember the Aztecs

We learn about the Aztecs from old pictures and books, such as the Florentine Codex. We can also visit the ruins of the great Templo Mayor in Mexico City. These treasures help us understand how the Aztecs lived.

Many words from the Aztec language are still used today. Words like chocolate, tomato, and avocado came from Nahuatl. Aztec foods are also a big part of Mexican cuisine.

Quiz time!

3 questions about Aztecs

Question 1 of 3

Where did the Aztecs live?

Pictures

The ancient pyramid temple of Teopanzolco in Cuernavaca, Mexico, built by the Aztecs and earlier peoples long ago.
A map showing the extent of the Aztec Empire in 1519, during the reign of Moctezuma II.
A set of ancient bronze axes from Mesoamerica, displayed at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.
A page from the Codex Boturini, an old Aztec picture manuscript that shows the journey of the Mexica people, painted on paper long ago.
An old painted picture from an Aztec codex showing the coronation of Moctezuma I, the fifth Aztec king.
A glyph of Ahuitzotl, a water creature from Aztec stories, drawn in the Codex Mendoza, an old Mexican manuscript.
A 16th-century painting from the Lienzo de Tlaxcala shows Hernán Cortés and La Malinche meeting the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II in Tenochtitlan in 1519. The artwork was made by the Tlaxcalans and mixes European and Native styles.
A 17th-century painting showing the capture of Cuauhtémoc, the last Aztec emperor, after the city of Tenochtitlán was largely destroyed during the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
Aztec high lords shown in traditional clothing, from folio 65 of the Codex Mendoza, a 16th-century manuscript made after the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
A page from the Codex Mendoza, a 16th-century Aztec manuscript that shows warriors and weapons from Aztec life.
A page from the Codex Mendoza, a 16th-century Mexican manuscript that records tributes paid to the Aztec empire, including a jaguar warrior costume made of rich feathers.
A large ceramic statue of an Aztec eagle warrior, displayed at the National Museum of Anthropology and History in Mexico.
A historical artwork showing Cuitlahuac, an Aztec leader who ruled Tenochtitlan for a short time in 1520.
The Valley of Mexico with the locations of the main city-states in 1519
Typical Aztec black on orange ceramic ware
Map of the Island city of Tenochtitlan
The deity Tezcatlipoca depicted in the Codex Borgia, one of the few extant pre-Hispanic codices
Aztec cosmological drawing with the god Xiuhtecuhtli, the lord of fire in the center and the four corners of the cosmos marked by four trees with associated birds, deities, and calendar names, and each direction marked by a dismembered limb of the god Tezcatlipoca. From the Codex Fejérváry-Mayer
Urban standard details; Mexico-Tenochtitlan's Calmecac stone wall remnants in Centro Cultural de España archaeological site (Mexico City)
The Mask of Xiuhtecuhtli; 1400–1521; cedrela wood, turquoise, pine resin, mother-of-pearl, conch shell, cinnabar; height: 16.8 cm (6.6 in), width: 15.2 cm (6.0 in); British Museum (London)
Double-headed serpent; 1450–1521; Spanish cedar wood (Cedrela odorata), turquoise, shell, traces of gilding & 2 resins are used as adhesive (pine resin and Bursera resin); height: 20.3 cm (8.0 in), width: 43.3 cm (17.0 in), depth: 5.9 cm (2.3 in); British Museum
Page 12 of the Codex Borbonicus, (in the big square): Tezcatlipoca (night and fate) and Quetzalcoatl (feathered serpent); before 1500; bast fiber paper; height: 38 cm (15 in), length of the full manuscript: 142 cm (56 in); Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée nationale (Paris)
Depiction of smallpox during the Spanish conquest in Book XII of the Florentine Codex
Modern Mexico flag, depicting a Mexican eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus devouring a rattlesnake. The design is rooted in the legend of the Aztec people.
Monument to Cuauhtémoc, inaugurated 1887 by Porfirio Díaz in Mexico City
President Porfirio Díaz in 1910 at the National Museum of Anthropology with the Aztec Calendar Stone. The International Congress of Americanists met in Mexico City in 1910 on the centennial of Mexican independence.
Metro Moctezuma, with a stylized feathered crown as its logo

Keep exploring

Mexico
Tenochtitlan
Mexico City

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Aztecs, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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