About The Aztecs - By: David Bunch

The Aztecs were a race of Indians who were rulers over Mexico more than four hundred years ago, before the first white men came from Europe. In the beginning the Aztecs were just a wandering tribe that came down into central Mexico from the north. They were cruel and savage warriors and soon conquered most of the Indian tribes around them. They founded the city of Tenochtitlan, where Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, stands today. From this great city they ruled many of the Indian peoples of Mexico.

The Aztecs worshipped the sun and the moon as gods, but the most important god of their religion was Huitzilopochtli, the god of war. They built huge stone pyramids with flat tops on which they set up great temples to Huitzilopochtli. On the altars inside these temples the Aztec priests sacrificed prisoners of war by killing them. In spite of their terrible religion the Aztecs were great builders and engineers. The king's palace in Tenochtitlan had hundreds of richly furnished rooms arranged around three great open squares. There were vast public gardens with tropical plants from the south of Mexico and wonderful artificial lakes and pools fed by aqueducts through which water traveled from miles away.

The Aztecs had laws and courts of justice with judges and lawyers. Drunkenness and stealing were punished severely. The Aztecs had a huge army. Their soldiers were armed with bows and arrows, spears, and huge clubs with two rows of razor-sharp stones set in the head. The Aztec priests were able to read and write and had a kind of writing in which they used little pictures instead of letters. They also used certain symbols or pictures for numbers. The priests were the teachers of noblemen's children.

The schools were large buildings attached to the temples. Here the children were taught history, picture writing, religion, and the laws of their nation. Girls were taught to spin cotton into thread, to make cloth, and to cook. Boys who were strong were taught how to be soldiers. The sons of skilled craftsmen were taught their trade by their fathers. The Aztecs raised corn, tomatoes, beans, squash, and some other vegetables. The corn was ground into a coarse powder or meal with grinding stones, and was made into flat round cakes. The Aztecs made chocolatl, chocolate drink from cocoa beans, long before white men even knew about it They also smoked tobacco in pipes. The Aztecs were skilled metal workers and made beautiful ornaments out of gold and silver. In 1520 a small army of Spanish soldiers and explorers, led by Hernando Cortes, arrived in Mexico and defeated the Aztec army after fierce fighting. The Aztec king, Montezuma II, was killed by them, and Mexico became a part of the Spanish Empire with Cortes as governor. See also the articles on Cortes and Montezuma .

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