Internal Causes for Downfall of Aztec Empire

THESIS STATEMENT

The conquest of the Aztecs in the 15th century was not totally due to Spanish incursion but by internal problems within the Aztec empire.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The people known as the Aztecs were strictly the inhabitants of their capital city, Tenochtitlan located on Lake Texcoco (what is now Mexico City). The Aztecs were the most powerful tribe at that time known for their prowess as fearsome, conquering warriors.

The Aztecs were known to incorporate the culture of other tribes into their own. That is, they included the cultural aspects of the nations they conquered into their ceremonies. It is noted that some of Mayan culture has been interspersed with the Aztecs. The Aztecs had developed their own language, Nahuatl.

Politically, the Aztecs were ruled by a king who had supreme control. The society were made up of the Aztec ruler, the priests and noblemen, the officials (who carried out the laws of the state), the merchants, the craftsmen, the peasants/commoners (who served the upper classes) and finally the slaves being the lowest level and comprised of those persons who were captured in battle or who were sold into slavery.

Economically, the Aztecs were initially very innovative as they had developed their ‘floating gardens’/ chinampas in which they grew their crops of beans, squash, peppers, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, cocoa and their staple crop of maize /corn. They also had one the largest markets in which trading occurred. Thousands of persons sold everything from gold, gems, to unknown stones, adobe bricks and timber.

Socially, the Aztecs had also built and decorated the temples and other buildings. They developed the calendar stone and make colourful garments and headdresses, famous with the Queztl birds’ feathers. Religion was an important part of Aztec life. They were polytheistic, worshipping many Gods.

To worship these Gods, however, the Aztecs carried out the ritual of blood sacrifices. The blood sacrifices were usually...