Huitzilopochtli – god of war, sun and the nation
Mictlantecuhtl – god of the dead
Quetzalcoatl - god of knowledge, creation, priesthood, and wind
Talocan – home of the gods
Tezcatlipoca – god of magic, war and death
Tezcatlipoca – god of speech and language
Tlaloc – god of rain
Tloque Nahuaque - Lord of everywhere, the one supreme force, both male and female
Xipe Totec – god of spring and new life, god of suffering
Xochipilli - prince of flowers, god of dawn, dance and love
Rulers
11 emperors
1st ruler was Acamapichtli (1376-1396): he guided early construction of the city
most well-known ruler was the 5th - Montezuma Ilhuicamina (1440-1469): he established the Aztecs' victorious military program, greatly expanded Aztec empire. Was know as “Angry Lord, Archer in the Sky”
last ruler was the 11th - Cuauhtemoc (1520-1525) Spanish destroy the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, Aztec empire ends, Cuauhtemoc hung by Cortes' people
School
children of noble class attended calmecac (school)
boys and girls attended separate schools
the workers’ children attended telpochcalli and were taught occupational skills, warfare, history, good citizenship, religion
cuicacalli (military school) could be attended by boys at age 15
Aztec girls learned spinning at age 4 and cooking at age 12
girls were trained for marriage
Technology / Medicine
Aztecs used two different calendars, one measured time, while the other was used to fix religious festivals
Aztec doctors used many herbal remedies both to cure and prevent illness
used splints to set fractures
Aztec doctors understood a great deal about the human body
Trade
Aztec merchants were called pochtecas
some common items sold at markets were golden jewelry, feather caps, tortoise shell cups, spices, and cocoa beans
merchant life was hard and very dangerous
since pochtecas carried valuable items, they left cities at night and had secret warehouses for storing their goods in fear of thieves
pochtecas also served as spies to the ruler of Tenochtitlan in the lands they visited
they spoke many different languages and easily blended in with other tribes
porters were the ones that transported all of the goods back and forth to the cities because there were no carts or horses
porters carried 60-90 pound loads on their backs with a strap around their forehead
what was not carried by porters was transported by water in a dug-out canoe
Spanish Conquest
Cortes landed on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico it was Good Friday in 1519
Aztec greeted Spaniards with food and gold
Cortes set off to Tenochtitlan with 400 soldiers, 16 horses, several cannons
150,000 enemies of the Aztec joined Cortes
November 8, 1519 began the fight against the Aztec civilization
Cortes took Montezuma II hostage
Montezuma encouraged his people to befriend the Spaniards
People disagreed and elected Cuitlahuac, Montezuma's brother, as new ruler
Tenochititlan was destroyed August 31, 1521, and Mexico City was built upon the ruins
an estimated 3/4 of Aztecs died from war and disease the first century of conquest
Spanish introduced horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, sugar, grains and fruits to the American continent
Spanish took potatoes, tomatoes, beans and maize back to Europe
Subject Index 
