1. Aztec" refers exclusively to the people of Tenochtitlan, situated on an island in Lake Texcoco - from when the 1st ruler, Acamapichtli (1376-1396), guided early construction of the city through the last and 11th ruler, Cuauhtemoc (1520-1525), who was governing when the Spanish destroyed Tenochtitlan and the Aztec empire ended.

2. Several types of money were in regular use; small purchases were made with cacao beans and larger purchases were made with cotton cloth called quachtli.

3. Parents taught children responsibility, citizenship, and life-skills - harsh punishments were handed out if child disobeyed - children of noble class attended calmecac (school) and the workers’ children attended telpochcalli and were taught occupational skills, warfare, history, good citizenship, religion but girls were trained for marriage.

4. Maize (yellow corn) was main food source along with avocados, tomatoes, tamales, tortillas, vegetables, meat, corn, chili peppers, squash, and chocolate.

5. Children played tlachtli – a ball game for teams much like a combination of basketball and soccer and patolli – a gambling game played with dried beans and pebbles.

6. Harsh laws maintained order where the emperor would act as judge and citizens would act a jury.

7. N’ahuatl is a system of hundreds of pictures that created an alphabet and scribes and priests were the only ones who could write.

8. War was a big part of the culture and all boys were trained to fight.

9. Aztecs used two different calendars, one measured time, while the other was used to fix religious festivals.

10. Religion was very important part of Aztec life and music was a huge part of religious ceremonies (and story-telling) - the instruments they used were shells, rattles, whistles, horns, bells and drums.