10 Things to Know About the Aztec Empire's Rise and Fall

A powerful and feared civilization in Mesoamerica that faced the Conquistadors, the Aztec earned their place in the annals of history for their blood thirsty sacrifices and their duration as an Empire. Here are 10 things to know about the rise and fall of the Aztec Empire.

1. The Aztecs do not call themselves Aztecs

History is written by the victors, and the victors choose to call the Nahuatl-speaking people they conquered as Aztecs. The word Atzlan or White Land, which according to legend was the homeland of the Aztecs, served as the root word. But Aztecs themselves do not call themselves as such. They called themselves Mexica coming from Mexico Valley.

2. Their foundational myth resembled that of Moses - only bloodier

The beginnings of the Aztecs, or Mexica, started with the fall of the Toltec Civilization. The period saw the establishment of different independent tribes and city-states. The Aztecs, however, found themselves as refugees wandering the land with no place to call home.

They survived through hunting and gathering then supplemented it by serving as mercenaries. Their practice of human sacrifice made them fearsome, thus making them a perfect deterrence, a scarecrow, or a bouncer for city-states. But, hiring Aztecs came with a risk.

Huitzilopochtli

3. Their Devotion to Huitzilopochtli is notorious

The Aztec practiced human sacrifice that turned them to notorious mercenaries. Their notorious bloodletting to say the least rooted from their devotion to Huitzilopochtli, their god of sun and war. They believed to please the god they needed to sacrifice human blood and heart. Thus, the notorious sacrifices and rituals that fascinated many throughout centuries. 

During the Aztecs’ days as mercenaries, one episode turned them into a pariah. In the 1300s the Aztecs proposed a marriage alliance with the Culhuacans who employed their services. A Culhuacan princess to be married to an Aztec. This should give the Aztecs a home and the Culhuacans to have an army.

All good, until the Aztecs, according to legend, upon the wishes of Huitzilopochtli, sacrificed the princess, flayed her, and had a priest dance around in front of the Culhuacan chief wearing the skin. Obviously, the Aztecs got thrown out and wandered once again. They left loitering and without employment as mercenaries with their potential employers scared to follow the Culhuacan example.

4. Aztecs finding their new homeland represented in the Mexican Flag

The white field of the Mexican Flags bears an eagle perched in a cactus. The imagery traced its origins from the end of the wandering years of the Aztecs. Years after butchering a Culhuacan princess, the Aztecs literally saw a sign and decided to establish their home. 

In 1325, Tenoch led the Aztecs at the shores of Lake Texcoco. As per legend, they travelled there upon the advise of the god Hutzilopochtli. There they saw an eagle perched on a cactus. Tenoch saw it as a sign from the war god that they finally found home. 

What home though? A forsaken swamp untouched by neighboring tribes and city-states. Nevertheless they founded their new city there. Honoring Tenoch, the city became known as Tenochtitlan.

Eagle on top of a cactus in the Tovar Codex

5. Tenochtitlan was a god-forsaken place

As stated, in No. 4, the Aztecs built Tenochtitlan in a swamp. They drained parts of the swamp to build their city. However, they lived in a challenging environment.

They sat as if waiting to be killed of thirst, hunger, or by their neighbors. They lacked sources of fresh drinking water. They still hunted, gathered and fished for food, but wind unpredictable finds. Finally, they remained at the mercy of the more powerful neighboring tribes, the Texcocans and the Tepanecs. 

It took a while before the Aztec secured their existence and their place in Lake Texcoco, before finally marching into becoming an empire.

6. Innovation and Politics secured Tenochtitlan

The Aztec displayed great ingenuity and diplomatic finesse that finally secured the Aztecs away from hunger, thirst, and genocide. 

One by one, they solved or at least came up with a band aid solution for their problems. With their food problem, they expanded the use of chinampas, or floating farms made of wick and lakebed soil to grow maize, beans, and other vegetables. Their use of calendars made their planting and harvest accurate. They paid tributes to the Tepanecs to secure access to fresh water. Lastly, they formed an alliance with 2 neighboring tribes: the Texcocans and Tlacopan.

During the reign of Itzcoatl and his adviser Tlaccaelel dated from 1428 to 1440, the so-called Triple Alliance waged a war against the Tepanecs. The fall of their former overlords, finally secured water supply for the Aztecs. They then turned their attention to expansion. 

Tenochtitlan in the Mendoza Codex

7. Moctezuma I saw the Aztec Empire stretch from sea to shining sea. 

Piety grows with every success and the Aztecs made Manifest Destiny meet Jigsaw from Saw. Aztec devotion to their gods meant higher demand for sacrifices. What better source for human sacrifice than POWs.

They then waged an expansionary war, not just for power, but to capture a lot of enemy warriors. Hence, Aztec warfare meant only to injure and capture enemy warriors before shipping them back to their temples. There they sacrificed them to their various pantheons.

By 1440, during the reign of Emperor Moctezuma (Montezuma) I, the Aztec stretched from the coast of the Pacific Ocean to the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. At the onset of the 1500s, The Aztec Empire covered over 500 states and a population of 5 to 6 million.

8. Cacao worked as money in the Aztec Empire

The vast Empire saw vibrant trade. Built from the backs of traveling merchants or of tributes from subjugated states, Tenochtitlan became a majestic city that made later European awestruck. In the middle of this Empire, cacao measured the wealth of an Aztec.

The Empire then buzzed with trade. Traveling merchants called Pochteca traversed the terrains of Mexico to bring to different cities and villages goods as well as information. Tributes and the Pochteca made Tenochtitlan wealthy and began to grow in size of population and grandeur.

So much so, Conquistador marveled at the size of the city. Tenochtitlan matched Venice in grandeur and its population of 140,000 rivaled the numbers of Paris and London. Vast temples to various Aztec gods littered the skyline. Nobles show off their wealth by accumulating cacao beans.

Cacao beans from which chocolate came from became a favorite produce of the Aztecs. They hoarded the beans with the Emperor being the biggest hoarders of course. They also turned it into a spicy beverage xocalatl, the root word of chocolate.

Pochteca in the Florentine Codex

9. A Prophecy foretold the demise of the Aztec Empire

According to an Aztec prophecy, the light-skinned bearded god Quetzacoatl would return to Mexico and rule in the year of One Reed in the Aztec calendar. Converted to Gregorian Calendar, One Reed equalled 1519. True enough, in the coast of Tabasco, white skinned bearded conquistadors led by Hernan Cortez landed in search of El Dorado, the city of gold.

With divine aura, many of the tribes that loathed the Aztecs flocked into Cortez’s side, with Malinali or La Malinche working as interpreters. 400 Europeans with an anti-Aztec coalition challenged then-Aztec Emperor Montezuma II. The Emperor decided to invite Cortez's party and perhaps find favor with the westerners. 

Cortez’s group then arrived at Tenochtitlan that dazzled them. And the Aztecs also found the Euorpeans as a novelty, especially their horses, a creature not known to the area then. Little did they knew, the conquistadors played the role of the horsemen of apocalypse.

Fall of Tenochtitlan

10. Hostage Crisis and 1500s Version of the Wuhan Virus brought the Aztecs’ downfall

While in Tenochtitlan, Cortez’s group exchange pleasantries and enjoyed the Emperor’s hospitality. Unfortunately, they also witnessed a human sacrifice which disgusted them and caused a ruckus in particular, a clash of culture in general. The fighting ended when Cortez made Montezuma II their hostage in the palace surrounded by an angry mob.

The hostage crisis ended when Cortez sent Montezuma to face and calm the people, who ended up stoned and dropped dead. Without the Emperor as a bargaining chip, Cortez’s cabal of Conquistadors executed a daring escape of Tenochtitlan. They succeeded, by leaving one hidden baggage in the marvelous capital, a disease called smallpox.

The epidemic and Cortez’s return to the capital spelled the last chapter of the Mesoamerican Empire. The Aztecs lacked the immunity from smallpox, and it decimated the population. The survivors then faced a massive coalition of tribes with Cortez’s group in the vanguard. It became difficult when the Conquistadors successfully built brigantines in Lake Texococo to provide artillery support. 

The fighting lasted until August 13, 1521. In the end, Tenochtitlan fell alongside 240,000 who perished in the fighting or epidemic prior. The great pyramid temples of the Aztecs fell while the Spanish began to build on top of Tenochtitlan their new capital, Mexico City.