Must of the stuff you need to know about the Aztecs in about 5 minutes.

By: Chayanne Hyde

The daily life of an Aztec

family was very much like

today’s modern family.

The men worked in farms

or if they were gifted in the

arts, the craftworks.

Women stayed home and

weaved clothes for their

family and cooked. Every

member of the household,

including the children,

helped in the household.

The Aztec capital city was Tenochtitlan, now called Mexico City. The Aztecs were surrounded by mountains and they literally lived in the middle of a lake. To the south of the land, they had a grassland were they fought many battles against enemies. In the land, there were palaces, parks, ball courts, a zoo, a very busy market, and a gigantic temple to worship their Gods.

The Aztec government was a series of branches. The Huey Tatiana (Great Speaker) was in charge of the land, almost like the president in modern days. The city council was after the Tatiana and it supported anything the Tatiana put into order. The Calculi was after the city council and they were a group of families responsible for one part of the land. The Calculi took care of local problems such as school and land issues.

The language the Aztec spoke is called Nahuatl. Nahuatl is a group of related languages of the Nahuan (Previously called Aztecan) branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Other languages were spoken in the Aztec civilization also. For example, Pima, Comanche, and Shoshone were spoken within the Aztec civilization.

According to the mythology of the Aztecs, the three top Gods were Huitzilopochtli (God of War), Tezcatlipoca (God of Magic and Darkness), and Quetzalcoatl (God of Intelligence and Self-Reflection). The Aztecs also sacrificed humans believing that the Gods needed to be nourished. Human hearts were also given as a gift to the Gods.

The supreme ruler was at

the top of the social

pyramid. Next were the

priests and nobles of the

land. After them were the

officials and merchants.

Next on the social pyramid

were craftsmen or artisans.

After them were the

commoners and peasants.

Finally, all the way at the

bottom of the social

pyramid were the slaves.

Sacrificial pyramids were important so each major city had at least one. The royal palace was very big including a two story house with a big courtyard. One of the most famous pyramids is the pyramid of the sun in Teotihuacan. Aztec homes were usually made out of adobe with thatched roofs. They were two buildings, one was the main home and the other was the steam bath.

The Aztecs used

chinampas to grow their

crops. Chinampa is an

agricultural field created

by swamp drainage or

landfill operations along

the edges of lakes. A

common crop grown by

the Aztecs was maize and

squash. When looking at

all the agriculture of the

Aztecs, it is easy to say it

was very complicated.

They were the first people

to have mandatory

education. They were the

first people to successfully

remove fluid from the knee,

which helped the doctors

of modern society. They

also developed an accurate

system of measurement.

The Aztecs also gave the

first idea of a calendar,

their form of music and

dance, and poetry.