skateboarding…..

Step 1:
Where did the Aztecs originally live?
-Around 700 years ago the Aztec peoples left their homes in Atzlan, somewhere in North West Mexico. They came to the Valley of Mexico named Anahuac, led by their chieftain Tenoch.

What prompted them to relocate? –

They were a poor, ragged people who ate rats, snakes, and stole food. They were just too wild and nasty. So they were driven from one place to another. But Legend does say that Tenoch had a vision where they were to leave and arrive in a land where there would be an eagle perched on a cactus holding a snake in its mouth. It turns out that they arrived in the snake infested land and there was the eagle!

Where did they end up and why?
The Aztecs ended up in the middle of a lake and built their new capital Tenochtitlan.
Step 2:
What were the pros and cons of settling in the middle of a lake?
Pros: Easy Transportation, easy to sell food and other merchandise.
Cons: Marshy and Snake infested.

Describe the lay of the land and chose an image for your exhibit.

These were islands, made by piling up plants and black sticky mud from the lake. The edges of the chinampa were held in place by wooden posts. Trees were planted to help hold the soil together. People moved about between their chinampas and the causeway to the city in canoes that they hollowed out from trees. Eventually most of the lake surrounding Tenochtitlan was filled with chinampas.
Step 3:
Which gods were worshiped?
Tezcatlipoca-God of the Great Bear Constellation and of the Night Sky. Tezcatlipoca’s animal disguise was the jaguar, the spotted skin of which was compared to the starry sky.
Quetzalcoatl- (from quetzalli, “precious feather,” and coatl, “snake”), the Feathered Serpent was one of the major gods of the Aztecs. Quetzalcoatl was the god of morning and the evening star.

Tlaloc- Tlaloc was the Aztec rain god. His name means He Who Makes Things Sprout. Tlaloc was the eighth ruler of the days and the ninth lord of the nights. Tlaloc was pictured as a man wearing a net of clouds, a crown of heron feathers, foam sandals and carrying rattles to make thunder.

Chalchuitlicu- Before the Sun that now shines brightly over Mexico came into being, there had been other suns; four in all. Each sun died away in turn before our present Sun appeared. The fourth Sun, Chalchuitlicu, had been a water goddess, copper-coloured and dressed in emerald green. For hundreds of years she provided light and warmth; and in that time the first men and women appeared on Earth.
Huitzilopochtli- The Aztec’s main god was Huitzilopochtli. It was he who told the Aztecs where to build their city. He was the Sun god who they fed with human sacrifice. He was the god of war an important god!
-Xipe - Totec - one of the ‘farming’ gods.  He was quite a gentle god compared with some of the others.

Step 4:
Who are the different members of Aztec society?

The Aztec society was divided into 3 classes- slaves, commoners, and nobility.

What are their roles?

Slaves: The children of poor parents could be sold, usually for only a certain time period. Slaves could buy back their freedom.

The slaves that escaped and reached the royal palace without being caught were given their freedom instantly.

Commoners:

The most numerous social group was known as the macehualtin; these people were engaged in agriculture and the common trades. Although they worked the land in family units and were allowed to kept their produce, the land itself was collectively owned by the inhabitants of the neighborhood or calpulli. Commoners were given lifetime ownership of an area of land. The lowest group of commoners were not allowed to own property. They were tenant farmers, they just got to use the land and never be owners. The lower social orders were made up by peasants, who like the European serfs, were attached to the lands owned by the nobility and were obliged to cultivate them in exchange for part of the harvest.

Nobility:

The nobilities were the people who were nobles by birth, priests, and those who earned their rank. The very highest social sphere was occupied by a minority of families known as the pipiltin. These people were members of the hereditary nobility and occupied the top positions in the government, the army and the priesthood. The nobles chose a supreme leader known as the tlatoani from within their own group; in Nahuatl this name means he that speaks. This leader was greatly revered and ruled until his death. In Aztec society, warriors, priests, and the nobility were considered to be among the most respected in the Aztecan social hierarchy Because of the Aztecs’ emphasis on warfare, the warrior class was highly valued, and often warriors would volunteer for the most important Aztec sacrificial rituals.

Step 5:
The Aztecs have a spoken language. What was it called?

The Aztec spoke a language called Nahuatl (pronounced NAH waht l). It belongs to a large group of Indian languages, which also include the languages spoken by the Comanche, Pima, Shoshone and other tribes of western North America.

Did they use any other forms of communication?
The Aztecs also used pictographs to communicate through writing. Some of the pictures symbolized ideas and other represented the sounds of the syllables.

Step 6:
How did the Aztecs grow food and what was their main crop?

The principal food of the Aztec was a thin cornmeal pancake called a tlaxcalli. (In Spanish, it is called a tortilla.) They used the tlaxcallis to scoop up foods while they ate or they wrapped the foods in the tlaxcalli to form tacos. They hunted for most of the meat in their diet and the chief game animals were deer, rabbits, ducks and geese. The only animals they raised for meat were turkeys and dogs.

Did they trade and with whom?

Organized trade was another important economic activity among the Mexican’s. Traders, known as pochteca, were generally held in high regard and their social status was fairly elevated, although they were not exempt from paying tribute. The pochteca covered different trade routes to go to different zones — even going as far abroad as the Maya zone or even as far as what is today Panama

Did they have a currency (money)?
They used cacao as a basic currency while trading in tianguises (trade markets).

Step 7:
Discuss the Impact of Spanish Contact 1519 from both the Aztec point of view and the Spanish point of view.
For the Spanish it was a great victory. They thought they had defeated the greatest empire of mad ragging men, but in truth they had defeated on of the most amazing civilizations. They were astounded at their arrival once they say the great city of Tenochtitlán, and after they won they probably thought that they were the greatest warriors in the world. On the other hand the Aztecs probably felt extremely stupid after losing. This is because when Cortes first arrived they thought he was the reincarnation of Quetzalcoatl and let him have the King’s Thrown. Unfortunately for the Aztecs, he was not. He was sent there to kill  them.
Discuss La Malinche or Dona Marina. Debate her positive/negative impact on Mexico past and present.

Step 8:

Many Mexicans continue to insult the woman called Doña Marina by the Spaniards and La Malinche by the Aztecs, labeling her a traitor and harlot for her role as the alter-ego of Cortes as he conquered Mexico. They ignore the fact that she saved thousands of Indian lives by enabling Cortes to negotiate rather than slaughter. Her ability to communicate also enabled the Spaniards to introduce Christianity and attempt to end human sacrifice and cannibalism. Herself a convert, baptized Marina, she was a powerful believer for her new faith.
What does the term Mestizo refer to?
Mestizo is a term of Spanish origin used to designate the people of mixed European and indigenous non-European ancestry.

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