The Aztecs: History, Expansion, and Society

The Aztecs

The Aztecs arrived to the valley of Mexico around the year 1218. They took refuge on the marshy lands around Lake Texcoco, where, in 1344 or 1345 they built the town of Tenochtitlan. At this time the Aztec community was composed of a small number of kinship, landholding groups called calpulli.

Aztec Imperial Expansion

For a long time the Aztec were subservient to the Azcopotzalco. But in 1428 the Aztec war chief Itzcoatl, the Texcoco and the Tlacopan joined forces to destroy the Azcopotzalco. This triple alliance led to the conquest of the valley of Mexico and much of Middle America. Gradually the Aztec got stronger than their allies. The conquest of the Valley of Mexico made it easier for the Aztecs to conquer the rest of Middle America since it offered short lines of communication and easily defensible mountain barriers. The lands of the Valley of Mexico were control by macehualtin who owed tribute, labor, and military service to the Aztec state.

In the Valley of Mexico many of the landowners that were established had to leave due to erosion and internal economic differentiation. Capulli worked better in areas where the stratification was less pronounced. By the arrival of the Spanish the Aztec people were mainly mayeque who had to render tribute and service to their noble owner.

Itzcoatl extended the Aztecan ruling over and beyond the valley of Mexico. Montezuma II became ruler in 1502. According to the estimates the Aztecan ruled over 25,000 people. The Aztecan were very aggressive and engaged without provocation. Every time they fought they would take prisoners and offer them in Tenochtitlan. They imposed the payment of tribute to all the people they conquered. Division of labor eventually got to a point where much of the artisans were not engaging in agriculture anymore. This artisans and merchants began to have even more wealth than Aztecan rulers and nobility.

The priesthood and the nobility shared the same level of importance, but their functions were different. The priest had an enormous influence over Aztecan people, who called upon them for their wisdom and their powers to communicate with the gods. The nobility had power over the land, but they were also integrated by tribute collectors, judges, ambassadors, and the like.