See also: Society in the Spanish Colonial Americas José Sarmiento de Valladares, Count of Moctezuma, viceroy of Mexico

Aztec mythology is known from a number of sources written down in the colonial period. One set of myths, called Legend of the Suns, describe the creation of four successive suns, or periods, each ruled by a different deity and inhabited by a different group of beings. Each period ends in a cataclysmic destruction that sets the stage for the next period to begin. In this process, the deities Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl appear as adversaries, each destroying the creations of the other. The current Sun, the fifth, was created when a minor deity sacrificed himself on a bonfire and turned into the sun, but the sun only begins to move once the other deities sacrifice themselves and offers it their life force. [96] Aztec culture and history is primarily known through archaeological evidence found in excavations such as that of the renowned Templo Mayor in Mexico City; from indigenous writings; from eyewitness accounts by Spanish conquistadors such as Cortés and Bernal Díaz del Castillo; and especially from 16th- and 17th-century descriptions of Aztec culture and history written by Spanish clergymen and literate Aztecs in the Spanish or Nahuatl language, such as the famous illustrated, bilingual (Spanish and Nahuatl), twelve-volume Florentine Codex created by the Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún, in collaboration with indigenous Aztec informants. Important for knowledge of post-conquest Nahuas was the training of indigenous scribes to write alphabetic texts in Nahuatl, mainly for local purposes under Spanish colonial rule. At its height, Aztec culture had rich and complex philosophical, mythological, and religious traditions, as well as achieving remarkable architectural and artistic accomplishments. The Aztec family pattern was bilateral, counting relatives on the father's and mother's side of the family equally, and inheritance was also passed both to sons and daughters. This meant that women could own property just as men, and that women therefore had a good deal of economic freedom from their spouses. Nevertheless, Aztec society was highly gendered with separate gender roles for men and women. Men were expected to work outside of the house, as farmers, traders, craftsmen and warriors, whereas women were expected to take the responsibility of the domestic sphere. Women could however also work outside of the home as small-scale merchants, doctors, priests and midwives. Warfare was highly valued and a source of high prestige, but women's work was metaphorically conceived of as equivalent to warfare, and as equally important in maintaining the equilibrium of the world and pleasing the gods. This situation has led some scholars to describe Aztec gender ideology as an ideology not of a gender hierarchy, but of gender complementarity, with gender roles being separate but equal. [59] Burkhart, Louise M. (1997). "Mexican women on the home front". In S Schroeder; S Wood; RS Haskett (eds.). Indian women of early Mexico. pp.25–54.While human sacrifice was practiced throughout Mesoamerica, the Aztecs, according to their own accounts, brought this practice to an unprecedented level. For example, for the reconsecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, Aztec and Spanish sources later said that 80,400 prisoners were sacrificed over the course of four days, reportedly by Ahuitzotl, the Great Speaker himself. This number, however, is considered by many scholars as wildly exaggerated. Other estimates place the number of human sacrifices at between 1,000 and 20,000 annually. [103] [104] The Aztec faith shared many aspects with other Mesoamerican religions, like that of the Maya, notably including the rite of human sacrifice. In the great cities of the Aztec empire, magnificent temples, palaces, plazas and statues embodied the civilization’s unfailing devotion to the many Aztec gods, including Huitzilopochtli (god of war and of the sun) and Quetzalcoatl (“Feathered Serpent”), a Toltec god who served many important roles in the Aztec faith over the years. The Great Temple, or Templo Mayor, in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc, the rain god. Did you know? The Aztec language, Nahuatl, was the dominant language in central Mexico by the mid-1350s. Numerous Nahuatl words borrowed by the Spanish were later absorbed into English as well, including chile or chili, avocado, chocolate, coyote, peyote, guacamole, ocelot and mescal. Maffie n.d., sec. 2f, citing Caso 1958; Leon-Portilla 1963, ch. II; H. B. Nicholson 1971, pp. 410–2; and I. Nicholson 1959, pp. 60–3. Carrasco, David. "Religione del Messico centrale". Archeologia dell'antico Messico e dell'America centrale: un'enciclopedia. ed. Evans, Susan Toby e David L. Webster. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 2001. 102–08. Stampa.

Carrasco, David (2012). The Aztecs: A very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-1953-7938-9. At first, the Mexica in Tenochtitlan were one of a number of small city-states in the region. They were subject to the Tepanec, whose capital was Azcapotzalco, and had to pay tribute to them. In 1428, the Mexica allied with two other cities—Texcoco and Tlacopan. They formed the Aztec Triple Alliance and were able to win the battle for regional control, collecting tribute from conquered states. Some codices were produces post-conquest, sometimes commissioned by the colonial government, for example Codex Mendoza, were painted by Aztec tlacuilos (codex creators), but under the control of Spanish authorities, who also sometimes commissioned codices describing precolonial religious practices, for example Codex Ríos. After the conquest, codices with calendric or religious information were sought out and systematically destroyed by the church– whereas other types of painted books, particularly historical narratives and tax lists continued to be produced. [26] Although depicting Aztec deities and describing religious practices also shared by the Aztecs of the Valley of Mexico, the codices produced in Southern Puebla near Cholula, are sometimes not considered to be Aztec codices, because they were produced outside of the Aztec "heartland". [26] Karl Anton Nowotny, nevertheless considered that the Codex Borgia, painted in the area around Cholula and using a Mixtec style, was the "most significant work of art among the extant manuscripts". [127] Un altro aspetto che giocò un ruolo fondamentale fu il fatalismo dell’élite. Un’ antica leggenda riguardava Quetzalcoatl, il “serpente piumato” dio civilizzatore che aveva rifiutato i sacrifici umani e per questo era stato cacciato via dagli altri dei. Cortés arrivò in America nel 1519 e nel giro di pochi anni conquistò Tenochtitlán e catturò Montezuma II. Nel 1521 l’impero azteco era di fatto finito. Considerando che, per quanto con armi da fuoco e con cavalli, gli Europei erano pur sempre poco più di cinquecento, in un territorio a loro sconosciuto, un’impresa del genere non sarebbe stata possibile senza l’ appoggio militare e logistico delle popolazioni che conoscevano bene il territorio e il nemico, e che soprattutto erano volenterose di disfarsi del giogo azteco. Cortés sfruttò abilmente entrambi. Il fatalismo dell’élite

The Aztecs appeared in Mesoamerica–as the south-central region of pre-Columbian Mexico is known–in the early 13th century. Their arrival came just after, or perhaps helped bring about, the fall of the previously dominant Mesoamerican civilization, the Toltecs. The Aztec calendar, common in much of Mesoamerica, was based on a solar cycle of 365 days and a ritual cycle of 260 days; the calendar played a central role in the religion and rituals of Aztec society. European Invasion & Fall of the Aztec Civilization The Spanish, led by conquistador Hernando Cortés, arrived in what is now Mexico in 1519. They were looking for gold, and the gifts from the Mexica ruler, Motecuhzoma, proved that gold was present. Upon arriving in Tenochtitlan, Cortés took Motecuhzoma prisoner and attempted to rule on his behalf, but this did not go well, and Cortés fled the city in June of 1520. When New Spain achieved independence in 1821 and became a monarchy, the First Mexican Empire, its flag had the traditional Aztec eagle on a nopal cactus. The eagle had a crown, symbolizing the new Mexican monarchy. When Mexico became a republic after the overthrow of the first monarch Agustín de Iturbide in 1822, the flag was revised showing the eagle with no crown. In the 1860s, when the French established the Second Mexican Empire under Maximilian of Habsburg, the Mexican flag retained the emblematic eagle and cactus, with elaborate symbols of monarchy. After the defeat of the French and their Mexican collaborators, the Mexican Republic was re-established, and the flag returned to its republican simplicity. [163] This emblem has also been adopted as Mexico's national coat of arms, and is emblazoned on official buildings, seals, and signs. [161] Quello che forse colpisce di più della fine dell’impero azteco è che pur essendo un popolo famoso per essere bellicoso, non oppose una resistenza significativa. Questo accadde per vari motivi, da una parte gli Spagnoli sfruttarono le popolazioni sottomesse agli Aztechi, assicurandosi così importanti alleati militari.

Mexican cuisine continues to be based on staple elements of Mesoamerican cooking and, particularly, of Aztec cuisine: corn, chili, beans, squash, tomato, avocado. Many of these staple products continue to be known by their Nahuatl names, carrying in this way ties to the Aztec people who introduced these foods to the Spaniards and to the world. Through spread of ancient Mesoamerican food elements, particularly plants, Nahuatl loan words ( chocolate, tomato, chili, avocado, tamale, taco, pupusa, chipotle, pozole, atole) have been borrowed through Spanish into other languages around the world. [175] Through the spread and popularity of Mexican cuisine, the culinary legacy of the Aztecs can be said to have a global reach. Today, Aztec images and Nahuatl words are often used to lend an air of authenticity or exoticism in the marketing of Mexican cuisine. [177] In popular culture [ edit ] Carrasco, David (2000). City of Sacrifice: The Aztec Empire and the Role of Violence in Civilization. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0-8070-4642-5. OCLC 41368255. Nevertheless, the expansion of the empire was accomplished through military control of frontier zones, in strategic provinces where a much more direct approach to conquest and control was taken. Such strategic provinces were often exempt from taxation. The Aztecs even invested in those areas, by maintaining a permanent military presence, installing puppet-rulers, or even moving entire populations from the center to maintain a loyal base of support. [65] In this way, the Aztec system of government distinguished between different strategies of control in the outer regions of the empire, far from the core in the Valley of Mexico. Some provinces were treated as subject provinces, which provided the basis for economic stability for the empire, and strategic provinces, which were the basis for further expansion. [66] The Nahuatl words aztēcatl ( Nahuatl pronunciation: [asˈteːkat͡ɬ], singular) [10] and aztēcah ( Nahuatl pronunciation: [asˈteːkaʔ], plural) [10] mean "people from Aztlan", [11] a mythical place of origin for several ethnic groups in central Mexico. The term was not used as an endonym by Aztecs themselves, but it is found in the different migration accounts of the Mexica, where it describes the different tribes who left Aztlan together. In one account of the journey from Aztlan, Huitzilopochtli, the tutelary deity of the Mexica tribe, tells his followers on the journey that "now, no longer is your name Azteca, you are now Mexitin [Mexica]". [12]Maffie n.d., sec 2f: "Literally, 'Two God', also called in Tonan, in Tota, Huehueteotl, 'our Mother, our Father, the Old God'"

Maffie n.d., sec 2b,2c, citing Hunt 1977 and I. Nicholson 1959; Leon-Portilla 1966, p. 387 cited by Barnett 2007, "M. Leon-Portilla argues that Ometeotl was neither strictly pantheistic nor strictly monistic." Berdan, Frances F. "Archeologia ed etnostoria azteca". New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014. Stampa. Cáceres-Lorenzo, M.T. (2015). "Diffusion trends and Nahuatlisms of American Spanish: Evidence from dialectal vocabularies". Dialectologia et Geolinguistica. 23 (1): 50–67. doi: 10.1515/dialect-2015-0004. hdl: 10553/43280. S2CID 151429590. Bueno, Christina (2016). The Pursuit of Ruins: Archaeology, History, and the Making of Modern Mexico. University of New Mexico Press. ISBN 978-0-8263-5732-8.Batalla, Juan José (2016). "The Historical Sources: Codices and Chronicles". In Deborah L. Nichols; Enrique Rodríguez-Alegría (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs. Vol.1. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199341962.013.30. Sotto Montezuma I (1440-1468) e suo figlio Axayacatl (1469-81) si estesero a Sud fino ad arrivare a Oaxaca. Ahuitzotl (1486-1502) estese il dominio azteco fino all’ odierno Guatemala. Il suo successore Montezuma II (1502-20) dovette affrontare una sfida diversa: l’invasione spagnola. La guerra per gli Aztechi Aztec series". Macmillan Publishers. Archived from the original on 22 September 2018 . Retrieved 12 April 2018. Main article: Aztec Empire Motecuzoma I Ilhuicamina [ edit ] The coronation of Motecuzuma I, Tovar Codex In 1428, under their leader Itzcoatl, the Aztecs formed a three-way alliance with the Texcocans and the Tacubans to defeat their most powerful rivals for influence in the region, the Tepanec, and conquer their capital of Azcapotzalco. Itzcoatl’s successor Montezuma (Moctezuma) I, who took power in 1440, was a great warrior who was remembered as the father of the Aztec empire.