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It is said that the Aztec god, Huitzilopochtli, instructed the Aztecs to found their city at the location where they saw an eagle, on a cactus, with a snake in its talons (which is on the current Mexican flag). The Aztecs, apparently, saw this vision on the small island where Tenochtitlan was founded.
The Aztecs [a] (/ ˈ æ z t ɛ k s / AZ-teks) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to the 16th centuries.
The word Aztec in modern usage would not have been used by the people themselves. It has variously been used to refer to the Aztecs or Triple Alliance, the Nahuatl-speaking people of central Mexico prior to the Spanish conquest, or specifically the Mexica ethnicity of the Nahuatl-speaking tribes (from tlaca). [7]
Aztec society was a highly complex and stratified society that developed among the Aztecs of central Mexico in the centuries prior to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, and which was built on the cultural foundations of the larger region of Mesoamerica.
The higher officials in Tenochtitlan lived in the great palace complexes that made up the city. Adding even more complexity to Aztec social stratification was the calpōlli. Calpōlli is a group of families related by either kinship or proximity. These groups consist of both elite members of Aztec society and commoners.
Most information regarding Aztec cooking tools comes from finding the tools themselves, as depictions of the tools in art are rare, and when they are featured, they aren't particularly prominent or detailed. Luckily, tools were most often made of stone and ceramics and as such can be found in large quantities in good condition for study. [12]
Dams – the Aztec in Tenochtitlan constructed great dams during the heyday of the Aztec Empire. Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire, was first built on a small island that was located in the western section of Lake Texcoco in 1325 CE. The Aztec created various large artificial islands around the small island using a system that was ...
Since 1810, the name "Aztec” has been more common when referring to the Mexica and the two names have become largely interchangeable. [5] When a distinction is made, Mexica are one (dominant) group within the Aztecs.