Aztec Empire: A Visual History

The Aztec Empire was the alliance of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tlacopan formed in 1428 after the Mexica overthrew their Tepanec overlords. Under Itzcoatl, Moctezuma I, Ahuitzotl and Moctezuma II it extended tribute rule over 5 to 6 million people from the Gulf to the Pacific and south to Guatemala, though it never conquered the Tlaxcalans or Tarascans. Tenochtitlan, on an island in Lake Texcoco, had 200,000 people, causeways, aqueducts and the Templo Mayor, where captives were sacrificed to Huitzilopochtli. Hernan Cortes landed in 1519, allied with Tlaxcala, seized Moctezuma, and after smallpox and a 93-day siege took the city on 13 August 1521.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Aztec Empire. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Aztec territory

Timeline of the Aztec Empire

1. 1325
   Tenochtitlan founded
2. 1428
   Triple Alliance formed
3. 1440
   Moctezuma IExpansion beyond the valley.
4. 1487
   Templo Mayor rededicated
5. 1502
   Moctezuma II
6. 1519
   Cortes enters Tenochtitlan8 November.
7. 1520
   Night of Sorrows; smallpox
8. 1521
   Tenochtitlan falls13 August.

The Mexica

The Mexica, Nahuatl-speaking migrants from the north, founded Tenochtitlan on a marshy island in 1325 where, legend says, they saw an eagle on a cactus with a serpent. They served the Tepanecs of Azcapotzalco as mercenaries until Itzcoatl and Nezahualcoyotl of Texcoco destroyed them in 1428 and formed the Triple Alliance. Tlacaelel, the power behind four rulers, rewrote history and made Huitzilopochtli's need for hearts the state ideology.

Empire of tribute

The Aztecs did not occupy conquered lands; defeated cities kept their rulers and paid tribute in maize, cotton cloth, cacao, feathers, gold and captives, recorded in the Codex Mendoza. 'Flower wars' with Tlaxcala provided sacrificial victims. Ahuitzotl (1486-1502) rededicated the Templo Mayor with the sacrifice of thousands. Tenochtitlan's chinampa gardens fed it, and its market at Tlatelolco astonished the Spaniards with 60,000 traders.

Conquest

Cortes arrived with about 500 men in 1519, won over Cempoala and Tlaxcala, massacred the Cholulans and entered Tenochtitlan on 8 November, where Moctezuma received him and was taken hostage. The Spaniards fled with heavy losses on the Night of Sorrows in June 1520; smallpox then killed perhaps a third of the city, including the new ruler Cuitlahuac. Cortes returned in 1521 with brigantines and up to 100,000 native allies, besieged the city for three months and captured Cuauhtemoc in its ruins.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Spanish Empire (1492 to 1976)
• Tarascan Empire (1300 to 1530)
• Inca Empire (1438 to 1533)
• First Mexican Empire (1821 to 1823)

Wars of the same era and region

• Spanish conquest of Mexico (1519 to 1521)
• Mexican War of Independence (1810 to 1821)

8 surprising things about the Aztec Empire

1. The eagle, cactus and serpent of the Mexica founding legend are on the flag of Mexico.
2. Tenochtitlan was larger than any European city except perhaps Paris and Constantinople; Bernal Diaz thought it a dream.
3. The Aztecs had no wheeled vehicles or draft animals; everything was carried by porters or canoes.
4. Chocolate, tomatoes, avocados and chillies came to the world from Aztec Mexico; cacao beans were used as money.
5. Moctezuma II reportedly drank 50 cups of chocolate a day, according to Diaz.
6. The 1487 Templo Mayor dedication is claimed to have killed 80,400 victims in four days; historians think a few thousand.
7. The Aztecs called themselves Mexica; 'Aztec' from Aztlan, their legendary homeland, was popularised in the nineteenth century.
8. The tzompantli skull rack found in 2015 near the Templo Mayor held thousands of skulls, confirming the Spanish accounts.

Sources

• Aztec Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Aztec Empire Wikipedia
• Aztec Civilization World History Encyclopedia
• Matthew Restall, When Montezuma Met Cortes (2018) Ecco

Back to all empires and wars