The Aztec Empire history - Research Paper Example

The primary source of their lifestyle and history about the Aztec civilization is gathered from the archaeological evidences which are found from the excavations of the famous Temple Mayor, situated in the Mexico City. Many other evidences are also gathered from the codices of indigenous bark papers and record of the direct eyewitness of people who came as Spanish conquistadors such as Hernan Cortes and Bernal Diaz del Castillo. Apart from this, the account recorded by the Spanish clergymen pertaining to the description of the Aztec culture and civilization during the 16th and the 17th century forms a valuable document in this regard.

The literate Aztecs who received enlightenment in Spanish and Nahuatl language also contributed much to the formation of Aztec history through their valuable documentation of their knowledge with the help of indigenous Aztec informants. The renowned book named Florentine Codex, which is a well documented compilation done by the Franciscan monk Bernardino de Sahagun and was formatted with the help of the indigenous Aztec informants stands out to be the most valuable text captivating the history of the Aztec empire (Berdan 1982).

The Aztec Empire: Origin, Formation and the Rise to Power The word ‘Aztec’ originated from the Nahuatl word “people from Aztlan”, which means a mythological place for the Nahuatl speaking contemporary people, belonging to the culture of that time. The Aztec empire originated as a tribute empire which is based in Tenochtitlan. Tenochtitlan had an extension of its power throughout the vast region of Mesoamerica during the latter half of the post-classic period (Smith 2001, pp. 250-252).

Aztec Empire was formed in the year 1427 and it was formed as an alliance between three ‘city – states’ of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tlacopan. These three ‘city – states’ actually formed an alliance between them to defeat the Tepanec state of Azcapotzalco which dominated the region within the Basin of Mexico for a long time. Within a very short span of time, the ‘city-states’ of Texcoco and Tlacopan were subverted as junior partners in the alliance which was headed by the Mexica of Tenochtitlan (Smith 1997, pp. 49-58). Through a great combination of trade and military annexation, the empire never exercised its control through military quest and aggression rather it took a very subtle strategy under which it tried to control the client states by implementing marital alliance with them by extending imperial ideology between the ruling dynasties and the client states of the empire (Smith 1997, pp. 174-175). Client states paid homage to the Aztec state through an economic strategy bearing the name Huey Tlatoani which limits the communication and trade amid the outlying polities who became dependent on the imperial central for the accumulation and quest of luxury goods (Smith 1997, pp.

 176–182) The political clout of the triple alliance extended to the far south into Mesoamerica thereby conquering the cities situated in far south like Chiapas and Guatemala. The highest extent of prosperity and annexation by the empire took place during 1519 which is chronologically marked as the year just before the