Aztec Disease

Tenochtitlan, their capital city state, is on an island in the texcoco lake. It is touching the gulf of mexico, in central america. The Aztec empire had pockets of land it was not able to conquer, but have managed to surround them. The southern edge of their boundaries are mountainous, so they have not really used the land for city states. The Balsas river comes into the center of the Aztec empire, and the city states around the lake have plenty of water.

Since the city could not accommodate a great deal of crops, chinampas allowed the Aztecs to create fertile farmland on the canals. What started off as a new way to utilize the lake beds became a large-scale operation that defines a part of Aztec culture. As a whole, the Aztecs took the land they were exiled to and transformed it into a legendary

Huitzilopochtli was also the God of war that fought for the Aztec empire. His homeland is Tenochtitlan where he appeared in dreams and told Aztec priests to build a temple in the middle of lake Texcoco where they would see an eagle landing on a cactus. According to Ramon Eduardo Ruiz in his book “Mexico: Why Are Few Are Rich and the People Poor,” the conquistadores witnessed Aztecs appreciating Huitzilopochtli with bloody rituals. The Aztecs thought it was essential to fuel the sun with Human blood and so they would sacrifice prisoners at the top of their Temple. Ruiz explains that the conquistadores reported about twenty thousand victims a year.

As some may conclude the Aztecs performed human sacrifice out of pure evil, the real reason behind the gruesome act revolved around the Aztec’s gods. The ritual of human sacrifice was ultimately to receive the god’s gifts, which gave them life. In document J the previous opinion is discussed saying, “…humans must sacrifice that which was most important to them – life – to receive the sun, the rain, and other blessings of the gods that made life possible”(Document J). If Aztecs looked at human sacrifice in this way it can be argued that they participated in this act for the sake of keeping the gods happy, who were the providers of everyday fundamentals such as the sun and rain. Ultimately, the Aztecs were determined to give the gift of life to the god’s.

“Before the Black Death, hospitals were institutions designed primarily to isolate, rather than cure the sick. They were removed from the mainstream of society so that they would not infect or offend the healthy,”(Gottfried 120). “When a sick person entered a hospital, he was treated as if he were dead. His property was disposed of and , in many regions, a quasi- requiem mass was said for his soul; certainly no one expected to see the poor wretch again,”(Gottfried 120). “Most post-plague hospitals were divided into wards- some for those with broken bones, others for different types of degenerative diseases, and still others for those with infectious diseases,”(Gottfried 121).

As scientists believe, ancient culture, which gave rise to all the others, was the Olmec civilization. Therefore, all people of pre-Columbian America is characterized by several common features: hieroglyphic writing, illustrated books, calendar, human sacrifice, ritual ball game, belief in life after death, stepped pyramids. In this unit response, I would like to describe three main cultures in Mesoamerica: Olmec, Maya and Aztec. Despite occasional contenders for its title as the “Mother Culture” of Mesoamerica, the Olmec culture is still identified as the oldest sustained high civilization in Mesoamerica.

In the 1930s, the president of Mexico, Cardenas, was in imperialism. He was introduced nationalism and land reformation. The mexicans wanted the British to side with them because the ability of certain workers. In 1938, Mexico nationalised mainly British oil companies. Mexico is part of one federal district and is made up of 31 states.

The Aztecs called themselves Mexica, which was the name of priest-chief from ancient, legendary times of Mexi. There is a legendary story which tells that Mexica hailed from Chicomoztoc, the Seven Caves, from the northern lands called Aztlan i.e. the Place of Whiteness. The word Aztec is derived from this same place known as Aztlan. The shifting of Aztecs from the north to central part of Mexico marked the beginning of a tribal story; the tale about the quest and discovery of the omen and the

In fact, “Native Americans died in appalling numbers, in many cases up to 90 percent of the population.” The diseases were at its worst in the Aztec and Inca Empires since the people lived close together. However, in the old world, disease related deaths were not nearly as prevalent as in the Americas. The reason for this difference is that the Native Americans had no domesticated animals (except llamas), which resulted in no acquired immunities to old world diseases.

The Spanish retreated from Tenochtitlan, by fighting their way out, away from the angry mobs. The Spaniards took shelter with the Tlaxacan where they devised a plan to finally to conquer the Aztecs once and for all. The Spaniards, Tlaxacan, and other allied tribes all returned to Tenochtitlan with reinforcements and a siege. After eighty days of bloody battles Cuauhtémoc surrendered to the Spaniards, and that was the end of the Aztec

The Aztecs have a very known reputation for their sacrificial practices. They are known to be cruel and terrifying, but looking past all of their human sacrifices, they had a great civilization, in fact, their human sacrifices were very spiritual and religious. Also, the Aztecs were the only civilization that not only provided free education to all, but required all to attend school. Along with that, they also had a very innovative agricultural system.

The Aztecs were one of the most famous and successful early civilizations of the Americas that we know of, who ruled an empire in the modern day country of Mexico from 1350 to 1519. From their capital city of Tenochtitlan, now known as Mexico City, to their daily routines, the Aztecs had many achievements that they deserve recognition for. Two very important components in the history of the Aztecs are agriculture and human sacrifice. Although they both play huge roles in Aztec culture, historians should emphasize on their methods of farming. The reasons why historians should center their focus on the Aztecs' agricultural techniques are they affected the growth of their empire, were used on a huge scale, and were very unique in comparison to other

By 1250, they settled near the shores of Lake Texcoco and by 1325 they had begun building the majestic city of Tenochtitlan. In 1518 Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes held an expedition to conquer Mexico and the Aztec holds almost the central and southern of Mexico. The Aztec was also in a never ending

In central Mexico the Spanish myth of the golden northern land stirred awareness in the legend of Aztlan. According to their own histories the Aztecs had left their homeland in 1168 and journeyed to the lakes where in 1325 where found in Tenochtitlan. By mid-1700’s the Edenic picture of the north had been forgotten in the minds of the authorities in Mexico City. Since most of the settler from the very beginning were Indians and Mestizos and had intermarried with northern natives it wasn’t surprising that eventually saw the border land as their

The Aztecs are said to not have settled there until about 1320 or 1325 when they founded their capital city, Tenochtitlan. For 200 years prior