The Ancient Culture of the Aztec Empire

The Ancient Culture of the Aztec Empire

It was a culture like no other in North America. Where other tribes were nomadic the Aztec built cities of thousands and suburbs with a large agriculture. They had beautiful gardens with plants from all over their world.

Mexico was a city like no other: paved streets, stone buildings, and large pyramids with temples on top. It had a zoo and an aviary with many birds. It had tanks with both fresh and saltwater for fish. But it had no wagons and no beasts of burden.

Montezuma had subjected most all of the towns around, many with several thousand Indians. In the end, this proved to be his undoing as these tribes, after losing in battle, quickly made league with the Spanish conquerors.

Yet for all their science their religion was totally barbaric. They believed their god, a white man, would one day return, which left them open to the Spanish conqueror. Then, they offered human sacrifices and even cannibalism, a horrible practice.

They were a proud people, in the end refusing to give up until many were dead from starvation. The most advanced civilization in North America ultimately fell to the sword of the Spanish and the Conquest.