The Ancient Americas

Featured Cultures

The Aztec Empire
In the 1300s, a society of nomadic hunters and gatherers—driven from other territories in central Mexico—settled in uninhabited or sparsely occupied swampland. Using military skill and political expertise, they gained control over neighboring peoples, forging the empire we call the Aztec.

From the early 1400s to the early 1500s, the Aztec ruled an empire that stretched over hundreds of miles from central Mexico to Guatemala (although some intervening areas never were incorporated.) Like the Inca of Peru, the Aztec created elaborate systems to hold their far-reaching lands and diverse subjects together.

The Capital City
Tenochtitlan (Te-noch-TEET-lahn) was the capital of the Aztec Empire and the center of political power—the hub from which rulers managed the vast realm. Home to 200,000-300,000 people, Tenochtitlan was one of the largest cities in the world in the early 1500s. Here, rulers deployed armies that defended and expanded imperial interests, and amassed vast wealth through tribute items collected from across the empire.

The capital city of Tenochtitlan (Te-noch-TEET-lahn) was considered a wonder of the ancient world. In a magnificent feat of engineering, the Aztec built Tenochtitlan on a swampy island in the middle of Lake Texcoco—where Mexico City lies today. Spanish conquistadors (conquerors) called it the "Venice of the New World" because of its many canals.

Around the city, the Aztec reclaimed swampy land for farming by creating chinampas, artificial islands made of piles of lakebed mud and plants. On the chinampas, farmers grew corn, beans, squash, other vegetables, and flowers. Today, tourists can see preserved chinampas in parks outside Mexico City.

To learn more about what it might have been like to live in the Aztec Empire, take a look at Being a Part of Aztec Society.

From archeological excavations in the capital city and other provincial centers, archaeologists can also determine a great deal about the Aztec system of government.

Other People and Places

The Aztec empire thrived in Mexico and Central America from AD 1428 to 1521, during the same time...

	Pueblo villages, still thriving today, were well established in the Southwest.
	Koniag peoples, a Pacific Eskimo culture, lived on Kodiak along the Alaska coast.
	The Zapotec and Mixtec peoples successfully defended themselves against incorporation into the Aztec empire.
	The houses of York and Lancaster fought the "War of the Roses" for the English crown.
	Ivan the Great ruled Russia as its first Czar.
	Pattani, which later became southern Thailand, became an Islamic kingdom.

Continue to Aztec Bureaucracy. >>