The Aztec Indians, who are known for their 
domination of southern and central Mexico, ruled between the 
14th and 16th centuries.   Their name is derived from 
Azatlan, the homeland of the north.   The  Aztecs also call 
themselves Mexica and there language came from the Nahuatlan 
branch of the Uto-Aztecan family.
	The Aztecs were formed after the Toltec civilization 
occurred when hundreds of civilians came towards Lake 
texcoco.   Late families were unfortunate and were forced to 
go to the swamp lands.   In the swamp lands there was only 
one piece of land to farm on and it was totally surrounded 
by more marshes .    The Aztec families  some how converted 
these disadvantages  to a might empire known as they Aztec 
Empire.   People say the empire was partially formed by  a 
deeply believed legend. As the the legend went it said that 
Aztec people would create a empire on in a swampy place 
where they would see an eagle eating a snake while perched 
on a cactus which is growing out of a rock in the 
swamplands.    This is what priests claimed they saw while 
entering the new land.
	By the year 1325 Their capital city was finished.   
They called it Tenochtitlan.   In the the capital city 
aqueducts (piping) were constructed, bridges were built, and 
chinapas were made.   Chinapas were little islands formed by 
pilled up mud.   On these chinapas Aztecs grew corn, beans, 
chili peppers, squash, tomatoes, and tobacco.   Tenochtitlan 
(the capital city) was covered in giant religious statues in 
order to pay their respects to the gods.   In the Aztec 
religion numerous gods controlled an Aztec’s daily life.    
Some of these gods include:   Uitzilpochtli (the sun god), 
Coyolxauhqui (the moon goddess), Tlaloc (the rain god), and 
Quetzalcoatl (the inventor of the calendar and writing).   
Another part of the Aztec religion was human sacrifices.   
For their sacrifices the priest would lay the man or woman 
over a convex (rounded) stone, then he would take a sharp 
knife and cut the victims heart out.   They did this because 
they believed that good gods could prevent bad gods from 
doing evil things and they also believed that good gods got 
their strength from human blood and hearts so they had 
sacrifices in order to keep their gods strong.   For major 
rituals warriors were sacrificed, for the warrior this was 
one of the greatest honors and for minor rituals prisoners 
were used.    In an Aztec marriage the grooms shirt is tied 
to the brides dress in order to express there bonding and 
after the wedding incents were burned for 4 days before 
proceeding with the marriage.
	In 1519 Hernando Cortes, a Spanish explorer, led 
over 500 men into Aztec territory to search for gold.   
Aztecs thought he was a representative for a certain white 
skinned god so they respected him.   It all changed when the 
Aztecs saw that Hernando was melting down their golden 
statues and shipping them back to Spain. The Aztecs decided 
to attack Hernando and his men.   The Aztecs were successful 
and drove the Spanish away.   In 1520 the Spanish attacked 
the Aztec’s capital city and destroyed their civilization.  
 That was the end of the Aztec’s mighty empire had built so 
long ago.


                         
                     Work Cited

1) “Aztec Indians”.    Young  Students Learning Library.  
1993

2) Encarta  ‘96.   CD-ROM.     U.S.
   Microsoft, 1996 .