Gods & VIP
This serpent creature was a god of peace.
Who is Quetzalcoatl?
This Aztec capital city was built on an island and had a population of up to 400,000 people.
What is Tenochtitlan?
Formed in 1428, this three-city coalition became the foundation of the Aztec Empire.
What is the Triple Alliance
This network built into Tenochtitlan's layout replaced roads, wheels, and pack animals entirely.
Aztec priests performed this ritual on thousands of captives each year to prevent the sun from failing to rise.
What is human sacrifice?
Supposedly a god, this man tried to colonize the Aztec capital but still marveled at its beauty.
Who is Cortes?
The Aztecs founded their city on an island in this lake in the Valley of Mexico.
What is Lake Texcoco?
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Though the Aztec Empire spanned 80,000 square miles and up to 15 million people, it differed from Rome and China in this key way — allowing conquered peoples to keep their local rulers — ultimately becoming the very weakness Cortés exploited by turning subject peoples against the empire.
Aztec priests used knives made from this sharp volcanic glass during human sacrifices.
What is obsidian?
This type of government, where religion controls political and social life, described the Aztec system.
What is a theocracy?
Tlaloc was the god of this natural occurence that the Aztecs relied on heavily, even though they were surrounded by water.
What is rain?
This ancient city outside modern Mexico City peaked in the 6th century with up to 200,000 residents.
What is Teotihuacan?
This Spanish phrase meaning 'Sad Night' describes Cortés's disastrous retreat from Tenochtitlan.
What is the Noche Triste?
Aztec engineers built three of these raised roads to connect their island capital to the mainland.
What are causeways?
Aztec society was structured in this way, from the emperor at the top down to enslaved people at the bottom.
What is a social hierarchy?
This man was the emperor of the Aztec Empire when Cortes invaded.
The Aztec Empire stretched south into this Mexican region.
What is Oaxaca
Conquered peoples paid this in the form of gold, maize, jade, and even human captives.
What is tribute?
This European disease wiped out massive numbers of Indigenous people who had no immunity to it.
What is smallpox?
Cortés used this 75-day military strategy of cutting off food and water to force Tenochtitlan's surrender.
What is a siege?
Huitzilopochtli was the god of this, necessary for Aztec survival.
What is the Sun?
The Toltec people ruled central Mexico from this capital city.
What is Tula
Cortés's military campaign dismantled the Aztec Empire by this year.
What is 1521?
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Though often overshadowed by Spanish steel and firearms, this Aztec agricultural innovation built on Lake Texcoco not only fed a city of up to 400,000 people but demonstrated an engineering sophistication that stunned European observers who had never seen anything like it.
Cortés gained most of his fighting force through these partnerships with peoples who resented Aztec rule.
What are Indigenous Alliances?