Aztec/Mexica dancer Martin Tellez blows a conch shell during a performance depicting Aztec culture and history at a Cinco de Mayo celebration in Forest Lawn memorial park May 5, 2003 in Glendale, California.
Photo Credit: David McNew / Getty Images
Depicted in books and movies as primarily blood-thirsty and violent, the Aztecs had a quite sophisticated grasp of political alliances and imperialism, directed from a capital city built on a swamp at Tenochtitlan, what is today Mexico City. From a romantic past of the fabled city of Aztalan, the Aztecs came to rule over at least one million subjects in the Basin of Mexico, with between 100,000 and 200,000 people in the capital city alone. An expansive trade system attracted 60,000 people to the market in Tenochtitlan, and goods mass-produced in town were traded throughout the empire.
Although most of the Aztec structures in their capital city were destroyed and built over by the Spanish, much is known of Aztec art work, including a wide range of lapidary arts, cast and beaten metal work of copper and gold, and work in the filigree and lost wax methods.
For more on the Aztecs, see:
Comments