7.3:  Expanding the Empire

Student Notes

How did the Aztec worldview influence the way the people interacted with other cultures?

What do people from outside Canada say about the people who live here?

What are your supporting facts?

How does this attitude benefit Canada?

Expanding Through Trade

     Although we know the Aztecs were warriors, we also understand they formed trading and defensive alliances with other people around them.  This was an area of great pride amongst the Aztecs.  

     We know the Aztecs were great farmers, but many tropical fruits and vegetables could not survive in the high mountains.  Aside from the lack of tropical fruits, there were no gold and silver deposits in the mountainous region.    

     For months at a time, the Aztecs would travel, with hundreds of slaves to carry their goods, to far regions in the empire.  

     These trade relations also acted as spies for the Aztec army.  Providing maps of other cities and reveal how fortified the opposition might be.  With the reports and maps helped the Aztec leaders determine their next move in the expansion of their empire.

Expanding Through War

     Huitzilopochtli told the Aztecs,  "We shall conquer all the people in the universe.  I will make you lords and kings of every place in the world."  After the development of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec leaders were then motivated to create a great empire.  In 1519, when the Spanish had arrived, the Aztecs were already the largest empire in North America.  

A Warrior Society

     Every young male in the Aztec culture were required, by law, to serve in the army.  "The worst insult" according to the Aztecs, was for a man to be called a coward.  They understood that lack of courage in a soldier would make the remainder of the army weak.  This would then threaten the strength of the state.

Tribute

     After conquering a new group, the Aztecs collected a tribute (taxes and gifts) from the new cities.  Careful record was kept of the tributes.