Aztec Empire. The Aztec Empire lasted from the 14th to the 16th century. With their capital of Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs settled in present-day Mexico. - презентация

1 Aztec Empire

2 The Aztec Empire lasted from the 14th to the 16th century. With their capital of Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs settled in present-day Mexico. The Aztecs spoke the language of Náhuatl. The parts of the Aztec culture consisted of human sacrifices and the belief of mythical creatures. To add to this, the Aztecs had an extremely accurate calendar which consisted of 365 days. They also had a religious calendar which was made up of 260 days.

3 The Aztecs were Native American people that lived in Mexico in the 15th and 16th century. They called themselves Mexicans or Nahua. The Aztec capital was Tenochtitlan. It was built on islands in a lake. Tenochtitlan was one of the greatest cities of the world in that time. The Aztecs believed in several gods. Quetzalcoatl (feathered snake), Huitzilopochtli (hummingbird of the south) and Tezcatlipoca (smoking mirror) were the most important ones. Sometimes the Aztecs killed humans because they wanted to please their gods. Between 1519 and 1521 the Spanish leader Hernán Cortés defeated the Aztecs and took their empire. Some Aztecs didn't want to fight against the soldiers of Cortés, because they thought they were gods.

4 The Aztecs ate a lot of plants and vegetables that could be grown easily in the Mexico area. The main food that they ate was corn, which they called maize. Another food that they ate was squash.

5 Aztecs also had a lot of harsh punishments for crimes that seem simple to us now. For the following crimes the punishment was death: adultery, wearing cotton clothes (if you were a commoner), cutting down a living tree, moving a field boundary making your land bigger, making someone else's smaller, major theft and treason. They also created chocolate, but their version was just a strong liquid that today you wouldn't call tasty.

6 Today many Mexicans have Aztec and other Native American forefathers. People still use Aztec symbols in Mexico. On the Mexican flag there is a picture of an eagle on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. This was an Aztec symbol. Also the name Mexico is an Aztec word. The aztecs flourished for centuries before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century.