Aztecs

Aztecs is a term used for the Mexica and allied peoples who built a major empire in central Mexico during the post-classic period. The core of their realm was Tenochtitlan, a city founded about 1325 on an island in Lake Texcoco. By the early 16th century the Aztec Triple Alliance—centered on Tenochtitlan and including Texcoco and Tlacopan—exercised political and military influence over large parts of central Mexico through conquest, tributary obligations, and diplomacy.

Political and social organization combined centralized authority with local autonomy. Aztec rulers, priests, and noble families held significant power, while farmers, artisans, merchants, and soldiers formed the broader social base. The calpulli, a community unit, managed land and resources, while a hierarchical priesthood guided religious and calendrical life. Agriculture relied on chinampas, artificial islands that increased crop output and supported urban growth.

Religion dominated daily life and state ideology. The Mexica worshiped numerous gods, with Huitzilopochtli, the sun and war god, and Tlaloc, the rain god, among the principal deities. Rituals, ceremonies, and festivals honored the gods and aimed to sustain cosmic order. Human sacrifice, conducted on a large scale at temples such as the Templo Mayor, played a public and political role within this framework.

Culture and knowledge flourished through codices, astronomy, and scholarship. The Aztecs developed complex calendars (the 260-day tonalpohualli and the 365-day xiuhpohualli) and left pictographic records. After encountering Spaniards led by Hernán Cortés, the empire fell with the fall of Tenochtitlan in 1521, marking the beginning of colonial New Spain. The Aztec heritage continues through language, art, and enduring historical memory.