Social/Daily life

                                         


The daily life of the Aztecs was quite simple and very similar to many modern day cultures. Most Aztecs households included the husband, wife and any unmarried children. The husband was primarily responsible for supporting the family and the wife's role was to provide the family with clothes and food. The Aztec daily life for many of the men was to hunt and farm. The female Aztec life mainly consisted of weaving and cooking. In addition to the husband wife and children it was common for the husbands relatives to live within the home as well. The Aztec daily life was filled with work for every member including the children. The children often helped to create goods to sell however education was also important for the boys. The boys were taught by their fathers until the age of then. Then they were educated in a school connected with a temple where they learned religion and received military training. Sometimes girls attended these schools as well.






The Aztecs/Mexicas (n.d) Retrieved December 3 from http://www.indian.org/welker/Aztec.htm 

European Impact

In November 1519, Hernan Cortes and his men arrived at Tenochtitlan, where Montezuma and his people greeted him and honored them according to Aztec custom. It is thought that he was greeted so kindly because he resembled the light skinned Quetzalcoatl who whose return was prophesied in Aztec legend. Although the Aztecs outnumbered the Europeans, their weaponry was inferior and Cortes and his men were able to take Montezuma hostage and gain control of Tenochtitla. The Spanish them murdered thousands of Aztec nobles and Montezuma. His nephew Cuauhtemoc then took role as emperor and the Aztecs were able to drive away the Spanish but Cortes would mount another attack and took the city once more to build Mexico City in its ruins. It is thought that an estimate 240,00 people died under the cities conquest.  

Aztecs (n.d) Retrieved December 3, from http://www.history.com/topics/aztecs

Politics

The structure of the Aztec government came from units of society that existed long before the Aztec empire was founded. The family unit was the primary structure of society but after the family, the basic unit of Aztec government was the Calpulli. The calpulli owned the land because families did not individually own it, similarly to Europeans ancient feudal society. The calpulli was responsible for the basic needs of the group and they set up the school for common citizens and made sure taxes were collected. 

Aztec History. (n.d) Retrieved December 3 2015 from, http://www.aztec-history.com/ancient-aztec-government.html