Who were the Native people of the Americas
The people of the Americas are said to have migrated from Asia around 13,000 years ago and they over the years had started to colonize the whole of the Americas before the arrival of the Colonial forces of the major European empires .The people that migrated soon lost contact with the rest of the world but to say they had no contact with other people is wrong because of their trade with one another they kept in contact with the other people of the Americas .The natives would not see people from another Continent until 1000 AD when the vikings landed in Newfoundland but when the colony disappeared they again lost contact with the outside world and it would not be established until the arrival of Columbus on the 19th of October 1492 . The next part of this website will discuss the great Aztec Empire .
The Brutal Aztecs
The Aztecs were one of the most well known of all the American empires and by the 15th and 16th century they controlled vast swathes of land and people in the area of Southern Mexico . The people of the Aztec empires history is uncertain but their traditions suggests that they were a tribe of gathers and hunters that resided in the northern plateau of Mexico before they appeared in the area called Mesoamerica in the 12th century AD . However there is no evidence that supports this theory but it is know that in 1325 they had settled in a lake in the islands of lake Texcoco where they would build their capital city of the Aztec Empire called Tenochtitlan which would remain their capital until the Spanish conquered the Americas . The secret to the wealth and success of the Aztecs was their amazing and advanced agriculture system which featured intensive cultivation of all the available land as well as very elaborate systems of irrigation and the reclaiming of swampland .
Under the rule of Itzcóatl the Aztecs formed alliances with the neighboring states of Texcoco and Tlacopan and that skyrocketed the empire to the greatest power in central Mexico . Many years later the Aztec empire expanded to rule 400 to 500 small states and their empire was heavily focused on military so they could claim people to sacrifice to their sun God .
Aztec religion was always evolving as they absorbed elements of other religions in the Mesoamerican area . They shared many beliefs that were similar to earlier people such as the Maya .One such belief was that Earth was the last in a series of creations and it was in a system of 13 heavens and 9 underworlds , The main Gods of the Aztec pantheon were Huitzilopotchli , god of war; Tonatiuh , god of the sun; Tlaloc , god of rain; and Quetzalcoatl., the Feathered Serpent, who was part deity and part culture hero. Human sacrifice was carried out on a regular basis by the Aztecs and the main form of sacrifice was offering the heart of the victim to the sun God in a practice called blood letting .
The Aztec empire just grew and grew but in 1519 with the arrival of the Spanish that all came crashing down . During the reign of the ninth Emperor Montezuma the second he was taken prisoner by the conquistador Hernan Cortes and died while in custody . With his successor unable to repel the invasions of the Spanish the Aztecs golden age of ruling Mexico came to an end with the capture of Tenochtitlan in 1521 .
The Aztec empire was one of the greatest empires of the Americas that would establish one of the greatest cities of the Medieval period . Under the rule of Itzcóatl the Aztecs would create an alliance with the states of Texcoco and Tlacopan and that would skyrocket their empire into a power to be reckoned with . The main reason for their conquest was their religion because their religion demanded them to sacrifice people to stop the world from ending . Alas the Aztecs could not stop the end of their world as within two years the Spanish had conquered all the Aztecs had created .
Under the rule of Itzcóatl the Aztecs formed alliances with the neighboring states of Texcoco and Tlacopan and that skyrocketed the empire to the greatest power in central Mexico . Many years later the Aztec empire expanded to rule 400 to 500 small states and their empire was heavily focused on military so they could claim people to sacrifice to their sun God .
Aztec religion was always evolving as they absorbed elements of other religions in the Mesoamerican area . They shared many beliefs that were similar to earlier people such as the Maya .One such belief was that Earth was the last in a series of creations and it was in a system of 13 heavens and 9 underworlds , The main Gods of the Aztec pantheon were Huitzilopotchli , god of war; Tonatiuh , god of the sun; Tlaloc , god of rain; and Quetzalcoatl., the Feathered Serpent, who was part deity and part culture hero. Human sacrifice was carried out on a regular basis by the Aztecs and the main form of sacrifice was offering the heart of the victim to the sun God in a practice called blood letting .
The Aztec empire just grew and grew but in 1519 with the arrival of the Spanish that all came crashing down . During the reign of the ninth Emperor Montezuma the second he was taken prisoner by the conquistador Hernan Cortes and died while in custody . With his successor unable to repel the invasions of the Spanish the Aztecs golden age of ruling Mexico came to an end with the capture of Tenochtitlan in 1521 .
The Aztec empire was one of the greatest empires of the Americas that would establish one of the greatest cities of the Medieval period . Under the rule of Itzcóatl the Aztecs would create an alliance with the states of Texcoco and Tlacopan and that would skyrocket their empire into a power to be reckoned with . The main reason for their conquest was their religion because their religion demanded them to sacrifice people to stop the world from ending . Alas the Aztecs could not stop the end of their world as within two years the Spanish had conquered all the Aztecs had created .