HILA 2001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Chichimeca, Tlatoani, M People
27 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
Aztecs: relatively recent arrivals into central mexico. Originally put in the swampy areas around the lake, but were forced onto the tiny island in the middle of the lake that later became the empire based around tenochtitlan: origins: Triple alliance (texcoco, tacuba, tenochtitl n) takes power in 1430-32. Defeating tepanecs: itzacoatl (tlatoani) and tlacalel (1398-1480) Tlacalel responsible for building cult like mentality around human sacri ces and rewriting romanticized history of the aztecs. Afraid and paranoid that future generations/conquered people would read the true history of aztecs as coming from chichimec/barbarian roots, then their legitimacy goes down. Building military alliances as important as the military conquests themselves. Aztec empire is built upon these alliances, not just conquests. Monday, september 5, 2016: rule over 15 m people at the height, decentralization: Aztec"s goal in establishing empire is to collect tribute: collection of tribute (goods, labor, and sacri cial victims, means aztecs don"t rule the people they conquer.
