HIST 1215 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Nahua Peoples, Tlatoani, Huitzilopochtli
Document Summary
Aztecs believed they needed human blood to keep the sun to rise everyday. On a very high city - in valley of mexico. The floating city in lake texcoco - chinampas. Maybe not a sustainable city if the spanish never arrive - because they would overuse their environment"s resources. Pounded stakes into the lake bed, bounded them with weeds, and filled them with rocks to build themselves floating islands. Held twice the population of london or rome. They used the wheel for children"s toys but put it to no practical use. Chris crossed by an intricate level of canals - used the canals for transportation. Established an accurate calendar, had medicine, and created art. There is an interplay between the religious calendar and the agricultural calendar. Every 52 years, the agricultural calendar and the religious calendar sync up. The name comes from the national bird of guatemala. Huitzilopochtli - god for whom the aztecs worked.
