What enabled the Spanish to defeat the Aztecs?
Spanish conquistadores commanded by Hernán Cortés allied with local tribes to conquer the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlán. Cortés’s army besieged Tenochtitlán for 93 days, and a combination of superior weaponry and a devastating smallpox outbreak enabled the Spanish to conquer the city.
What religion did the Aztecs practice?
MATOS MOCTEZUMA: The Aztec religion was primarily polytheist. They had different gods, male and female. The sun god was Tonatiuh. There were many deities, and they were revered in monthly festivities with rich offerings.
How did the Spanish defeat the Aztecs so easily?
There were many different reasons why the Spanish were able to take over the Aztec Empire. First, their weapons and armor were better than the Aztecs’. Aztec warriors had only cotton armour and shields made of wood or reeds to protect them. The Spanish had metal armor and shields.
Did the Aztecs have slaves?
The Aztecs additionally had landless serfs and slaves. Serfs worked land that was owned by nobles and did not live in the calpulli. Individuals became slaves (tlacotin) as a form of punishment for certain crimes or for failure to pay tribute. Prisoners of war who were not used as human sacrifices became slaves.
Why did the Spanish hate the Aztecs?
They hated the Aztecs because they had raided their cities for people to sacrifice to their gods. Montezuma II tried to keep Cortés from getting all the way to Tenochtitlan, but Cortés continued his march. He destroyed the Aztec religious city of Cholula along the way.
What 3 factors led to the rise of the Aztec empire?
The almost incredible story of a small wandering tribe that was able to build an empire in one century (from the beginning of the 14th century to the beginning of the 15th) can be largely explained by three main factors: Aztec religion, the economy of the Valley of Mexico, and Aztec sociopolitical organization.
Where did Aztecs migrate from?
The legendary origin of the Aztec people has them migrating from a homeland called Aztlan to what would become modern-day Mexico. While it is not clear where Aztlan was, a number of scholars believe that the Mexica—as the Aztec referred to themselves—migrated south to central Mexico in the 13th century.
What was the Aztecs political structure?
The Aztec empire was made up of a series of city-states known as altepetl. Each altepetl was ruled by a supreme leader (tlatoani) and a supreme judge and administrator (cihuacoatl). The tlatoani of the capital city of Tenochtitlan served as the Emperor (Huey Tlatoani) of the Aztec empire.
What factors led to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empire?
- Superior Weapons. Spanish weaponry was far superior to anything used by the Aztecs or Incas.
- Alliances and Experience. The invading Spanish forces also took advantage of internal divisions within the Aztec and Inca empires.
- The Power of Horses.
- Deadly Disease.
What were three reasons why the Spanish defeated the Aztecs?
The overthrow of the Aztec Empire by Cortez and his expedition rests on three factors: The fragility of that empire, the tactical advantages of Spanish technology, and smallpox.
Did the Aztecs have Warriors?
In fact, the legacy of the Aztecs directly relates to that of the Mexica culture, one of the nomadic Chichimec people that entered the Valley of Mexico by circa 1200 AD. The Mexica were both farmers and hunter-gatherers, but they were mostly known by their brethren to be fierce warriors.