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Were the Aztecs savages
The Aztecs we refer to today arrived in the Americas between 25000 and 35000 years ago after crossing the Bering Strait (northerly tip of Alaska) from Asia during an ice age. Historians nowadays believe they made their way South and started to develop a cultural identity for example they had there own customs and dress as well as laws etc.
By the 12th century this was A.D the Aztecs were happily settled in Mexico but legends tell us that the reason the Aztecs decided to go and try to conquer Mexico was because of a magical image of the war god Huitzilopochtli told them they should set out on a pilgrimage to find there true home.
150 years later Aztecs myths tell us that arriving at the Northerly tip of Lake Texcoco the Aztecs received a promised sign- on an island in the centre of the lake an eagle was spotted perched on a cactus eating a serpent. They founded a village on this spot, which they named Tenochtitlan (place of the cactus) and the pilgrimage that Huitzilopochtli had told them all to go on.
Was this truly a sign or was it just a regular eagle eating a serpent? Alternatively, it could have just been because it was the last piece of land left in the area and the richer tribes were not willing to lend or give the small Aztec tribe any land whatsoever. We call this village today Mexico City.
The Aztecs did not take long to settle in as they drained the surrounding marshes of water and built causeways, and most of all the architecture. There capital was bigger than Spain's finest city, beautiful, prosperous and spotlessly clean. Great pyramids would have towered over your head when you were standing in the centre of the magnificent city which itself was surrounded by glittering palaces and markets with every variety of food and luxuries you could think of.
Life as an Aztec would not have been bad at all unless you were one of the unfortunate millions who were sacrificed to one of the many gods that the Aztecs believed in.
In Aztec religion numerous gods ruled over daily life. Among them were Uitzilopochtli (the sun god), Coyolxauhqui (The moon goddess, who, in Aztec myth, was murdered by her brother the sun god), Tlaloc (the rain god), and Quetzalcoatl (The inventor of writing and the calendar, who also was associated with the planet Venus and was resurrected). Human and animal sacrificed were an integral part of the Aztec religion. As they saw it, the continual offering of blood through human sacrifice ensured the perpetuation of the universe. Spanish observers, even those most sympathetic to the Aztecs, found the practice revolting. For warriors, the ultimate honour was to be slain in battle or to volunteer for sacrifice in a major ritual. Prisoners were often used for less important rituals and people with serious injuries were often killed as they were no longer any use to the tribe. The [next page]