Toltecs and Aztecs

This is the story of the Toltecs and Aztecs.

Around AD 300 the Maya began to emerge in Guatemala, moving into Central Mexico. Their influence extended over 621 miles from north to south, and 373 miles from east to west. The best preserved sites include Palenque, Chichen Itza and Uxmal.

The Maya organized their society around a hierarchy dominated by priests who interpreted the wishes of their gods. They refined language and gave it a written form, evolved a complex calendar which could predict eclipses of the sun and the moon and decorated their buildings with intricate art forms. The Mayans developed their territory in southern Mexico.

The Aztecs wandered into the lake-filled region around Mexico City at the turn of the first millennium. Legend has it that they saw an eagle on a cactus stump, devouring a snake - a sign which indicated that their nomadic lifestyle was over and in 1325 they started building their city, Tenochtitlan, and harnessed the lakes for agriculture. The city thrived, the Aztecs forges alliances with 2 other valley states, and over 200 000 inhabitants probably lived in Tenochtitlan.

Just over two centuries later, word arrived that bearded, white-skinned men had landed on their shores and were making their way inlands. Moctezuma, and intellectual, was the Aztec leader at the time. His fatal mistake was to allow the Spanish to advance and ultimately he lost not only his life, but also his empire.

Hernan Cortes and his Spanish troop landed in 1519 and in 1520 razed the Aztec City and set about building on its ruins their new capital, Mexico City.

Today, in Chiapas, there are still some Mayan descendants with their distinctive profiles. In Oaxaca, it is the Zapotecs or Mixtecs. In central Mexico the Nahua (Aztec descendants) and around Puebla (south of Mexico City) the Totonacs.

Return from Toltecs and Aztecs to Home Page