The Aztecs:

According to Aztec legend, they were advised by their Gods to construct their home when they viewed an eagle perched on a cactus.

When they finally viewed the Eagle on the Cactus, they found themselves in the middle of Lake Texcoco, where they founded the city of Tenochtitlan in 1325.

• They built Great Pyramids there that rise 60 meters above the City.

• With Tenochtitlan as its nucleus, the Aztecs expanded outward and solidified control over the Valley of Mexico.

• The Aztec empire ruled over the people/territory it conquered in an indirect way. The Aztecs allowed local leaders remain in power, so long as they paid tribute to Tenochtitlan.

• Some people resented having to pay tribute, and Cortez would exploit this.

• Cortez describe a thriving market-place culture in the New World. Over 60,000 people met and traded for Cocoa beans, Eggs, Turkeys, Rabbits, etc.

• Roads were built throughout the empire for tribute, communication, and troop movements

• Rest areas were station approximately every 6 miles.

• Veneration of Huitzilopochtli, the God of the Sun and of War, was central to the religious, social and political practices of the Aztecs.

• The Aztecs practiced human sacrifice on a grand scale.

• For the Sun to keep moving they believed that the Gods needed a daily diet of human hearts and blood.

• The Aztec are famous for their accurate calendars:

• The Aztec staple foods included maize, beans and squash to which were often added chilies and tomatoes. All of these foods would be brought by the Spanish back to Europe.

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The Exchange between the Americas and Europe is known as the “Columbian Exchange”.

• As literally millions of the Native Americans died from diseases brought by the Spanish, the Europeans decided that to make their newly acquired plantations profitable, they needed to find a new workforce.

• This workforce would be found in West Africa.

• Thus the Slave Trade began.• You have heard testimony in the trial

about the horrors of the “Middle Passage”

The Triangle Trade