The Aztec Rise to Power (Part 1)

• The Aztecs- named themselves the Mexica (pronounced “Mesheeka”). Commonly known as the Aztecs.

Origins of the Aztecs • Origins of the Aztecs are apparently

found on an island they called Aztlan. –The Aztecs destroyed all their records

and reconstructed their history with accounts favorable to themselves. –Their departure from the north was

around 1111 C.E. • Led by four priests and a women

who carried a medicine bundle that contained the spirit of their tribal god (Huitzilopochtli )

• Huitzilopochtli (Hummingbird on the Left)–The supreme deity was the god of

war and the sun, who killed his sister Coyolaxauhqui after she killed their mother, Coatlicue. He then proceeded to devour Coatlicue’s heart.

• They arrived in the valley of Mexico in about 1218 after wondering. –However, about 1325 the Aztecs

found their promise land –Prophecy of Huitzilopochtli –

Eagle with a serpent on a cactus.

• The Aztecs settled on the Marshy lands around Lake Texcoco, where in 1344 or 1345, they built the town of Tenochtitlan.

Tenochtitlan • the Aztec capital, stood on

the site of present-day Mexico City.