December
2006
Aztec Questions…
Team Members: Before you begin, you must understand the interests and focus of your team members. This means you need to be able to analyze the information by taking the role of all of these specialists. Define and describe the following:
Anthropologist – a person who studies the origin, the behavior, and the physical, social, and cultural development of humans.
Archeologist- a person who studies the historic or prehistoric peoples and their cultures by analysis of their artifacts, inscriptions, monuments, and other such remains, esp. those that have been excavated.
Economist- some one who studies the science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, or the material welfare of humankind.
Historian- an expert in history; authority on history. (history is the branch of knowledge dealing with past events.)
Linguist- some one who studies the science of language, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and historical linguistics.
Theologian- a person who studies and analysis that treats of God and of God’s attributes and relations to the universe; study of divine things or religious truth; divinity.
Step 1: Journey to a New Land
Where did the Aztecs originally live? What prompted them to relocate? Where did they end up and why? Chose an artifact, which you feel best, represents this event. Support your choice.
Atzlan – in the north west Mexico. They went there because there was a person in their land that had a vision that said they had to go to this place. This person that saw the vision was Tenoch.
Step 2: Tenochtitlan
The Aztecs ended up in the middle of a lake and built their new capital Tenochtitlan. What were the pros and cons of settling in the middle of a lake? Describe the lay of the land and chose an image for your exhibit.
This land was a wet, marshy land that was a large lake. The Aztecs would fill up some of the parts of this land with plants and black sticky mud, so they could build things on the lake. This was called Chinampas. This was very effective and they made this land wonderful.
Pros- They had a lot of food that came from all the snakes, and rats. They were able to build on the land when Chinampas were formed.
Cons- It was all marshy and it was snake infested.
Step 3:Polytheism
Which gods were worshiped? The pyramids were built for what purpose?
Tezcatlipoca this is the god the god of the Great Bear constellation and of the night sky.
Quetzalcoatl - was the god of morning and the evening star
Tlaloc - was the eighth ruler of the days and the ninth lord of the nights.
Chalchiunhetlice – he was the god of the fourth Sun, Chalchuitlicu, had been a water goddess, copper-coloured and dressed in emerald green.
Huitzilopochtli – was the god of war, one of the most important gods.
Xipe – Toltec
They would build temples for different types of worshiping for the gods.
Step 4: Social Order
Who are the different members of Aztec society? What are their roles? Choose an artifact that represents the social order of Aztec society.
There were slaves, commoners and nobility.
The slaves were very poor and they could possibly buy their freedom. These were very poor people, and treated with little respect.
The commoners were in the social group called Macehualtin. They traded and were had more money than many slaves, but less than the nobles.
The nobles were born noble or earned it. Warriors and priests were noble as well. artisans, physicians, and wise teachers were considered noble as well.
Step 5: Communication
The Aztecs have a spoken language. What was it called? Did they use any other forms of communication? Include an example of either written or visual language of the Aztecs.
They spoke Nahuatl. This language belongs to a group of different languages in the Indian group. Today this language is still spoken in some remote parts of Mexico were these cultures are still living today. They didn’t use words as a a form of writing they used pictographs as a form of writing, and communication. Pictographs are pictures “represent words, ideas, or groups of words or ideas by means of elements that visually portray their associated meanings”
Step 6: Economy
How did the Aztecs grow food and what was their main crop? Did they trade and with whom? Did they have a currency (money)? Find an image for your exhibit about making a living Aztec style.
The Aztecs have a lot of corn, chili, peppers, squash, tomatoes, beans, and some other kind of foods. Pochteca, the traders traded with different people around Mexico. The Aztecs use cacao beans as a form of currency.
Step 7: Arrival of the Spanish
Discuss the Impact of Spanish Contact 1519 from both the Aztec point of view and the Spanish point of view. Find an image depicting this event.
When the Spanish first arrived at the land of the Aztec empire was at its peak. The Aztec believed that Hernán Cortés was one of the gods Quetzalcoatl. A woman named Dona Maria helped Hernen Cotes. They worshiped him in the start but then the Spanish wanted to rule over the Aztec so the Spanish began to kill people and many emperors were killed. The Spanish then left to go subjugate the rest of Mexico.
Step 8: Fall of the Empire
Discuss La Malinche or Dona Marina. Debate her positive/negative impact on Mexico past and present. What does the term Mestizo refer to? What influences remain today from Aztec culture of the past?
Dona Marina was the daughter of a noble Aztec family, when Cortes came she ha no choice but to go with him, she had no say in the matter.
Hey Taylor. Good work on making the connection of the language to today’s cultures. While looking through other blogs, you should consider the following: What are other possibilities of their relocation? What other pros and cons are there from settling on the lake? Use websites to help you as well. Perhaps you should include more information about La malinche.
Good luck.