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Anthropologist – Someone who studies and encrypts the roots and behavior of a human being Archeologist- Someone who studies ancient humans and their living 

Economist- Someone who is an expert in fields of science 

Historian- Someone who writes about events the past 

Linguist-Someone that is skilled and studies language 

Theologian- Someone who studies and analyzes God towards the universe 

Notes and Guiding Questions:  Use the following questions to help guide you to write relevant notes and to make an appropriate choice for an artifact. You should copy and paste these questions to form a word document on which you may write the answers. You will be required to post the questions and answers on your blog by a designated date so that your classmates may compare and use your answers to clarify uncertainties and make good choices about which artifacts to include in their exhibits. 

Step 1: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 

The Aztecs originally lived in
Anahuac, Northern West Mexico, and then moved because their chieftain Tenoch had a vision from Huitzilopochtli, a god. They were supposed to build their city where an eagle, perched on a cactus, would be seen eating a snake. The Aztecs ended up in a swampy, shallow lake because that was where the god Huitzilopochtli led them. They made this land into a Chinampas.

Step 2: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.

One major con of settling in the middle of a lake was that the Aztec had little land to build their city
Tenochtitlan. There were also a lot of snakes there. But despite of that, the city of
Tenochtitlan still flourished. One pro was that The Aztec used the land to its full potential.  

Step 3:Which gods were worshiped? The pyramids were built for what purpose?

The Aztecs worshiped many gods, each for its own purpose. The gods they worshipped were Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, Tlaloc, Chalchiuhtlicue and Xipe. Their main god was Huitzilopochtli, which was also the god of war. As for the pyramids, they were actually sacrificial temples. The Aztec believed in sacrificing humans to please the gods, each year they would sacrifice about 200,000 people. Therefore these so called “pyramids” were actually built for sacrifices to please the gods.  

Step 4:Who are the different members of Aztec society? What are their roles? Choose an artifact that represents the social order of Aztec society.

There are 3 different members in the Aztec society, the slaves, commoners and nobility. The slaves were very poor, but they could buy back their freedom. If they escaped the royal palace without getting caught, they were given instant freedom. Also, the children of poor families were sold for a certain amount of time to gain money. The commoners were mostly the people who engaged in agriculture and common trade. They did not own the land, which hey worked, but they still get to keep what that earned.  

Step 5: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.

The Aztec spoke a language called Nahuatl. Unlike us in the modern days, The Aztecs used pictures and glyphs as a form of communication. Sometimes it is possible to tell a whole story in one complicated picture. The Aztec also spoke Uto-Aztecan, which was a variation of Nahuatl. This language is still spoken in the indigenous areas of
Mexico.

Step 6: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 main crop was corn; the men would usually use a “digging stick” to dig out the soil. When the corn was ripe, they would put them in a corn bin and later will be sold in the market. The Aztecs was also famous for their tlaxcalli, which was something like a modern day pancake. They would hunt meat like deer, rabbits, ducks and geese and put the meat into the tlaxcalli and eat it like a taco. The Aztec did not exactly have a currency, but they used cacao beans and corn to trade for various items. 

Step 7: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.

From the Spanish point of view: 

The Spanish really like
Tenochtitlan when they arrived. This was because the Aztec thought that Cortes was their god coming to take the thrown of the Aztec. After awhile, Moctezuma the Aztec emperor was getting suspicious of Cortes’ behavior, since he wasn’t acting like a god. Therefore he wanted to get rid of him by giving riches and gold. Despite of that, Cortes wanted more. He captured Moctezuma and asked for more gold and jewels. This was led to a war between the Aztec and the Spanish called the night of tears, which was led by  Diego Velásquez  the Spanish governor. They were losing badly in this war that Cortes had to surrender Moctezuma to the up rise. Cortes retreated from this war, but few years later he regrouped his army and came back to take over the Aztec. 

From the Aztec point of view:

The Aztec was greatly happy when they thought their god Quetzalcoatl, come down in human form to help the Aztec. They thought this god was Cortes, and therefore treated him like so. Cortes was not acting like a god therefore Mectezuma gave him money and riches and was hoping that he would leave, but instead Cortes found out about The Aztec’s wealth and wanted more. He captured Mectezuma to ask for his ransome amount. This led to a war which the Spanish lost severely. After a few years Cortes come back with his army and finally wiped out the whole Aztec empire leaving 40,000 Aztec dead bodies. 

Step 8: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? 

La Malinche or better known as Dona Marina to the Europeans was actually a translator. She could translate the Aztec language of Nihuatl into Mayan, and then Jeronimo de Aguilar would translate it to Spanish for Cortes. Despite how much she helped
Mexico, many people thought that she was a traitor. One major positive influence of her was that she was able to convince Cortes to negotiate instead of the brutal way of killing. This helped saved a lot of lives. One major negative influence was that she helped Cortes negotiate with the Tlascalans. This helped Cortes gain more Indian soldiers to help overcome the Aztec Empire. The term Mestizo refers to someone who is mixed of European and Latin American Ancestry.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 13th, 2006 at 9:41 pm and is filed under Social Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.