Preview

Dbq Essay On The Aztecs

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
521 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Dbq Essay On The Aztecs
Imagine Living in a city called Tenochtitlan, where your main power is blood from human sacrifices. The Aztecs lived in Mexico in the 1350-1519, their land that they owned was 80 miles from north to south and 49 miles from east to west. The Aztecs were creating a remarkable world-class society in the Americas. The Aztecs dominated the region around modern-day Mexico city. At their peak, they controlled the lives of some ten to 20 million people. Not always well loved by the other groups in the area, the Aztecs created a society that surprised and impressed the Spanish conquistadors who arrived in 1519. We begin our study of the Aztecs in 1519 because that is the year Hernan Cortes and 500 Spanish conquistadors came. However, we were interested in the …show more content…
In document D by Diego Duran, it shows spiritual connection because of the hearts, sun, and the gods. Document E also shows spiritual connection because it shows you the Aztec warriors communicating with the gods. The Aztecs believing in the gods is what got them through life. Motive War and Expansion
The final reason for emphasizing Human Sacrifice is motive war and expansion. The Aztecs were great warriors and most of the territories were acquired by force. Some territories were sometimes the results of a policy that unoccupied remain available for the Flower Wars. Flowers were prisoners. This evidence supports emphasizing motive war and expansion because is the “Flower Wars” history would not be the same without it. Without Flowers there would be no sacrifices. The Flowers Wars was made for a reason, without it wouldn’t be the same. Indeed, there are good reasons for emphasizing human sacrifice. For example, Huge Scale, Spiritual Connection, and Motive War and Expansion. However, Human Sacrifice deserves even more attention because of the history it made. Human Sacrifice was a huge part of the Aztec

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ancient China Case Study

    • 290 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In ancient Mexico, human sacrifices were linked to war, and capture enemies usually became the victims. Also, the Aztecs used to sacrifice young aristocratic warriors to please the gods.…

    • 290 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In this chapter I found a lot of it to be very interesting. The Aztecs have always grabbed my attention in the history of knowing who they were and reasons behind their human sacrifices and social classes. What fascinated me about the cosmic mission theory, also known as the human sacrifice, was how these once humans thought that killing another human would benefit them in a spiritual way. This theory was basically feed humans to the sun to maintain its heat, light and life. The sun, according to the Aztecs, was the life in the heavens and when it went “dim,” and grew dreary, the hearts from humans was the only life that would brighten the sun and energize it with life. It was on a daily routine…

    • 295 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aztec DBQ Essay

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages

    There are many aspects of life that one can focus on for a certain population or in a country. Two main aspects of everyday life for the Aztecs were agriculture and human sacrifice. Of course both are highly important and part of the Aztecs society, but with an astonishing 10,000,000 people in the Aztec population, could one really put more emphasize one or the other? This is defiantly a tough question for historians to answer… or is it? To decide on great agriculture or brutal sacrifices, it would have made this decision much easier to choose from if we saw a first person document written by someone that was going to be sacrificed. For three important reasons, greater emphasis should be placed on agriculture: the enormous chinampas were out of this world, the amazing construction of the chinampas, and that it leads to be part of everyday life for the Aztec people.…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Aztecs became so successful because of their gods. They have created their own belief that got them through their hardships.…

    • 238 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Three Dominate Empires

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The 15th c.e Aztecs of Central and Southern Mexico utilized their religious upper hand to develop a military culture of war and human sacrifice for their sun God. They maintained their empire by backing their agriculture and tribute system with force and conquering ethnic peoples and regions to become givers of labor, raw materials, food and valuable items. This can be derived from an Aztec “Tlacochcalcatl” (military general), depicted in the Aztec manuscript ‘Codex Mendoza,’ 16th c.e, which is a primary source. The other evidence found of the tribute system is the Tribute-Roll section of the ‘Codex Mendoza,’ 16th c.e (compiled by a Spaniard). It shows specifically the Aztec religious sacrificial items needed such as animal pelts, and colored feathers. This empire was able to stay in control long enough to become one of the greatest empires of the World because of it’s definite military clout and coordinated economic…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Religion was the driving force behind the act of human sacrifice, it is believed that in Aztec civilizations thousands of sacrifices were made yearly. These sacrifices were made in order to appease the gods, as in Aztec culture the root of their religion was based upon the belief that the gods needed nourishment and this was accomplished…

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The role and importance of warfare in Aztec society come in many shapes and forms. The Aztecs role in warfare is to conquer and collect sacrifices for their gods. Warfare in the Aztec society included all the males in the Aztecs were expected to participate in at least one way shape or form of war. The Aztecs were so successful they conquered 200,000 square kilometres to create a empire. The military commander war the emperor himself, his assistant was his second in command. Warriors were trained from a young age to learn to master weapons and the tactics the Aztecs used in warfare. This is the role and importance of warfare in the Aztec society…

    • 761 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Aztecs went to war to achieve territory, resources, quash rebellions, and to capture their enemies and sacrifice them to honour their gods. The Aztecs were very accomplished in battle,they forged a very powerful empire and at its highest they extracted tribute from 371 cities across 38 provinces.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In what are commonly regarded as two of the greatest conquests in early history, the Moors of Spain and the Aztec Empire were both dethroned by invading empires. The Moors by the White armies of the Goths and later the Spanish looking for revenge, and the Aztecs by the Spanish themselves, in search of riches in the new world.…

    • 578 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Odyssey Essay

    • 1167 Words
    • 2 Pages

    represented a gift to the Gods for forgiveness or just happiness. Sacrifices were also made to…

    • 1167 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The connection between the Aztecs and the universe is evident among their myths about how humans were created. One creation myth is the story of the goddess Tlaltecutli. In the story Tlaltecutli was ripped apart by the gods Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca and her body parts were used to create the earth and the other gods. This event caused Tlaltecutli to desire human hearts and she would not be quiet until they were brought to her. Nor would she bear fruit until she had been drenched in human blood. (AD1, p. 2) Another creation myth, and the most common legend amongst the Aztecs, was that the god Quetzalcoatl descended into the underworld and retrieved the bones and ashes of previous human beings in order to recreate humanity because the universe had been destroyed after the fourth Sun went out. Quetzalcoatl ground the bones into powder and used his blood to fertilize it and create humans. (AD1, p. 4) The Aztecs also had a myth that explained how the Sun and moon were created. According to legend, the gods Nanautzin and Tecuziztecatl sacrificed themselves by jumping into a fire, which turned them into the Sun and moon. The other gods also sacrificed themselves to provide nourishment for the Sun. However the Sun and the Earth still had an…

    • 1719 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aztec Society Essay

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Aztec people had a very rigid and highly well-defined society. The Aztec society was comprised of a system of classes identified as commoners, nobility, indentured workers and slaves. The indentured workers were landless laborers who did contract work on noble’s estates and the slaves served households of the wealthy. Since slavery was not an inherited status the children of slaves were often considered free citizens. All commoners were classified as large kinship groups known as calpullis. The calpulli were responsible for providing tax and conscript labor for the state. Each group consisted of a thousand members that were ruled by an elected chief. The elected chief served as an intermediary for the central government and ran its day to day affairs.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Essay on Aztec Sacrifice

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Due to this action, the Aztecs believed they owed the gods who created them, a blood-debt. The main focus of the sacrifice was to spill blood for the gods. It was their belief that without the gods receiving their pay in blood, disaster would befall them. So it was also a common to hold ritual blood-lettings, where people would cut themselves and offer the blood to the gods, without killing themselves. They also felt that they needed to repay their thanks to the gods for creating them, and then sacrificing themselves for the humans. It was understood throughout their community as a normal practice, and was openly accepted.…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Aztec religion was prominently based around pleasing their gods. The Aztecs believed that everything they did or created was for the gods. As a result a lot of their rituals were performed in order to please their gods.…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mayan Culture Essay

    • 1531 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In a vast and rich region of America, Mayan culture covered the territory southeast, of what is now, the Mexican Republic that is part of the states of Yucatan, Campeche, Tabasco, Quintana Roo and eastern Chiapas, as is most of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Belize which in fact covers a land area that varies according to the various archaeologists and historians. The Mayan people created one of the most original and great ancient civilizations (Sabloff 14).…

    • 1531 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays