AZTECS

The valley of Mexico was a superb place in which to live. It was 7,000 feet above sea level, walled in by high mountains and immensely fertile. The water from the mountains and lake system made irrigation easy.

Artificial islands were made on rafts in the lake. Decaying water plants and manure enriched the soil. There were two to three harvests a year. Many tribes settled around the lake; there was no need to keep moving as in the forest to the south. But the richness of the valley tempted barbarian Indians from the north.

For a thousand years or more civilization like the Olmecs and the Teotihuacans flourished in different parts of Mexico. About the tenth century A.D. Toltecs from the north occupied the area. In the thirteenth century, civil war weakened the Toltecs and a new wave of invaders entered the Toltecs valley of Mexico. Among them was the tribe called Tenocheas.

Aztec society emerged in the next three centuries. Towns were tribal centers. One tribe or town after another rose to power. The Tepanecs whose city was Azcapotzalco overthrew the Texcocans. The epanecs were defeated in their turn by an alliance of the defeated Texcocans with Tenochtitlan of the Tenocheas and Tlacopan. Texococan power was restored but only in alliance with the Tenocheas. The ruler who had brought the Tenocheans to the front was Itzcoatl (1428-1440). He was succeeded by Montezuma 11 (1440-1469). Montezuma11 (1503-1520), grandson of Montezuma 1, raised the Tenocheans to supreme position in the valley. Other city states paid a regular toll of human victims for the mass sacrifices that he Tenocheans practiced.