The Aztecs are descended from a tribe known as the Toltecs

The Aztecs, who developed a great but short lived civilization in central Mexico, are descended from a warlike tribe known as the Toltecs. In the tenth century A.D., the Toltecs built a great city called Tula to the north of what is now Mexico City. But only two and a half centuries later, in the middle of the 12th century, the Toltecs were conquered by a nomadic tribe called the Chichimeca. The Toltecs dispersed in all directions, leaving a legacy of legends and religious traditions that would become important elements of Aztec culture. According to the Aztecs, their original homeland was an island in a lake called Aztlan, which means "White Land." Researchers are not exactly sure where Aztlan was, or even whether it actually existed. The word may simply refer to a general area northwest of present day Mexico City. It may have been as close as sixty miles to Mexico City, or it may have been as distant from Mexico City as the states of Arizona and New Mexico. By the time the Spanish arrived in the 1500s, the Aztecs had become rulers of a vast empire. However, that empire began humbly, when a small wandering tribe took refuge from hostile neighbors on a swampy island near the western shore of Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico. In 1325 A.D., the Aztecs founded the city of Tenochtitlan on this island in the middle of the lake, not far from the current site of Mexico City. Legends say that their tribal war god and symbol of the sun, Huitzilopochtli, had led them to the island, where they saw an eagle with a serpent in its beak. The eagle told them to build temples in this place and nourish the sun with the sacrifice of humans. The picture of the eagle with the serpent in its beak is shown on the Mexican flag today. Tenochtitlan, which translates as "place of the stone cactus," became the Aztec capital, and by the 1400s, it had become a grand, thriving city, thanks to its peoples advanced engineering projects and great military strength. Like the Mayas, the Aztecs used their intelligence and skill to build causeways and roadways. They found it necessary to construct causeways to connect their island city to the mainland. In addition, they dug canals and aqueducts to transport freight and people. To secure their place in the region and expand their empire, Aztec rulers waged war and created alliances with other tribes in the region.Like the Mayas, the Aztecs built religious temples in the form of pyramids throughout their capital. The most notable was the Great Temple, a huge structure embellished with twin stone staircases side by side. On top of the Great Temple were shrines to two powerful gods: Huitzilopochtli, and Tlaloc , the god of rain. It was at the shrine to Tlaloc that human sacrifices were made. Smaller temples discovered near the Great Temple included one with a platform made up of more than 200 skulls. Experts believe that the heads were those of sacrificial victims.

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