Free
The ruins of the greatest city of the Aztec empire, Tenochtitlan (ten-och-tee-TLAN), are buried under a subway system.
They’re right under modern-day Mexico City. The Aztecs picked the place for their new capital in 1325, after searching for years. Back then the land was in the middle of swampy, shallow Lake Texcoco. Two centuries later, that island was the center of an empire of over 5 million people. It covered most of central and southern Mexico. By the early 1500s, Tenochtitlan was one of the world’s biggest cities. More people lived there than in London or Paris back then. How did a huge empire start on an island in a lake? What were its people like? How long did it last? Why did it fall? Let’s look at the mysteries of the Aztecs.
◀ A lot of what we know about the Aztecs comes from glyphs. Those are pictures painted on a material that’s like paper. It’s made from strips of deerskin or tree bark. A group of glyphs is a codex. This drawing shows a woman weaving. Today, historians use codices to study the Aztec culture. They learn about its religion, history, and laws. They also learn about Aztec customs and daily life.
In legend, the Aztecs’ first home was Aztlan, “Place of Reeds.” It was probably in northwest Mexico. The word “Aztec” comes from Aztlan. A myth says that the Aztecs left there in the 1100s to look for a new home. After a while, they got to the Valley of Mexico in central Mexico. This early drawing shows them leaving Aztlan. ▶
◀ The Aztecs wandered south. They stopped when they saw an eagle on a prickly pear cactus eating a snake. Aztec legend says that was a sign from the Sun god. It meant they had found their home. Tenochtitlan means “Place of the Prickly Pear.”
◀ The Aztecs may have used another city as a model for their new capital. Teotihuacan (tay-oh-tee-wa-CAN) was a city east of the northern part of Lake Texcoco. It thrived between 1 C.E. and 750 C.E. It had roads, palaces, and two big pyramid temples. Today, one is called the Pyramid of the Sun (shown here).
