The Aztec Empire
If you want to know the basics about the Aztec Empire, this book is an excellent place to start. It tells you where it was—in Mesoamerica—when it started (in about 1345), how it developed and how it ended. It also looks at how Aztec society was ruled by a direct line of kings from 1376 to the last king, Moctezuma II, who was murdered in 1520, on the order of the Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortés.
Their capital city was Tenochtitlán, where Mexico City is today. Its construction, on an island in the midst of marshland, was a triumph of sophisticated water engineering, with canals, causeways and aqueducts. At the time, it was one of the largest cities in the world with 200,000 inhabitants and containing over eighty religious buildings, a palace, and a huge marketplace.
The Aztecs operated two calendars simultaneously; one of 260 days, comprising evenly spaced out religious ceremonies; and another of 360 days which followed the agricultural year. Every 52 years, the two calendars coincided and there was a twelve day festival.
The illustrations are a perfect fit and get across the slightly chunky look of Aztec design. We learn about the Aztec gods and their worship, which included human sacrifice; their origin story and other legends. It also shows how society was organized—they were a warlike race—and what people ate and wore, as well as their art and poetry.
The last quarter of the book covers the devastating consequences of the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores under Cortéz, in 1519, whose prime aim was conquest and plundering the riches of the New World. It is a sobering story because the Spanish deliberately destroyed much of the Aztec culture, especially the illustrated codices, i.e. books folded like concertinas. Highly recommended for eight plus.
