In the late 9th and early 10th centuries, when the Mayan culture was in decline, the Toltec Indians conquered the Basin of Mexico and created the remarkable Toltec culture, which was absorbed by the Aztecs. The Aztecs originally lived on the islands of western Mexico, and according to legend, the god of war, Huizi Polo Zitli, gave them this revelation: if they saw an eagle standing on a cactus and cutting and eating a snake, that was the place where they settled. Later, the priests led their people to settle on the western shore of Lake Texcoco in Mexico in accordance with the god's will, and the Aztecs called the place "Mexico", meaning the place designated by the god of war. Today, the eagle eating a snake is the national emblem of Mexico, and in 1325, the Aztecs established their capital city, Tenochtitlan, on a small island in the lake (present-day Mexico City).
By the time of Montezuma I (reigned 1440?1469), the Aztecs had taken control of the entire Basin of Mexico and formed an early slave state. The authority of the Aztec state was a "supreme? Council", composed of 20 clan chiefs, from which two rulers were elected, one in charge of civil affairs and the other in charge of military affairs, the latter being more powerful and considered a god. The latter had more power and was regarded as a god incarnate. Land was still communally owned by village communities, but private ownership of land and polarization between rich and poor had emerged, and slavery of prisoners of war and indebted people was common. The culture of the Aztecs was influenced by the Ma? ya culture. Agriculture was the main form of economy, and they developed a unique agricultural farming method I? "Floating Garden Farming", that is, on a raft made of reeds and wattles piled up soil and floated on the water surface, then planted crops and fruit trees on the newly created land, using the roots of the trees to consolidate these man-made floating garden beds. The land around the lake is also used to grow corn, beans, squash, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, agave, figs, cacao, cotton, tobacco and cactus. Dogs were their only domestic animal, and poultry consisted mainly of turkeys. They were able to smelt gold, silver, copper, tin and bronze. The Aztecs were also very skillful in pottery making, and the pottery they made was brown with black patterns, with complex geometric patterns and subjects such as birds, fish and insects, with fine texture and beautiful shapes. The art of pattern in textiles and weavings was particularly outstanding. Aztec feather embroidery is made of feathers inlaid feather ornaments, exquisite and unusual. Preserved a few pieces of work, although after hundreds of years, but still glossy bright, solid texture, it is clear that the production technology is excellent. Aztec calendar and hieroglyphics similar to the Mayans. They set the year at 365.06 days, divided into 18 months, 20 days per month, 5 days per week. Each day had a specific name, such as Monkey Day, Rain Day, and Sea Beast Day. Aztec hieroglyphic books and the Maya almost suffered the same fate, mostly burned by the Spanish colonizers, preserved only two "Tribute Book", which is a valuable source of information to understand the social life of the Aztecs. The capital, Tenochtitlan City, is a concentration of the Aztecs' architectural art. The city was built on two small islands, with three wide embankments connected to the lakeshore, one of which was 11.2 kilometers long, with a drawbridge on the embankment that could stop the enemy. The city has neat streets, gardens all over the city, a complete water supply system, more than 100,000 residents, larger than London and Paris at the time. The city **** built 40 pyramid temples, located in the central square of the largest one up to 35 meters high, with 144 steps. Rich people's homes are painted white or red, extremely rich and spectacular. The Spanish colonizer Cortez led his army to invade, the tribes could not be united, coupled with the wavering of King Muntzuma and the traitorous activities of the traitorous inner circle, the Aztecs were finally conquered by Spain in 1521. This is the first page of a manuscript that tells us how the city of Tenochtitlan flourished. In the center of the image is the Aztec symbol.