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The Aztecs [a] (/ ˈ æ z t ɛ k s / AZ-teks) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to the 16th centuries.
Chinampa – floating gardens, which were highly productive areas used for farming and growing food, were constructed by the Aztecs to provide food and sustenance to their 250,000 inhabits in the city of Tenochtitlan. The Aztecs used the chinampas in and around Tenochtitlan to grow corn, squash, beans, tomato, avocado, chilli peppers, and a ...
Map of Pre-Columbian states of Mexico just before the Spanish conquest. The pre-Columbian (or prehispanic) history of the territory now making up the country of Mexico is known through the work of archaeologists and epigraphers, and through the accounts of Spanish conquistadores, settlers and clergymen as well as the indigenous chroniclers of the immediate post-conquest period.
The Aztecs were conquered by Spain in 1521 after a long siege of the capital, Tenochtitlan, where much of the population died from hunger and smallpox. Cortés, with 508 Spaniards, did not fight alone but with as many as 150,000 or 200,000 allies from Tlaxcala , and eventually other Aztec tributary states.
The other constants of Aztec food were salt and chili peppers and the basic definition of Aztec fasting was to abstain from these two. The other major foods were beans, squash [1] and New World varieties of the grains amaranth (or pigweed), and chia. The combination of maize and these basic foods would have provided the average diet.
Mexica children were forcibly taken to newly established Christian schools where they were indoctrinated into Christian beliefs and Spanish culture, and the surviving Mexica men and women were sent to work in newly-established Spanish estates, known as haciendas, as well as mines and other civil projects, such as digging canals.
Aztec maize agriculture as depicted in the Florentine Codex One of the greatest challenges in Mesoamerica for farmers is the lack of usable land, and the poor condition of the soil. The two main ways to combat poor soil quality , or lack of nutrients in the soil, are to leave fields fallow for a period of time in a milpa cycle, and to use slash ...
Southwestern Indians did not have draft animals or metal tools. Planting was done with a sharpened, fire-hardened stick, a tool that is now known as a dibble stick. Hoes and shovels were made of wood and the shoulder bones of buffalo and other large animals. Mussel shells, pottery, and rocks were also used as planting and digging tools.