Civilizacao Azteca Hernan Cortes e a Destruicao de Tenochtitlan

After Juan de Grijalvas voyage the Spanish returned Hernán Cortés arrived to the coast of Mexico with over 500 men Learning about Aztec power and wealth Cortés marched toward Tenochtitlan Although the Aztecs welcomed the invaders peacefully violence eventually erupted Cortés captured the Aztec emperor Moctezuma The Aztec people fought to free Moctezuma but he was killed during the struggle In 1521 the Spaniards destroyed Tenochtitlan They renamed it Mexico City Over time Mexico City became the capital of the Spanish colony known as New Spain 1 Religion was a part of daily life for the Aztec people The Aztec people believed in many gods They feared that poor treatment of the gods could bring disaster The Aztecs practiced human sacrifice to keep the gods happy They believed that the blood from sacrifices was needed to keep the sun shining and the rain falling They sacrificed prisoners of war and other individuals The Aztecs built many great temples These were used for religious ceremonies and sacrifices 2 The Aztec Empire was known for its great government and huge population By 1500 the empire had more than 15 million people This was almost onehalf of all the people in North and South America at the time The empire had three main parts the emperor the noble class and the common people The emperor was all powerful and ruled from the capital city of Tenochtitlan The nobles were priests and officials who collected taxes and ran the government Most of the population was common people including farmers merchants and craftsmen Common people could own land but nobles controlled most of it