Why does tenochtitlan no longer exist

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives. For thousands of years, this area was populated by groups such as the Olmec, Zapotec, Maya, Toltec, and Aztec peoples. Cultural traits that define the region include the domestication of maize, beans, avocado, and vanilla, and a common architectural style. Learn more about the rich cultures and lives of these early civilizations.

In just a century, the Aztec built an empire in the area now called central Mexico. The arrival of the Spanish conquistadors brought it to a sudden end. A lake is a body of water that is surrounded by land. There are millions of lakes in the world. Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students.

Skip to content. Image Founding of Tenochtitlan This illustration describes how the Aztecs chose the location for Tenochtitlan. Twitter Facebook Pinterest Google Classroom. Encyclopedic Entry Vocabulary. Spanish explorer or conqueror of Latin America in the 16th century.

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Interactives Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. The tribute that flowed in made the inhabitants at least the elite wealthy. The city itself would come to boast an aqueduct that brought in potable water and a great temple dedicated to both Huitzilopochtli the god who led the Mexica to the island and Tlaloc, a god of rain and fertility.

They are to do penance, lead hard lives, live with strict morality, practice for warfare, do physical work, fast, endure disciplinary measures, draw blood from different parts of the body, and keep watch at night Among the people considered to be in the lower classes were the porters the city relied on. Surviving depictions show porters carrying loads on their backs with a strap secured to their forehead.

All but eleven disappeared with the arrival of the Europeans. He notes that the Spanish priests objected to the Aztec religious content in the codices.

At the heart of the city was a sacred area surrounded by a wall. As mentioned earlier, it was dedicated to the gods Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc. Two long, broad, staircases led to the top of monument where two temples stood. It was a place where great, and gruesome, rituals were performed. The human sacrifice element should not be underestimated, though. Two aqueducts supplied fresh water. At the heart of Tenochtitlan was the Sacred Precinct, the religious and ceremonial center not just of the city, but of the empire as well.

Surrounded by a masonry wall of serpents, this enclave of about by yards could hold more than 8, people within its precincts. The temples of the most important Aztec gods were here. Adjacent to the Sacred Precinct, sumptuous palaces of the kings and nobles included beautiful gardens, aviaries, and zoos. Administration buildings were there as well.

Commoners lived at a distance and were organized into neighborhoods, called calpulli , with their own local temples and markets. Those populations included laborers and farmers as well as craft specialists such as potters, weavers, sculptors, lapidaries, featherworkers, and soldiers. On a fateful day in August , life in this magnificent urban center changed forever.