Some of the most advanced and earliest civilizations in the
Western Hemisphere were in what is now Mexico. Historians
note that hunters lived in the area in 21000 BC or perhaps
even before that. Cultivation of crops started in 8000 BC,
with squash as the probable first crop. The Olmecs
established the first primary Mesoamerican civilization
somewhere between 1500 and 600 BC. Mayans were at the peak
in the Mexican area around the 700's AD. Toltecs, a warring
people, migrated down to Mexico from the north and
established their empire in the Valley of Mexico in the
900's. Tula and Talncingo were cities north of present day
Mexico City that they founded. Here a great civilization
grew that can be seen today in the ruins of what were
monuments and building of magnificence.

The Toltecs left the region in the 12th century, pushed out
by the Chichimeca, and dispersed all over. The next century
seven Nahuatlan tribes came from what was thought to be the
area of present day Arizona and New Mexico. The Aztecs were
the leading tribe among the Nahuatlan and in 1325 the Aztec
established the city of Tenochtitlan. A causeway was built
as a dam and a fortress for their island town. Itzcoatl, the
first Aztec emperor, spread his civilization's influence
throughout nearly all of Mexico in the 15th century.

The Aztecs were a very developed and cultured people,
advanced in art, intellect and agriculture, growing corn and
depending on it extensively. Rich and strong, they build
tremendous Aztec cities and banded together for social,
political and spiritual strength. The explorer de Cordoba
came to Mexico from Europe, finding Mayan civilization
traces in Yucatan in 1517. The Cuban de Grijalva discovered
the Aztecs along Mexico's east coast and took his tale back
to his homeland. The governor of Cuba promptly sent the soon
to be conqueror Cortes and a large complement of warriors to
the region.

What happened to the Aztecs was that they had divided
themselves into 38 scattered and independent tribes who
didn't get along well. This played right into the hands of
Cortes and his soldiers. As did the Aztec emperor
Montezuma's belief that Cortes was the god Quetzalcoatl.

The Aztecs has three classes of society. There were slaves,
commoners and nobles. The slaves were like indentured
servants. The poor could sell their children into this
servitude for a specific period of time. Slaves were also
able to buy their way out of slavery and if they somehow
managed to escape and reach the royal palace they were freed
immediately. Commoners were known by the Aztec name of
Maceaultin. All but the lowest group of commoners known as
tlalmaitl could own land and could build their houses on
that land. The tlalmaitl were tenant farmers, however. The
nobles were priests, warriors and those born into nobility.

The Aztecs of that time worshiped many gods, among them the
sun god Uitzilopochtli, the moon goddess Coyolxauhqui, the
rain god Tlaloc, and the writing and calendar inventor
Quetzalcoatl. The Aztecs believed that their sun god
murdered his sister the moon goddess. Aztech writing was
recorded, often threw pictures, on animal hides or papers.
Called codices, some of these writing still exist. The Aztec
calendar, which was designed during Mayan early years had
365 days, 18 months with 20 days each and then five days
they called hollow. These five days were supposed to be days
of bad luck. There are more than one million Aztecs living
today in and around Mexico City, primarily illiterate
farmers who barely subsist, take little part in modern
Mexican culture and who practice a blend of Aztec religion
and Roman Catholicism.


Jenni Reker is the owner of
MG Mexico
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