this video is brought to you by captivating history in this video we will explore one of the largest empires of the americas and the ancient world the aztecs who were they where did they come from how did they live what regions did they conquer and how did their civilization perish who were the aztecs where did they come from the aztecs were considered a mesoamerica civilization mesoamerica is the area of current day central america extending from northern central mexico through the pacific coast of costa rica their capital tenochtitlan or mexico tenochtitlan was founded in 1325 ce in the valley of mexico within the region that is mexico city today historians believe the civilization was likely related to the toltecs a civilization that grew to prominence in northern mexico in the 11th and 12th centuries it is unclear why the aztecs chose to move to the valley of mexico however aztec mythology describes their migration south as well as the founding of the city of tenochtitlan as being brought about by divine intervention as legend has it the aztec god whitsa lapoteli came to the priest kawau cowadel and commanded him to build their new home where they would find an eagle perched on top of a tinucle cactus shortly following this vision koala coal minions are said to have encountered the omen prompting kawataka wattle and his people to settle in that territory it's important to note that the aztec people didn't identify as aztecs this is the name historians used to describe the empire formed by the nachwada speaking people who called themselves the mexican the word aztec was derived from the term azteca which means people from atlan believed to be a place in northern mexico where the semi-nomadic mexico had originated although this was not the name the aztecs used to describe themselves it became the historically accepted designation government city-states and expansion aztec civilization can be divided into two time periods the early aztec era and the late aztec era many of the city-states that would become a part of the aztec empire were founded at the beginning of the 12th century the beginning of the late aztec era is usually associated with the founding of mexico tenochtitlan in 1325 however when the mexico arrived there was little available land left unsettled different tribes and ethnic groups occupied the territory but over time and through conquest and alliances many of these tribes would assimilate into the aztec culture the political system of the aztecs was despotism kings and quasi kings ruled over city-states and interacted with one another sometimes city-states would be cooperative with each other typically via trade and military alliances but often they fought one another to establish dominance or settle other grievances relationships between city-states were ever-changing and unpredictable the aztec empire is best understood as a political alliance between some 50 or more city-states that occupied the valley of mexico the primary political foundation that bound them was a system of taxes and tributes designed to raise the status of the sovereigns and the nobility ultimately oppressing and pacifying the commoners the golden age of the aztec empire began in 1428 with the formation of the triple alliance between mexico tenochtitlan texcoco and talakapan this represents the most robust form of political cooperation between the city-states in the valley of mexico the economic and military might of these combined city-states propelled the aztecs to eventually gain control over virtually all settlements in the valley of mexico and the regions beyond this alliance however was born of necessity in 1426 hostilities between the mexico or aztecs and the tepinex a city-state with considerable influence in the valley of mexico intensified the tepinex attempted a blockade of tenochtitlan to extract higher taxes and tributes and simultaneously were engaged in hostilities with the alcohol in texcoco when the tepinex forked netsil wakoyodo the sovereign ptexcoco to flee the city the mexican leader moktazuma seized the opportunity to align the texcoco to defeat their common enemy moktezuma rallied the support of the city-state of talakapan whose citizens had grown intolerant of the tepinec's heavy-handed governance war broker in 1428 and the combined forces of texcoco talakapan tenochtitlan and a fourth city-state uetsatsinko proved to be the undoing of the tepenex with the tepenex defeated the mexican were positioned to fill that power void and become the dominant influence in the valley of mexico tenochtitlan being the largest and wealthiest of the three city-states with the biggest and most formidable military became the obvious choice as the capital of the newly formed imperial alliance the leader of tenochtitlan became the de facto emperor of the new empire of the triple alliance after joining forces the newly formed aztec empire quickly set its sights on gaining control over the entire valley of mexico campaigns throughout the 1430s brought the cities of chaco zocamilco kuwaitlaw and koyukan under the influence of the triple alliance following these conquests the aztecs looked further south advancing into the modern day state of morelos there they would conquer kawanawak the modern-day city of cuernavaca and wakstepec in 1440 the first emperor of the aztec empire died and moctezuma the first was chosen as his successor moctezuma's reign was an important period in nasdaq history he began construction on some of the most important aztec temples including the great temple of tenochtitlan in 1458 montezuma the first began military campaigns that would further dramatically expand the sphere of aztec influence in the region the aztecs extended their control well beyond the valley of mexico establishing dominance throughout most of the modern day states of morelos and wazaka throughout the 100 years of the triple alliance the aztecs converted their civilization from a loose collection of semi-aligned but often warring city-states into one of the largest empires in the new world and the largest empire to have existed in mesoamerica their systems of expansion and consolidation were steady and directed emperors who expanded their territory were followed by leaders who consolidated and organized their newly acquired lands and cities and by the end of this period the aztecs controlled a vast expanse of territory populated by some three to four million people social classes and hierarchy social classes and hierarchy dramatically influenced the life of the aztec citizen rights duties and privileges were all determined because of one's social standing however when looking closely at the lives of the most distinct classes upward mobility was possible even a slave was not predestined to that social station for their entire life and could achieve emancipation and upward social mobility the sovereign the dignitaries and the nobles the ruling classes of aztec society can be crudely stratified into three groups at the top was the sovereign given the title to latawani each city-state had its own talatuani below the sovereign were the dignitaries usually close relatives or friends of the sovereign underneath the dignitaries were the nobility these three groups were responsible for the administrative bureaucratic and gubernatorial duties of the empire commoners the life of a commoner in aztec civilization was dedicated nearly entirely to work from the moment at birth gender roles were ascribed to children males were expected to grow up to be warriors and work in the same occupation as their fathers females were expected to serve more domestic roles such as cooking cleaning weaving and bearing children because an aztec commoner was expected to work they were introduced to this way of life at an early age according to the codex mendoza one of the most significant and primary sources of recorded information of the aztec empire by the age of five boys were already carrying firewood and other goods to nearby marketplaces and girls were already being taught how to hold a spindle and spin landless peasants how one became landless is hard to discern especially since it was part of aztec custom to grant each person attractive land to work so they could pay their taxes and tributes required by the local lord however with warfare being a near constant occurrence and people being displaced as their towns and cities were conquered this landless class did indeed grow as the empire advanced slaves the lowest class in aztec society was the slaves while the life of the slave was by no means comfortable and luxurious it was far better than the forms of slavery that would come to exist in the americas with the formation of european colonies accounts from the spanish explorers expressed surprise at the rather benevolent treatment of slaves as mentioned previously the aztecs had social constructs in place that granted slaves the capability of raising their social station and achieve emancipation arrival of the spanish and the decline of the empire with the landing of christopher columbus in the west indies in 1492 the spaniards were officially the first europeans in the new world and were eager to expand their influence into the americas they had heard of a great empire in central mexico with stories of great riches and the spanish crown commissioned a spanish conquistador hernan cortes with the mission of the expedition shortly before he set sail for mexico the spanish crown rescinded its support for the mission but cortes set sail regardless in 1519 cortes arrived with about 500 soldiers on the coast of mexico near the modern day city of veracruz they were greeted by messengers from the aztec emperor montezuma who had heard of these strange men exploring the coast montezuma was cautious of these new strangers and thought they might be gods upon cortez's arrival the aztecs greeted him with offerings of gifts and gold as a way of forging peaceful relations when given the gold the spaniards reportedly went crazy and the encounter confirmed the riches of the empire and served to strengthen only the resolve of cortes to conquer these people cortez began his march inland making allies along the way cortes first allied with the toto knox then the tallaxcala a powerful city-state that resisted the control of the triple alliance and after an initial conflict cortes convinced the teloscolans to join him on his journey inland towards tenochtitlan when cortes finally forged his way into central mexico he had several thousand troops under his command when cortes arrived into noctitlan motezuma welcomed him by putting him up in what was the equivalent of a royal palace cortez responded by taking moktizuma prisoner and ruled to noctitlan under the guise he was acting on the behest of the aztec emperor in 1520 cortes received word from his scouts that a spanish expedition had been sent to mexico to arrest him for setting sail against the wishes of the crown he mobilized half of his forces and left tenochtitlan to ward off the threat upon returning to the aztec capital cortes found that tensions had risen in the city that placed him and his men in great danger they planned to flee the city and retreated to the mountains in telux kala in these months cortes regrouped considerably he marched again into lockheedland with some 700 spanish soldiers and approximately 70 000 native troops they laid siege to the city for months cutting off all sources of fresh water and stopping all shipments of food this assault combined with diseases such as smallpox wreaked havoc on the city decimating its population and weakening the city's military resolve eventually on august 13th 1521 kawaotmak who had replaced moctezuma as emperor was captured and the spaniards claimed victory over to noctilan thus ushering in the demise of this great civilization to the uninitiated it may appear that cortes defeated the great aztec empire with little more than a few hundred spanish soldiers however his forces were much larger long-standing rivalries combined with resentment toward taxes and tributes imposed by the aztecs made it easy for cortez to gain allies in the fight to take down tenochtitlan that and illnesses such as smallpox measles the mumps influenza and many other diseases which were alien to mesoamerica ultimately overwhelmed the unimmunized aztec empire europeans had been exposed to these diseases for centuries and had developed immunities while the aztecs had not hundreds of thousands of them would die from these afflictions in a short window of time this silent weapon of mass destruction proved one of the primary reasons the spaniard seized control of such a powerful empire in such a short while to discover more about the aztec empire check out our book aztec history a captivating guide to the aztec empire mythology and civilization it is available as an e-book paperback and audiobook also grab your free mythology bundle ebook for free while still available all links are in the description if you enjoyed the video please hit the like button and subscribe for more videos like this