The
European sailor, Christopher Columbus, arrives in the Caribbean
in 1492. Although he was commonly thought to be from Genoa,
Italy, it is actually unknown where he was born. Within a generation
the native Arawak and Carib peoples were conquered and almost
wiped out by warfare and disease. Small numbers of Carib and
Arawak Indians still survive to this day, however.
In 1519 the expanding Aztec empire was governed by the "emperor"
Moctezuma II. He ruled over a highly stratified society of nobles,
commoners, serfs and slaves. His title in Aztec, "huey
tlatoani", meant great speaker. Nobody could disobey an
order by the huey tlatoani, although he could be dismissed by
the council of nobles, just as happened to Moctezuma during
the Spanish invasion. Unhappy by his failure to drive out the
Spanish invaders, he was replaced by the young general, Cuahutemoc.
While the new great speaker was often a relative of the last
one, it was the Council of Wise Men, very similar to the Roman
Senate, that decided by election who the next huey tlatoani
was to be. Once the great speaker was elected, he was obeyed
in everything, since he was now considered a god in human form.
He was also head of the government, and the main priest of the
Great Temple.
The Council of Wise Men were the usually the greatest warriors
and wisest priests, themselves elected by their local "calpullis".
A calpulli was the Aztec form of local government, a combination
trade union, clan and town council. All people belonged to a
calpulli based on profession or trade. All priests, for example,
would belong to the priest's calpulli, all pottery makers would
belong to the potter's calpulli and so on. Each calpulli had
its own council and speaker, and its own schools. Important
calpullis would even have their own army. Anyone could get to
be a member of the Council of Wise Men, but only the men belonging
to the noble families could be great speaker.
Moctezuma II was the nephew of the last great speaker and son
and grandson of previous ones. His magnificent palace stood
at the centre of the empire's capital Tenochtitlan, the sacred
and secular heart of the Aztec state. This beautiful island
city, located where Mexico City stands today, was constructed
on a series of artificial islands with canals for streets, towering
pyramids and splendid public buildings. The city was connected
to the mainland by three great causeways. Along these causeways
ran aqueducts carrying fresh water to the pools and public fountains
of the town. The canal system supplied efficient transportation
and thousands of canoes carried goods and people through the
city and to surrounding villages on the lake shore.
The Aztec economy was based on a highly organized local market
system which supplied the daily needs of the city and a long
distance trade system controlled by the Pochtech, an hereditary
group of specialized traders. These rich and powerful merchants
were responsible for importing exotic items of great value from
distant realms of the empire. The markets were laid out daily
in the central plazas of the city. They offered an incredible
diversity of goods. Slaves, pottery, baskets, foodstuffs, textiles,
featherwork, building materials, tobacco, wild game, medicines
and many other products could be purchased. Barter was the usual
method for exchange but money in the form of chocolate beans,
cotton mantles and quills of gold dust were used to make up
a difference in value.
1519 was the year Cortes and a small group of Spanish adventurers
set sail from Cuba. The Aztec warriors were at first surprised
by the horses, muskets and cannon used by the Spanish, but then
recovered and defeated the Spanish, almost killing Cortes. The
Spanish introduced European diseases for which the Aztecs and
other Mexican Indians had no immunity. Most deadly was small
pox. Like the Black Plague in Europe 150 years before, some
cities lost up to 90% of their population. Aztec demands for
prisoners and tribute from of its conquered city states had
left bitterness and resentment behind. Cortes was to use this
smoldering resentment to enlist native allies, such as the city
state of Tlaxcala, to help him in his conquest of the great
city of Tenochtitlan. Disease and revolt fatally weakened the
Aztecs led by their last emperor, Cuauhtemoc. The final battle
for Tenochtitlan was fought in August of 1521. Eighty days of
siege and hand to hand combat led to many casualties on both
sides and left the city in ruins. Systematic plunder of precious
objects and the burning of Aztec books was a huge cultural loss.
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years ago / 50 years ago
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1,500 years ago / 2,000
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ago / 10,000 years ago
