Aztecs: Tenochtitlan

Something that really got my attention during my reading about the Aztecs, was the great metropolis of Tenochtitlan that they built. This really grabbed my attention, because even the brief overview of this great city made it seem way to advanced to even exist during the 1500's. Since I was so intrigued by this city of Tenochtitlan, I decided to do some extensive research on it.

The story behind this city being founded, was that Huitzilopochtli told an Aztec chief that their homeland should be on the Island in the Lake Toxcoco. The people did as he said, in honor of him, and built this amazing metropolis. The Aztecs started building this huge city in 1325, and it flourished in the 15th century until finally in 1521 the Spaniards captured the city. 

Two reasons why this city was so successful was because it was easily transportable, and because the people used their resources to the fullest potential. The city had many canals as you can see in this picture that made transportation by canoes a lot easier. This was really important, because it made trade inside the city extremely easy. This leads me into my second point which was that the Aztec people in this city used their resources to their fullest potential. One thing that the Aztecs did that was never before done was create floating gardens, or artificial gardens. These are what make up all of the squares in this same picture, and they are basically a bunch of mud that is stacked on bunches of twigs creating a perfect place to grow crops. The roots would root down on the swamp floors, and the crops would need no care because they received water all of the time from the swamp. So the farmers would then harvest there crops, and would go around trading all of the surplus on their canoes.