HIS 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: John Calvin, Protestantism, Columbian Exchange
Document Summary
The aztecs gradually united numerous independent states under a single monarch along with counselors, military leaders, and priests: empire of up to 25 million, mexican cities based around tenochtitlan on lake texcoco. Religious and political buildings in the center: well-irrigated and prosperous agriculture, the aztec state was based on extensive kinship networks, with marriages solidi- fying alliances (not unlike europe in same period, extended kinship central to aztec statehood. Priests legitimized new emperors: the aztec empire spread through conquest and the creation of tributary states, bringing with it great wealth but also military instability. Conquests provided a steady stream of humans for sacrifice: from 1440 onward, the aztec empire faced constant turmoil as subject popula- tions rebelled and elites rebelled (i. e. tlaxcalans and tarascans along the gulf of. Bore cortes a son, one of the first mixed-heritage mexicans or mestizos: cortes and soldiers were impressed with tenochtitlan.
