Essay Database

Aztecs Probably from Aztatl (heron), and Tlacatl (man),"people of the heron", in the Nahuatl, or Mexican, language of Mexico, a surname applied to the tribe of the Mexica, or Chichimeca Mexitin (whence Mexico and Mexicans), a ramification of the Nahuatl linguistic stock which occupied aboriginal Mexico, in more or less contiguous groups, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, when the Spaniards first came into contact with them. The Mexica proper held only a …

…either plundering or levying tribute. They had no thought of founding astate or nationality. Commerce was carried on, even with tribes that were hostile, and it sometimes gave a welcome pretext for aggression. Of domestic quadrupeds they had only a species of indigenous dog. Like all Indian towns, Tenochtitlan had a large central market-place (tianquiz), the extent and resources of which have been considerably exaggerated, as well as most other features of so-called Indian civilization.