The Aztecs rose rapidly to power in Mexico and their regime shattered even more rapidly at the hands of the Spanish Conquistadores 500 years ago. Yet their influence can still be discerned today. How does a way of life develop? What brings it down or how does it survive fundamental changes?
Sifting through our contradictory evidence, we shall asses the coalescence of the Aztecs as a polity from the late 1200s to 1426. Their progressive conquest of so much of Central Mexico and beyond is better known; but their political status on the eve of the Spanish Conquest is enigmatic.
Most of what is known about the Aztecs pertains to Tenochtitlan, their capital. That extraordinary city cannot be understood without first reviewing the growing evidence for rural life. It now looks as though the Aztecs struggled to control the city; and that it was this struggle which caused both the Aztec aggression among their neighbours, far and wide, and the notorious rituals of public sacrifice.
The Spanish Conquest was, indeed, a dramatic story but it has been widely misunderstood. Nor did it destroy the Aztecs entirely. The history of the adjustments to the economic, political and spiritual consequences of European imperialism is intriguingly complicated.
Aztec history is fascinating in itself and also as a source for comparison. Albeit with unusual drama, it illustrates many principles that apply not only to other indigenous American peoples but also to other parts of the world.
