A. Answer the following about the Aztecs and the Conquistadors.
1. Describe the life of the Aztecs. What is Tenochtitlan? How big was that city?
Aztecs lived a hard yet simplistic lifestyle.They were a society well ahead of their time, and revolved around their ritualistic ideologies. Tenochtitlan was a city-state located on an island in Lake Texcoco, in the Valley of Mexico. Founded in 1325, it became the capital of the Aztec Empire in the 15th century until captured by the Spanish in 1521.
2. What was sold at the Aztec market?
They sold cloaks, maize, gems, feathers, animal skins, soldiers, beans, cotton, shells, building materials, stones, and cacao.
3. What was the main staple of the Aztec diet?
Mainly maize, beans and squash
4. What were some of the reasons that Cortez wanted to conquer the Aztecs?
Cortez was after God, glory and gold.
5. What were some of the biggest advantages the Spanish had over the Aztecs?
The Spanish had advanced weapons and armor.
6. What were the religious beliefs of both groups? Which group tried to convert the other one to their religion?
The spanish were christian, and the Aztecs were Mexicayotal. The spanish tried to convert the Aztecs.
B. Write a short composition in English comparing and contrasting Mexico City today and Mexico City of long ago (Tenochtitlan). Be sure to include:
· Population (number)
· The government
· The ruins
· Modes of transportation
· Lifestyle in general
Mexico City as well as the ancient city of Tenochtitlan are some of the largest cities in the world for their respective times. Tenochtitlan had a population of 200,000 - 250,000 people. Present-day Mexico City has a population of over 21 million people and is regarded as the third largest in the world.
Tenochtitlan had a very sophisticated network of canals and roads for the transportation of such quantity of people and the day-to-day goods they required. Present-day Mexico