Introduction

Aztecs at a glance

Tribe: Mexica (Aztec refers to all people of Central Mexico who

were part of the Triple Alliance or the Aztec Empire)

Cultural Area: pre-Columbian Mesoamerica

Geography: Valley of Mexico

Linguistic Family: Uto-Aztecan (Nahuatl)

Religion: Polytheism

Capital City: Tenochtitlan

Population: City 150,000

Valley 1,000,000

Empire: 1430-1519

1^st European contact: Hernando Cortes 1519

Explore the Ancient Aztecs. You will work in small groups of 3-4. Your areas of focus are 1- Journey to a New Land, 2- Rise of the Empire 3- Gods/Pyramids 4-Social Structure 5- Language 6- Economy 7- Spanish Contact 8- Decline of the Empire

Complete each step thoughtfully and thoroughly. The links provided will help you in your research to answer each step. Keep in mind the themes we have studied dealing with cultures: Language, Art, History, Technology, Worship/Ceremony, Law and Order, Economy/Food, and Groups.

For your final project your task is to create a museum exhibit using Microsoft Power Point. Choose artifacts to include in your display, which best represent events in your exhibit. For our purposes, artifacts will be images captured from a website, original artwork (to be scanned into the power point presentation), or pictures from a book also to be scanned. You will need a minimum of 8-12 images. Text should accompany the artifacts and clearly explain each. Be prepared to present your exhibit to the class.

Your guiding questions are:

Who are the Aztecs?

What made them a civilization?

Is there evidence today of Aztec influence?

As you create your museum exhibit keep in mind all the experts involved in putting an exhibit together. You will need to examine each event from the point of view of an historian, anthropologist, archeologist, theologian, economist, and linguist.

Before you begin define each of the areas of expertise using the online dictionary.

Anthropologist –

Archeologist-

Economist-

Historian-

Linguist-

Theologian-