Aztec History Before 1519

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The Important Aztec History Before 1519 The Aztecs, a powerful civilization that can be characterized by one thing, the people trying to please their gods. The Aztecs were located in the present day area of Mexico City in 1350-1519 A.D. They were there until the Spanish came and destroyed the civilization. In the time before the Spanish, the people there relied on the gods for everything from where to live (Doc 2), to bringing the sun and moon up each and every day. In order to keep the gods happy, the Aztec people sacrificed humans. The most important aspect of Aztec life that readers should know is how important the gods were to everyday Aztecan life. For the life-span of the Aztec culture before 1519, they sacrificed their enemies to their gods. Much of the Aztec writing was destroyed, but one account of the sacrifices by a Spanish priest who lived among the people explained how they thought the ritual was beautiful (Doc 5) and how the sacrifice was to keep the Gods happy so they would provide for their followers, the Aztecs to live and be happy. The Spanish Friar also recounted how they captured their neighbors, respected them, and treated them like royalty for a year, and then the entire population would be so saddened at the end of the year when their human gods had died. Another recounting of the Aztec sacrifice, requested by the Spanish king, portrayed a more gruesome picture (Doc 6). It shows that the hostages taken were not treated as highly, and it shows them being sacrificed to the gods by the Aztecs cutting out the ‘gods’ hearts and throwing them into the temple, then the priest splattered some of the blood in the temple of the gods, and last by pushing the deceased down the temple stairs. This recounting of the story shows the Aztecs having no respect to the dead, but it also is supposedly for pleasing the gods. Yet, the reasons are not set in stone why the Aztecs sacrificed, but we have some plausible ideas (Doc 7). Everyone has heard about the religious reasons so the gods give the Aztecs good things. Also, there are historians who say that they sacrificed for
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