How The Aztecs Arrived In Mesoamerica

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The Aztecs arrived in Mesoamerica around the beginning of the 13th century. In the following years, they began to make alliances with tribes and conquered other tribes also. By the 15th century, the Aztecs became the dominant force in Mesoamerica and they developed many parts of their society. In 1521, the Spanish Conquistadors annexed Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztecs, and the Aztec Empire came to an end. During their reign, they did very questionable things. Professor Know-It-All came to the conclusion that the Aztecs were bloodthirsty conquerors who ruled through physical violence, and I agree with that. The Aztec conquerors were people who ruled through physical violence by sacrificing humans, forcing towns to pay tribute, and punishing people when they made a mistake.

The first point is that they would use prisoners of war and enslaved people as human sacrifices. The way they sacrificed humans was by cutting their chests and taking their hearts out. If the Aztecs ran out of victims, they would go to war to obtain more victims. Source #3 shows a priest conducting a human sacrifice. He cut out the victim's still-beating heart and displayed it. Then they rolled the dead body down the stairs. The evidence shows that the Aztecs were very physically violent and had no mercy towards their captives.
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When they conquered towns, the towns had to pay a hefty amount of tribute so they wouldn't be punished. Source #8 shows a tribute roll that seven towns have to pay annually. They paid 28,000 mantles and tunics, one live eagle, and two war costumes and shields. The towns were forced to pay tribute. This shows that if the towns didn't pay for this, they would be destroyed. Although it doesn't mention this, the towns had no other option and, therefore, they would probably be punished severely if they didn't. This point proves that the Aztecs ruled through physical