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Xochimilco

Xochimilco

Xochimilco is one of the 16 delegaciones (boroughs) into which Mexico City's Federal District is divided. The canals with "Chinampa" gardens were built by the Aztecs for agricultural use. This technique skyrocketed the Aztec Empire develop the most sophisticated society of the Ancient Americas, and to build the largest city in the world at that time: Tenochtitlan (which had at that time 200,000 inhabitants, at a time when Paris and London were just small village forts), nowadays is known as Mexico City. The channels are now a popular tourist attraction with many boats traveling through them. The canals are particularly popular at the weekends and public holidays, with many Mexican families and tourists renting out boats complete with musicians and food. Image:Xochimilco.jpg

External link

- [http://www.xochimilco.df.gob.mx/ Delegación Xochimilco] Official site Category:Boroughs of the Mexican Federal District Category:World Heritage Sites in Mexico

Mexican Federal District

The Mexican Federal District, known in Spanish as Distrito Federal (D.F.), is an area within Mexico that is not part of any of the Mexican states, but an independent self-governing city-state and the seat of the Federal Government. The core of the vast Mexico City Metropolitan Area is within the Federal District's limits. The border with the State of México surrounds the D.F. on the north, east and west, while the State of Morelos shares the border through the more rural and mountainous south. The pear-shaped Federal District covers a surface area of 1,479 km², with a population of some 8,591,000 according to the year 2000 census. For local government purposes, executive power is held by the Head of Government of the Federal District, while legislative power is in the hands of the Legislative Assembly of the Federal District (Asamblea Legislativa del Distrito Federal). The D.F. is divided into 16 delegaciones (boroughs). Each delegación is further divided into a variable number of colonias (neighborhoods). Should the Federal Government decide to relocate to another part of the country, Article 44 of the Mexican Constitution mandates that the Federal District would acquire full statehood and be called Estado del Valle de México (State of the Valley of Mexico).

Administrative history

After the establishment of the Mexican Republic in 1824, the Mexican Congress (Congreso de la Unión) decided to create a federal district distinct from the Mexican states, based on the model of the District of Columbia in the United States. The Distrito Federal was officially created on November 18, 1824. It was a perfect circle with its center at the Plaza de la Constitución (Mexico City's Zócalo), the very heart of Mexico City, and a radius of 8.38 km.(5.2 miles). This circular territory of 220.6 km² (85.2 sq. miles) was detached from the State of México. The D.F. created in 1824 was much larger than the municipality of Mexico City proper. It was made up of Mexico City and six other independent municipalities: Tacuba, Tacubaya, Azcapotzalco, Mixcoac, Ixtacalco, and Villa de Guadalupe. The D.F. was abolished on February 20, 1837 when Mexico abandoned federalism and opted for a centralized government based on the French model. In 1846, the federal Constitution of Mexico was reestablished, and the D.F. was recreated on the same basis as in 1824.. In 1854, Mexican dictator Santa Anna enlarged the D.F. almost eight-fold, from 220 to approximately 1,700 km² (650 sq. miles), by annexing vast rural and mountainous areas of the State of México. The move was motivated by a desire to control the strategic mountain passes in the south and southwest of the Valley of Mexico. After the fall of Santa Anna, the Constitution of 1857 confirmed the enlargement of the D.F. Finally, between 1898 and 1902 the long quarrels with the states of Mexico and Morelos were put to an end by the final delimitation of the borders of the D.F., downsizing its area to 1,479 km² (571 sq. miles), which it has kept until today. For more than a hundred years, there existed independent municipalities inside the D.F. From seven municipalities in 1824, the enlargement of the D.F. increased the number of municipalities to 22 in 1900. In 1903, the government of Porfirio Díaz drastically reduced the number of municipalities inside the D.F. to 13 by merging some municipalities with each other. In 1924, the municipality of General Anaya was created by taking territory from the other municipalities, thus reaching a total of 14 municipalities. While the D.F. was ruled by the federal government of Mexico through an appointed governor, the municipalities ruled themselves independently, and this duality of powers created constant tensions between the municipalities and the federal government for more than a century. In 1903 already, Porfirio Díaz largely reduced the powers of the municipalities of the D.F. Eventually, in December 1928, the federal government led by the PRI decided to abolish the municipalities of the D.F. The D.F. became solely ruled by the federal government, with its inhabitants having no more say in decisions, much as what happened in the District of Columbia before 1975. The 14 municipalities at the time of their abolition in 1928 were: Mexico City, Guadalupe Hidalgo, Azcapotzalco, Tacuba, Tacubaya, Mixcoac, General Anaya, Cuajimalpa, San Ángel, Coyoacán, Tlalpan, Xochimilco, Milpa Alta, and Iztapalapa. Following the abolition of the municipalities, the D.F. was divided into a Central Department (Departamento Central) and 13 delegaciones. The Central Department was the result of the merger of the former municipalities of Mexico City, Tacuba, Tacubaya, and Mixcoac. As for the 13 delegaciones, their limits did not correspond exactly to the limits of the abolished municipalities. Unlike the former municipalities, the Central Department and the 13 delegaciones were mere administrative divisions, without power. In 1941, the General Anaya delegación was merged with the Central Department, which was renamed "Mexico City" (Ciudad de México), thus reviving the name of Mexico City, but not the municipality. From 1941 until 1970, the D.F. was made up of 12 delegaciones plus Mexico City, which was not a city, but merely an administrative subdivision like the former Central Department. In 1970, the subdivision of "Mexico City" was abolished and split into four delegaciones: Cuauhtémoc, Miguel Hidalgo, Venustiano Carranza, and Benito Juárez. Thus, the number of delegaciones reached 16, which is still the number of delegaciones today. Following the abolition of the "Mexico City" subdivision in 1970, the name "Mexico City" started to be used to refer to the whole D.F., and today the name Ciudad de México is a synonym for Distrito Federal. The official and correct name for the city (in spanish) is "Mexico, Distrito Federal". In 1987, the federal government of Mexico decided the creation of an Assembly of Representatives (Asamblea de Representantes) of the D.F. This assembly, elected by the inhabitants of the D.F., had limited legislative powers. Nonetheless, it was the first time since 1928 that the inhabitants of the D.F. recovered some oversight over their local affairs. Eventually, in 1993, full home rule was granted to the D.F. by the federal government, with the creation of an elected Head of Government of the Federal District, and a great expansion of the legislative powers of the Assembly of Representatives of the D.F., renamed Legislative Assembly of the D.F. (Asamblea Legislativa del Distrito Federal). The first Head of Government of the Federal District was elected in 1997.

External link

- [http://cp.alternativo.net/df.php Postal codes in the Federal District] (in Spanish) Federal District
- ja:メキシコ連邦区

Chinampa

Chinampa is an Aztec term referring to a method of ancient Mesoamerican agriculture through floating gardens—small, rectangle-shaped areas of fertile arable land used for agriculture in the Xochimilco region of the Basin of Mexico. Chinampas were stationary artificial islands that are used for growing crops. Chinampas were used for most of the Pre-Columbian period in the central part of modern-day Mexico; it is estimated that food provided by chinampas made up one-half to two-thirds of the food consumed by the city of Tenochtitlán (modern-day Mexico City). Chinampas became less common after the Spanish conquest of Mexico, but some still exist. The word comes from the Nahuatl word chinamitl, meaning "square made of canes." In the Pre-Columbian period, chinampas were squares made of canes covered by dirt—floating garden platforms which were held in place by stakes and sometimes trees that were planted in lagoon and lake bottoms. The primary crops were maize and beans. As roots from the crops connected to the underwater bottom, the chinampas sometimes developed into islands. In Xochimilco, chinampas can still be seen today. The first chinampas were constructed by indigenous inhabitants of Tenochtitlán, whose original small island was extended by this method. Since most indigenous people of the area were permanent settlers, they could spend more extensive time on agriculture. Therefore, chinampas were a good way to put their skills to use. There usually was no set time for when the platforms had to be complete. It could be done at a steady pace. Inhabitants would dig channels in the marsh areas of lakes and then take the excess soil from the lake bottoms, which was very rich soil, and pile it into a rectanglar space creating the chinampa platform or mound. This mound was then used to grow various crops. This process produced large "checkerboard" strips of land surrounded by narrow canals. Chinampas were usually around 300 feet long and 15 to 30 feet wide. These chinampas allowed inhabitants to make use of the lake waters which surrounded the Aztec Empire, producing a majority of the food for the inhabitants. Chinampas were used all year long, thus several crops were produced annually. The indigenous farmers used these floating platforms to grow corn, squash, amaranth, chilies, beans, and flowers. Part of each crop grown in the chinampas supported the city population and the rest was offered as a tribute to the Gods. For example, the flowers grown were often used in various Aztec ceremonies. The use of chinampas resulted in fertile, nutrionally rich soil that increased the productivity of the farmers. Less effort was needed to produce sufficient amounts of food. In order to keep the platforms fertile, alluvial deposits were added over time. The chinampas were so effective at producing, that there was often food surpluses. Thus inhabitants were able to concentrate less on agricultural aspects, and more on other tasks in daily indigenous life such as crafts and military obligations. After the Spaniards dried the Texcoco lake, as a way to control inundations, the role of chinampas dimished drastically in favor of more traditional method of agriculture. Today chinampas only survive in Xochimilco. See also: Ancient Mesoamerican agriculture

Sources

- Popper, Virginia. "Investigating Chinampa Farming." Backdirt (Cotsen Institute of Archaeology). Fall/Winter 2000. [http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/ioa/backdirt/Fallwinter00/farming.html] Category:Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica

Garden

:The Garden can also refer to Madison Square Garden.

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden

A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form is known as a residential garden. Western gardens are almost universally based around plants. Zoos, which display wild animals in simulated natural habitats, were formerly called zoölogical gardens. Some traditional types of eastern gardens, such as Zen gardens, use plants sparsely or not at all. Food-producing gardens are distinguished from farms by their smaller scale, more labor-intensive methods, and their purpose (enjoyment of a hobby rather than produce for sale); this distinction is not always clear-cut, however. The gardening article discusses the differences and similarities between gardens and farms in greater detail. Gardening is the activity of growing and maintaining the garden. This work is done by an amateur or professional gardener. A gardener might also work in a non-garden setting, such as a park, a roadside embankment, or other public space. Landscape architecture is a related professional activity with landscape architects tending to specialise in design for public and corporate clients.

Relating to the garden

A garden can have many purposes— aesthetic, functional, and recreational. People develop a relationship with the space. That relationship can take many forms; among these are:
- Cooperation with nature
- Plant cultivation
- Observance of nature
- Bird- and insect-watching
- Reflection on the changing seasons
- Relaxation
- Family dinners on the terrace
- Children playing in the yard
- Reading and relaxing in the hammock
- Maintaining the flowerbeds
- Pottering in the shed
- Basking in warm sunshine
- Growing useful produce
- Flowers to cut and bring inside for indoor beauty
- Fresh herbs and vegetables for cooking

Other similar spaces

Other outdoor spaces that are similar to gardens include:
- A landscape is an outdoor natural space of a larger scale, often considered from a distance.
- A park is a planned outdoor space, usually of a larger size, often for public use.
- An arboretum is a planned outdoor space, usually large, for the display and study of trees.
- A farm or orchard is for the production of food stuff.
- A botanical garden is a type of garden where a wide variety of plants are grown both for scientific purposes and for the enjoyment and education of visitors.
- A zoological garden, or zoo for short, is a place where wild animals are cared for and exhibited to the public.

Garden planning and design

Garden planning and garden design may be undertaken by a professional. A landscape architect is a trained, certified and registered professional who can plan and realise outdoor spaces. A garden designer is usually trained to plan and realise residential gardens. The planner must give consideration to many factors:
- Purpose
- Existing conditions
- Financial constraints
- Maintenance implications

Elements of a garden

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The elements of a garden consist of natural conditions and materials, as well as man-made elements: Natural conditions and materials:
- Soil
- Rocks
- Light conditions
- Wind
- Precipitation
- Air quality
- Pollution
- Proximity to ocean (salinity)
- Plant materials Man-made elements:
- Terrace, patio, deck
- Paths
- Lighting
- Raised beds
- Outdoor art/sculpture, such as Gazebos
- Pool, water garden, or other water elements

Types of gardens

Gardens may feature a particular plant or plant type:
- Cactus garden
- Fernery
- Herb garden
- Lawn
- Orchard
- Rose garden
- White garden
- Wildflower garden Gardens may feature a particular style or aesthetic:
- Alpine or rock garden
- Bonsai or miniature garden
- Chinese garden
- Cottage garden
- Tropical garden
- Formal garden
- Geometric garden
- Informal garden
- Japanese garden
- Zen garden
- Naturalistic garden
- Water garden
- Wild garden Gardens may function in a particular manner:
- Botanical garden
- Community garden
- Forest garden
- Raised bed gardening
- Residential garden
- Roof garden
- Vertical garden
- Water or soil-less gardening (hydroponics)
- Walled garden
- Windowbox
- Zoological garden

History of gardens

See history of gardens page.

Gardens in literature

- The Garden of Eden
- Romance of the Rose
- Nathaniel Hawthorne's short-story "Rappaccini's Daughter"
- Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden
- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera La Finta Giardiniera

External Links

- [http://www.gardenvisit.com/garden_history/garden_types/garden-types.htm Classification of garden types] Category:Gardening ja:庭園

Aztec

:The word "Aztec" is usually used as a historical term, although some contemporary Nahuatl speakers would consider themselves Aztecs. This article deals with the historical Aztec civilization, not with modern-day Nahuatl speakers. For other uses of the word see Aztec (disambiguation). The Aztecs were a Mesoamerican people of central Mexico in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. They were a civilization with a rich mythology and cultural heritage. Their capital was Tenochtitlan, built on raised islets in Lake Texcoco – the site of modern-day Mexico City. Mexico City

Terminology

In Nahuatl, the native language of the Aztec, "Azteca" means "someone who comes from Aztlán", a mythical place in northern Mexico. However, the Aztec referred to themselves as Mexica (IPA ) or Tenochca and Tlatelolca according their city of origin. Their use of the word azteca was like the modern use of Latino, or Mediterranean: a broad term that does not refer to a specific culture. The modern usage of the name Aztec as a collective term, applied to all the peoples linked by trade, custom, religion , and language to the Mexica state, the Triple Alliance, was suggested by Alexander von Humboldt and adopted by Mexican scholars of 19th century, as a way to distance "modern" Mexicans from pre-conquest Mexicans. "Mexica", the origin of the word Mexico, is a term of uncertain origin. Very different etymologies are proposed: the old Nahuatl word for the sun, the name of their leader Mexitli, a type of weed that grows in Lake Texcoco. The most renowned Nahuatl translator, Miguel León-Portilla, suggests that it means "navel of the moon" from Nahuatl metztli (moon) and xictli (navel) or, alternatively, it could mean navel of the maguey (Nahuatl metl).

Legends and traditions

:Main article: Aztec mythology. Aztec culture is generally grouped with the cultural complex known as the nahuas because of the common language they shared. According to legend, the various groups who were to become the Aztecs arrived from the north into the Anahuac valley around Lake Texcoco. The location of this valley and lake of destination is clear – it is the heart of modern Mexico City – but little can be known with certainty about the origin of the Aztec. In the legend, the ancestors of the Aztec came from a place in the north called Aztlán, the last of seven nahuatlacas (Nahuatl-speaking tribes, from tlaca, "man") to make the journey southward. The Aztec were said to be guided by their god Huitzilopochtli, meaning "Left-handed Hummingbird". When they arrived at an island in the lake, they saw an eagle perched on a nopal cactus full of its fruits (nochtli), a vision that fulfilled a prophecy telling them that they should found their new home on that spot. The Aztecs built their city of Tenochtitlan on that site, building a great artificial island, which today is in the center of Mexico City. This legendary vision is pictured on the Coat of Arms of Mexico. According to legend, when the Aztec arrived in the Anahuac valley around Lake Texcoco, they were considered by the other groups as the least civilized of all, but the Aztec decided to learn, and they took all they could from other peoples, especially from the ancient Toltec (whom they seem to have partially confused with the more ancient civilization of Teotihuacan). To the Aztec, the Toltecs were the originators of all culture; "Toltecayotl" was a synonym for culture. Aztec legends identify the Toltecs and the cult of Quetzalcoatl with the mythical city of Tollan, which they also seem to have identified with the more ancient Teotihuacan. Because the Aztec adopted and combined several traditions with their own earlier traditions, they had several creation myths; one of these describes four great ages preceding the present world, each of which ended in a catastrophe. Our age – Nahui-Ollin, the fifth age, or fifth creation – escaped destruction due to the sacrifice of a god (Nanahuatl, "full of sores", the smallest and humblest of the gods) who was transformed into the Sun. This myth is associated with the ancient city of Teotihuacan, which was already abandoned and destroyed when the Aztec arrived. Another myth describes the earth as a creation of the twin gods Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl. Tezcatlipoca lost his foot in the process of creating the world and all representations of these gods show him without a foot and with a bone exposed. Quetzalcoatl is also called "White Tezcatlipoca".

Rise of the Aztecs

Quetzalcoatl There were twelve rulers or tlatoque (singular: tlatoani) of Tenochtitlan:
- Legendary Founder: Tenoch
- 1375: Acamapichtli
- 1395: Huitzilihuitl
- 1417: Chimalpopoca
- 1427: Itzcoatl
- 1440: Moctezuma I (or Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina)
- 1469: Axayacatl
- 1481: Tizoc
- 1486: Auitzotl
- 1502: Moctezuma II (or Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, the famous "Montezuma", a.k.a. Motecuhzoma II)
- 1520: Cuitlahuac
- 1521: Cuauhtemoc After the fall of Tula, in the 12th century, in the valley of Mexico and surroundings, there were several city states of Nahua-speaking people: Cholula, Huexotzingo, Tlaxcala, Atzcapotzalco, Chalco, Culhuacan, Xochimilco, Tlacopan, etc. No single one of them was powerful enough to dominate other cities, and they were somewhat united by a common Toltec background. Aztec chronicles describe this time as a golden age, when music was established, people learned arts and crafts from surviving Toltecs, and rulers held poetry contests in place of wars. In the 13th and 14th centuries, around the Lake Texcoco in the Anahuac Valley, the most powerful of these city states were Culhuacan to the south, and Azcapotzalco to the west. Between them, they controlled the whole Lake Texcoco area. As a result, when the Mexica arrived to the Anahuac valley as a semi-nomadic tribe, they had nowhere to go. They settled temporarily in Chapultepec, but this was under the rule of Azcapotzalco, the city of the "Tepaneca", and they were soon expelled. They then went to the area dominated by Culhuacan and, in 1299, the ruler Cocoxtli gave them permission to settle in the empty barrens of Tizapan. They assimilated to Culhuacan culture: they took and married Culhuacan women, so that those women could teach their children. In 1323, they asked the new ruler of Culhuacan, Achicometl, for his daughter, in order to make her the goddess Yaocihuatl. The Mexica sacrificed her. The people of Culhuacan were horrified and expelled the Mexica. Forced to flee, in 1325 they went to a small islet in the center of the lake where they began to build their city "Mexico - Tenochtitlan", eventually creating a large artificial island. After a time, they elected their first tlatoani, Acamapichtli, following customs learned from the Culhuacan. Another Mexica group settled on the north shore: this would become the city of Tlatelolco. Originally, this was an independent Mexica kingdom, but eventually it merged with the islet. During this period, the islet was under the jurisdiction of Azcapotzalco, and the Mexica had to pay heavy tributes to stay there. Initially, the Mexica hired themselves out as mercenaries in wars between Nahuas, breaking the balance of power between city states. Eventually they gained enough glory to receive royal marriages. Mexica rulers Acamapichtli, Huitzilihuitl and Chimalpopoca were, in 1372–1427, vassals of Tezozomoc, a lord of the Tepanec nahua. When Tezozomoc died, his son Maxtla assassinated Chimalpopoca, whose uncle Itzcoatl allied with the ex-ruler of Texcoco, Nezahualcoyotl, and besieged Maxtla's capital Azcapotzalco. Maxtla surrendered after 100 days and went into exile. Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan formed a "Triple Alliance" that came to dominate the Valley of Mexico, and then extended its power beyond. Tenochtitlan gradually became the dominant power in the alliance. Itzcoatl's nephew Motecuhzoma I inherited the throne in 1449 and expanded the realm. His son Axayacatl (1469) surrounding kingdom of Tlatelolco. His sister was married to the tlatoani of Tlatelolco, but, as a pretext for war, he declared that she was mistreated. He went on to conquer Matlazinca and the cities of Tollocan, Ocuillan, and Mallinalco. He was defeated by the Tarascans in Tzintzuntzan (the first great defeat the Aztecs had ever suffered), but recovered and took control of the Huasteca region, conquering the Mixtecs and Zapotecs. In 1481 Axayacatl's son Tizoc ruled briefly, but he was considered weak, so he was replaced (possibly through assassination by poisoning) by his younger brother Ahuitzol who had reorganized the army. The empire was at its largest during his reign. His successor was Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin (better known as Moctezuma II), who was tlatoani when the Spaniards arrived in 1519.

The Empire

The Aztec Empire is not completely analogous to the empires of European history. Like most European empires, it was ethnically very diverse, but unlike most European empires, it was more a system of tribute than a single system of government. Arnold Toynbee in War and Civilization analogizes it to the Assyrian Empire in this respect. Although cities under Aztec rule seem to have paid heavy tributes, excavations in the Aztec-ruled provinces show a steady increase in the welfare of common people after they were conquered. This probably was due to an increase of trade, thanks to better roads and communications, and the tributes were extracted from a broad base. Only the upper classes seem to have suffered economically, and only at first. There appears to have been trade even in things that could be produced locally: love of novelty may have been a factor. There was even trade with cities considered enemies. The Purepechas, the only people who defeated the Aztecs, were the main source of copper axes. The main contribution of the Aztec rule was a system of comunications between the conquered cities. In Mesoamerica, they had no animals for transport, nor wheeled vehicles, so the roads were designed for travel on foot. Usually these roads were part of the tributes, and travelers had places to rest, eat, and even latrines at regular intervals, every 10 or 15 km. They were constantly watched, so even women could travel alone. Also, couriers (Paynani) were constantly traveling along those ways, keeping the Aztecs informed of events. The Aztec empire produced the biggest demographic explosion in Mesoamerica: the population grew from an estimated 10 million to 15 million. The most important official of Tenochtitlan government was often called The Aztec Emperor. The Nahuatl title, Huey Tlatoani (plural huey tlatoque), translates roughly as "Great Speaker"; the tlatoque ("speakers") were an upper class. This office gradually took on more power with the rise of Tenochtitlan. By the time of Auitzotl "Emperor" is an appropriate analogy, although as in the Holy Roman Empire, the title was not hereditary. Most of the Aztec empire was forged by one man, Tlacaelel (Nahuatl for "manly heart"), who lived from 1397 to 1487. Although he was offered the opportunity to be tlatoani, he preferred to stay behind the throne. Nephew of Tlatoani Itzcoatl, and brother of Chimalpopoca and Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina, his title was "Cihuacoatl" (in honor of the goddess, roughly equivalent to "counselor"), but as reported in the Ramírez Codex, "what Tlacaellel ordered, was as soon done". He gave the Aztec government a new structure, he ordered the burning of most Aztec books (his explanation being that they were full of lies) and he rewrote their history. In addition, Tlacaelel reformed Aztec religion, by putting the tribal god Huitzilopochtli at the same level as the old Nahua gods Tlaloc, Tezcatlipoca, and Quetzalcoatl. Tlacaelel thus created a common awareness of history for the Aztecs. He also created the institution of ritual war (the flowery wars) as a way to have trained warriors, and created the necessity of constant sacrifices to keep the Sun moving. Some writers believe upper classes were aware of this forgery, which would explain the later actions of Moctezuma when he met Hernán Cortés (a.k.a. Cortez). But eventually this institution helped to cause the fall of the Aztec empire. The people of Tlaxcala were spared conquest, at the price of participating in the flower wars. When Cortés came to know this, he approached them and they became his allies. The Tlaxcaltecas provided thousands of men to support the few hundred Spaniards. The Aztec strategy of war was based on the capture of prisoners by individual warriors, not on working as a group to kill the enemy in battle. By the time the Aztecs came to recognize what warfare meant in European terms, it was too late. :For further details, see Tlatoani.

Aztec society

Class structure

The society traditionally was divided into two social classes; the macehualli (people) or peasantry and the pilli or nobility. Nobility was not originally hereditary, although the sons of pillis had access to better resources and education, so it was easier for them to become pillis. Eventually, this class system took on the aspects of a hereditary system. The Aztec military had an equivalent to military service with a core of professional warriors; only those that had taken prisoners could become full-time warriors, and eventually the honors and spoils of war would make them pillis. Once an Aztec warrior had captured 4 or 5 captives, he would be called tequiua and could attain a rank of Eagle or Jaguar knight, sometimes translated as "captain", eventually he could reach the rank of tlacateccatl or tlachochcalli. To be elected as tlatoani, one was required to have taken about 17 captives in war. When Aztec boys attained adult age, they stopped cutting their hair until they took their first captive; sometimes two or three youths united to get their first captive; then they would be called iyac. If after a certain time, usually three combats, they could not gain a captive, they became macehualli; their hair would still be quite long, indicating that they had not gotten a captive yet. That was rather shameful. The abundance of tributes led to the emergence and rise of a third class that was not part of the traditional Aztec society: pochtecas or traders. Their activities were not only commercial: they also were an effective intelligence gathering force. They were scorned by the warriors - who nonetheless sent to them their spoils of war in exchange for blankets, feathers, slaves, and other presents. In the later days of the empire, the concept of macehualli also had changed. Eduardo Noguera (Annals of Anthropology, UNAM, Vol. xi, 1974, p. 56) estimates only 20% of the population was dedicated to agriculture and food production. The chinampa system of food production was very efficient; it could provide food for about 190,000 people. Also, a significant amount of food was obtained by trade and tribute. The Aztec were not only conquering warriors, but also skilled artisans and aggresive traders. Eventually, most of the macehuallis were dedicated to arts and crafts. Their works were an important source of income for the city (Sanders, William T., Settlement Patterns in Central Mexico. Handbook of Middle American Indians, 1971, vol. 3, p. 3-44). Excavations of some cities under Aztec rule show that a sizeable number of luxury items were produced in Tenochtitlan. More excavations are needed to show if this was true in other Aztec provinces, but if trade was as important as it seems, this could explain the rise of the Pochteca as a powerful class

Slavery

Slaves or tlacotin (distinct from war captives) also constituted an important class. This slavery was very different from what Europeans of the same period were to establish in their colonies, although it had much in common with the slaves of classical antiquity. (Sahagún doubts the appropriateness even of the term "slavery" for this Aztec institution.) First, slavery was personal, not hereditary: a slave's children were free. A slave could have possessions and even own other slaves. Slaves could buy their liberty, and slaves could be set free if they were able to show they had been mistreated or if they had children with or were married to their masters. Typically, upon the death of the master, slaves who had performed outstanding services were freed. The rest of the slaves were passed on as part of an inheritance. Another rather remarkable method for a slave to recover liberty was described by Manuel Orozco y Berra in La civilización azteca (1860): if, at the tianquiztli (marketplace; the word has survived into modern-day Spanish as "tianguis"), a slave could escape the vigilance of his or her master, run outside the walls of the market and step on a piece of human excrement, he could then present his case to the judges, who would free him. He or she would then be washed, provided with new clothes (so that he or she would not be wearing clothes belonging to the master), and declared free. Because, in stark contrast to the European colonies, a person could be declared a slave if he or she attempted to prevent the escape of a slave (unless that person were a relative of the master), others would not typically help the master in preventing the slave's escape. Manuel Orozco y Berra Orozco y Berra also reports that a master could not sell a slave without the slave's consent, unless the slave had been classified as incorrigible by an authority. (Incorrigibility could be determined on the basis of repeated laziness, attempts to run away, or general bad conduct.) Incorrigible slaves were made to wear a wooden collar, affixed by rings at the back. The collar was not merely a symbol of bad conduct: it was designed to make it harder to run away through a crowd or through narrow spaces. When buying a collared slave, one was informed of how many times that slave had been sold. A slave who was sold four times as incorrigible could be sold to be sacrificed; those slaves commanded a premium in price. However, if a collared slave managed to present him- or herself in the royal palace or in a temple, he or she would regain liberty. An Aztec could become a slave as a punishment. A murderer sentenced to death could instead, upon the request of the wife of his victim, be given to her as a slave. A father could sell his son into slavery if the son was declared incorrigible by an authority. Those who did not pay their debts could also be sold as slaves. People could sell themselves as slaves. They could stay free long enough to enjoy the price of their liberty, about twenty blankets, usually enough for a year; after that time they went to their new master. Usually this was the destiny of gamblers and of old ahuini (courtesans or prostitutes). Motolinía reports that some captives, future victims of sacrifice, were treated as slaves with all the rights of an Aztec slave until the time of their sacrifice, but it is not clear how they were kept from running away.

Recreation

Although one could drink pulque, a fermented beverage with an alcoholic content equivalent to beer, getting drunk before the age of 60 was forbidden under penalty of death. Like in modern Mexico, the Aztecs had strong passions over a ball game, but this in their case it was tlachtli, the Aztec variant of the ulama game, the ancient ball game of Mesoamerica. The game was played with a ball of solid rubber, about the size of a human head. The ball was called "olli", whence derives the Spanish word for rubber, "hule". The city had two special buildings for the ball games. The players hit the ball with their hips. They had to pass the ball through a stone ring. The fortunate player that could do this had the right to take the blankets of the public, so his victory was followed by general running of the public, with screams and laughter. People used to bet on the results of the game. Poor people could bet their food, pillis could bet their fortunes, tecutlis (lords) could bet their concubines or even their cities, and those who had nothing could bet their freedom and risk becoming slaves.

Tenochtitlan

Tenochitlan was the capital city of the Aztec empire. The Aztecs settled in Tenochitlan because the Aztec priests received a vision of the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli, who told the priests that they were to settle where they saw a eagle eating a snake on a cactus. The priests found this place on an island in the middle of a lake. Tenochtitlan covered an area of 8 square kilometers. There is no agreement on the population of the city. Most authorities prefer a conservative 60,000 to 130,000 inhabitants, still bigger than most European cities of the time, surpassed only by Constantinople with about 200,000 inhabitants, Paris with about 285,000, and Venice with about 130,000. [http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201d.htm]. Eduardo Noguera estimated 50,000 houses and 300,000 inhabitants. Soustelle gives an estimate of 700,000 people, if the populations of Tlatelolco and the small satellite cities and islets around Tenochtitlan are included. Tlatelolco was originally an independent city, but it became a suburb of Tenochtitlan. The city was divided into four zones or campan, each campan was divided on 20 districts (calpullis), and each calpulli was crossed by streets or tlaxilcalli. There were three main streets that crossed the city and extended to firm land; Bernal Díaz del Castillo reported it was wide enough for ten horses. The calpullis were divided by channels used for transportation, with wood bridges that were removed at night. It was in trying to cross these channels that the Spaniards lost most of the gold they had acquired from Moctezuma. Each calpulli had some specialty in arts and craft. When each calpulli offered some celebration, they tried to outdo the other calpullis. Even today, in the south part of Mexico City, the community organizations in charge of church festivities are called "calpullis". Each calpulli had its own tianquiztli (marketplace), but there was also a main marketplace in Tlatelolco. Cortés estimated it was twice the size of the city of Seville with about 60,000 people, trading daily, Sahagún give us a more conservative 20,000 daily and 40,000 on feast days. Aztecs had no coins, so most trade was made in goods, but cacao was so appreciated, it was used as an equivalent of coins. Gold had no intrinsic value: it was considered as a raw material for crafts. Gold jewelry had value, but raw gold had little. For the Aztecs, the destruction of objects to get a few pieces of gold was incomprehensible. There were also specialized tianquiztli in the small towns around Tenochtitlan. In Chollolan, there were jewels, fine stones, and feathers, in Texcoco there were clothes, in Aculma was the dog market. The Aztecs had three special breeds of dogs with no hair, of which only one survives. They were the tepezcuintli, the itzcuitepotzontli and the xoloizcuintli. These hairless dogs were mainly for eating and also were offerings for sacrifice. The Aztecs also had normal dogs for company. In the center of the city were the public buildings, temples and schools. Inside a walled square, 300 meters to a side, was the ceremonial center, there were about 45 public buildings, the main temple, the temple of Quetzalcoatl, the ball game, the tzompantli or rack of skulls, the temple of the sun, the platforms for the gladiatorial sacrifice, and some minor temples. Outside was the palace of Moctezuma, with 100 rooms, each one with its own bath, for the lords and ambassadors of allies and conquered people. Near, also was the cuicalli or house of the songs, and the calmecac. The city had a great symmetry. All constructions had to be approved by the calmimilocatl, a functionary in charge of the city planning. No one could invade the streets and channels. The palace of Moctezuma also had two houses or zoos, one for birds of prey and another for other birds, reptiles and mammals. About three hundred people were dedicated to the care of the animals. There was also a botanical garden and an aquarium. The aquarium had ten ponds of salt water and ten ponds of clear water, containing fishes and aquatic birds. Places like this also existed in Texcoco, Chapultepec, Huastepec (now called Oaxtepec) and Tezcutzingo. Bernal was amazed to find latrines in private houses and a public latrine in the tianquiztli and main streets. Small boats went through the city collecting garbage, and excrement was collected to be sold as fertilizer. About 1,000 men were dedicated to cleaning the city's streets. For public purposes, and to be able to set the pace of official business, trumpets were sounded from the tops of the temples six times a day: at sunrise, later on in the morning, at midday, again in the mid-afternoon, after sunset, and at midnight. Although the lake was salty, dams built by the Aztecs kept the city surrounded by clear water from the rivers that fed the lake. Two double aqueducts provided the city with fresh water; this was intended mainly for cleaning and washing. For drinking, water from mountain springs was preferred. Most of the population liked to bathe twice a day; Moctezuma was reported to take four baths a day. As soap they used the root of a plant called copalxocotl (saponaria americana); to clean their clothes they used the root of metl. Also, the upper classes and pregnant women enjoyed the temazcalli, which was similar to a sauna bath and is still used in the south of Mexico; this was also popular in other Mesoamerican cultures. Sahagún reports that the city also had beggars (only crippled people were allowed to beg), thieves and prostitutes. At night, in the dark alleys one could find scantily clad ladies with heavy makeup (they also painted their teeth), chewing tzicli (chicle, the original chewing gum) noisily to attract clients. There seems to have been another kind of women, ahuianis, who had sexual relations with warriors. The Spaniards were surprised because they did not charge for their work, so perhaps they had other means of support.

Education

chicle Until the age of fourteen, the education of children was in the hands of their parents, but supervised by the authorities of their calpulli. Periodically they attended their local temples, to test their progress. Part of their education was a collection of sayings, called huehuetlatolli ("The sayings of the old"), that represented the Aztecs' ideals. It included speeches and sayings for every occasion, the words to salute the birth of children, and to say farewell at death. Fathers admonished their daughters to be very clean, but not to use makeup, because they would look like ahuianis. Mothers admonished their daughters to support their husbands, even if they turn out to be humble peasants. Boys were admonished to be humble, obedient and hard workers. Boys and girls went to school at age 15, probably it´s one of the first societies that required education for all its members, without regard of sex or social status. There were two types of educational institutions. The telpochcalli or House of the Young, taught history, religion, military fighting arts, and a trade or craft (such as agriculture or handicrafts), some of them were chosen for the army, but most of them return to their homes. The calmecac, attended mostly by the sons of pillis, was focused on turning out leaders (tlatoque), priests, scholars/teachers (tlatimini), healers and codex painters (tlacuilos). They studied rituals, ancient and contemporary history, literacy, calendrics, some elements of geometry, songs (poetry), and, as at the telpochcalli, military fighting arts. Aztec teachers or Tlatimine, propounded a spartan regime of education – cold baths in the morning, hard work, physical punishment, bleeding with maguey thorns and endurance tests – with the purpose of forming a stoical people. There is contradictory information about whether calmecac was reserved for the sons and daughters of the pillis; some accounts said they could choose where to study. It is possible that the common people preferred the telpochcalli, because a warrior could advance more readily by his military abilities; becoming a priest or a tlacuilo was not a way to rise rapidly from a low station. Girls were educated in the crafts of home and child raising. They were not taught to read or write. Some of them were educated as midwifes. There are paintings of women presiding over religious ceremonies, but there are no references to female priests. There were also two other opportunities for those few who had talent. Some were chosen for the house of song and dance, and others were chosen for the ball game. Both occupations had high status.

Diet

The Aztec created artificial islands or chinampas on Lake Texcoco, on which they cultivated crops. The Aztec staple foods included maize, beans and squash. Chinampas were a very efficient system and could provide up to seven crops a year, on the basis of current chinampa yields, it has been estimated that 1 hectare of chinampa would feed 20 individuals, with about 9,000 hectares of chinampa, there was food for 180,000 peoples. Much has been said about a lack of proteins in the Aztec diet, to support the arguments on the existence of cannibalism (M. Harner, Am. Ethnol. 4, 117 (1977)), but there is little evidence to support it: a combination of maize and beans provides the full quota of essential amino acids, so there is no need for animal proteins. The Aztecs had a great diversity of maize strains, with a wide range of amino acid content; also, they cultivated amaranth for its seeds, which have a high protein content. More important is that they had a wider variety of foods. They harvested acocils, a small and abundant shrimp of Lake Texcoco, also spirulina algae, which was made into a sort of cake that was rich in flavonoids, and they ate insects, such as crickets (chapulines), maguey worms, ants, larvae, etc. Insects have a higher protein content than meat, and even now they are considered a delicacy in some parts of Mexico. Aztec also have domestic animals, like turkey and some breed of dogs, that provide meat, although usually this was reserved for special occasions. Hunting was also another source of meat - deer, wild hogs, ducks etc. A study by Montellano (Medicina, nutrición y salud aztecas, 1997) shows a mean life of 37 (+/- 3) years for the population of Mesoamerica. Aztec also used maguey extensively; from it they obtained food, sugar (aguamiel), drink (pulque), and fibers for ropes and clothing. Use of cotton and jewelry was restricted to the elite. Cocoa grains, which were also used to make a chocolate drink much like beer, were used as money. Subjugated cities paid annual tribute in form of luxury goods like feathers and adorned suits. After the Spanish conquest some foods were outlawed, like amaranth, and there was less diversity of food. This led to a chronic malnutrition in the general population.

Sacrifices

Cocoa For most people today, and for the European Christians who first met the Aztecs, human sacrifice was and is the most striking feature of Aztec civilization. The necessity of sacrifice was widespread at this time in Mesoamerica and South America (during the Inca Empire), but the Aztecs practiced it on a particularly large scale, sacrificing human victims on each of their 18 festivities. But not all sacrifices involved human sacrifice. Most cultures of Mesoamerica gave some kind of offerings to the gods and the sacrifice of animals was common, a practice which the Aztecs bred special dogs for. Objects also were sacrificed, broken and offered to their gods. The cult of Quetzalcoatl required the sacrifice of butterflies and hummingbirds. Self sacrifice was also quite common; people would offer maguey thorns, tainted with their own blood. Blood held a central place in Mesoamerican cultures; in one of the creation myths, Quetzalcoatl would offer blood extracted from a wound in his own penis to give life to humanity and there are further several myths, where Nahua gods offer their blood to help humanity. In the myth of the fifth sun, all the gods sacrifice themselves so humanity could live. All this prepared people to the supreme sacrifice: human sacrifice. In the usual procedure of sacrifice, the victim would be painted with blue chalk (the color of sacrifice) and taken to the top of the great pyramid. Then the victim would be laid on a stone slab, his abdomen sliced open with a ceremonial knife (an obsidian knife could hardly cut through a ribcage) and his heart taken out and raised to the sun. The heart would be put in a bowl held by a statue, and the body thrown on the stairs, where it would be dragged away. The sacrifice was supposed to be voluntary, but if faith was not enough, drugs could be used. Afterwards, the body parts would be disposed of various ways: the viscera were used to feed the animals in the zoo, the head was cleaned and placed on display in the tzompantli, and the rest of the body was either cremated or cut into very small pieces and offered as a gift to important people. Recent evidence also points to removal of muscles and skinning (José Luis Salinas Uribe, INAH, 2005) (see cannibalism). Other kinds of human sacrifice existed, some of them involving torture. In these, the victim could be shot with arrows, burned or drowned. For the construction of the main temple, the Aztecs reported that they sacrificed about 84,400 prisoners in four days. How a city of 120,000 people could take, accommodate and dispose of that many prisoners is not clear, especially since they reported that Ahuitzotl sacrificed them personally. This translates into about 17 sacrifices per minute over the course of four days. Some scholars believe that it is more probable that only 3,000 sacrifices took place and the death toll was drastically inflated by war propaganda. Another figure used is from Bernal Díaz del Castillo, the Spanish soldier who wrote his account of the conquest 50 years after the fact. In the description of the tzompantli, a rack of skulls of the victims in the main temple, he reports to have counted about 100,000 skulls. However, to accommodate that many skulls, the Tzompantli would have had a length of several kilometers, instead of the 30 meters reported. Modern reconstructions account for about 600 to 1,200 skulls. Similarly, Díaz claimed there were 60,000 skulls in the tzompantli of Tlatelolco, which was as important as that of Tenochtitlan. According to William Arens in The Man-Eating Myth: Anthropology and Anthropophagy (1979, ISBN 0195027930), excavations by archeologists found 300 skulls. Bernardino de Sahagún, Juan Bautista de Pomar and Motolinía report that the Aztecs had 18 festivities each year. Motolinía and Pomar clearly state that only in those festivities sacrifices were made. Each god required a different kind of victim: young women were drowned for Xilonen, sick male children were sacrificed to Tlaloc (Juan Carlos Román: 2004 Museo del templo mayor), Nahuatl speaking prisoners to Huitzilopochtli, and an Aztec (or simply nahua, according to some accounts) volunteer for Tezcatlipoca. Not all these sacrifices were made at the main temple, a few were made at "Cerro del Peñón", an islet of the Texcoco lake . According to an aztec source, in the month of Tlacaxipehualiztli, 34 captives were sacrifice in the gladiatorial sacrifice, to Xipe Totec. A bigger figure would be dedicated to Huitzilopochtli in the month of Panquetzaliztli. This could put a figure as low as 300 to 600 victims a year, but Marvin Harris multiplies it by 20, assuming that the same sacrifices were made in every one of the sections or calpullis of the city. There is little agreement on the actual figure. Aztecs waged "flower wars" to capture prisoners for sacrifices they called nextlaualli, "debt payment to the gods" so that the sun could survive each cycle of 52 years. Every 52 years a special "new fire ceremony" occurred. All fires were extinguished, and in the middle of the night a sacrifice was made. They then waited for dawn. If the Sun appeared, it meant that the sacrifices for this cycle had been enough. A fire was ignited on the body of the victim, and this new fire was taken to all the houses and cities. Rejoicing was general, because an a new cycle of 52 years was beginning, and the end of the world had been postponed. Ironically, the Spaniards arrived just at the end of one of these cycles. This ceremony was centuries older than the Aztecs, but while originally it was believed it was a matter of luck to survive, it was the Aztecs who thought that constant sacrifice could postpone the end. It is not known if the Aztecs engaged in human sacrifice before they reached the Anahuac valley and acquired and absorbed other cultures. The first human sacrifice reported by them was dedicated to Xipe Totec a deity from the north of Mesoamerica. Aztec chronicles reported human sacrifice began as an institution in the year "five knives" or 1484 under Tizoc. Under Tlacaelel's guidance, human sacrifice became important part of the Aztec culture, not only because of religious reasons, but also for political reasons. As Laurette Séjourné comments, the human sacrifice would also put a strain in the Aztec culture. They admired the Toltec culture, and claimed to be followers of Quetzalcoatl, but the cult of Quetzalcoatl forbids human sacrifice, and as Sejourne points, there were harsh penalties for those who dared to scream or faint during a human sacrifice. When Cortés arrived in Tenochtitlan, he forbade human sacrifice, so the Spaniards did not witness human sacrifice in the city. There are no pre-Cortesian representations of human sacrifice, of Aztec origin – all known were depicted several years after the conquest, although the destruction of Aztec codices could explain that. Also, of the two possible witnesses who wrote on human sacrifice, Cortés and Bernal, Cortés wrote on the subject: "it could be that I am mistaken on this relation, since a lot of this had not been seen, except by information of the natives" (Letter to Charles V, 10 July 1519). There is a great gap between what has been written on this subject, and what is really known.

Cannibalism

While there is universal agreement that the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice, there is a lack of scholarly consensus as to whether they also practiced cannibalism and, if so, to what extent. At one extreme, Materialist anthropologist Marvin Harris, who wrote about cannibalism in Our Kind and Cannibals and Kings has suggested that the flesh of the victims was a part of an aristocratic diet as a reward, since the Aztec diet was lacking in proteins. According to him, the Aztec economy would have been unable to support feeding them as slaves, so the columns of prisoners were "marching meat". At the other extreme, William Arens doubts whether there was ever any systematic cannibalism. While most historians of Mesoamerica believe that there was ritual cannibalism related to human sacrifices, they do not support Harris's thesis that human flesh was ever a significant portion of the Aztec diet. There is little documentation of Aztec cannibalism. There are only five accounts of cannibalism from the date of the conquest, none of them particularly suggestive of widespread ritual cannibalism, and only one – the Ramírez codex – (equivocally) tying cannibalism to ritual sacrifice. The five specific accounts of cannibalism are:
- Cortés wrote in one of his letters that his soldiers had captured an Aztec who had a roasted baby ready for breakfast.
- Gomarra, reported that during the siege of Tenochtitlan, the Spaniards had asked the Aztecs to surrender since they had no food. The Aztecs answered, asking the Spaniards to try to attack, so they could be taken as prisoners, and then served with "molli" sauce.
- In the books of Bernardino de Sahagún, there is an illustration of an Aztec being cooked by an unknown tribe. This was reported as one of the dangers that Aztec traders faced.
- The Ramírez codex, written by an Aztec after the conquest using the Latin alphabet, reports that after the sacrifices the flesh from the hands of the victim were given as gift to the warrior who made the capture. According to the codex, this was supposedly eaten, but was in fact discarded and replaced with turkey.
- In his book "Relación de Juan Bautista Pomar", Juan Bautista de Pomar states that after the sacrifice, the body of the victim was given to the warrior resposible of the capture, he would boil the body to be able to cut small pieces of meat, to be offered as gifts to important people in exchange for presents and slaves, but it was rarely eaten, since they considered it had no value; instead it was replaced by turkey, or just thrown away. It is at least interesting that the one account by an Aztec and the account by a "meztizo" of supposed cannibalism following ritual sacrifice claims that the apparent cannibalism was a sham. This is congruent with the Laurette Séjourné and Miguel León-Portilla's theory that the upper classes were aware that the religion created by Tlacaelel was something of a forgery. Recent archeological evidence (INAH 2005) in some of the bodies found under the "Catedral Metropolitana", from the basement of aztec temples, show some cuttings indicating the removal of muscles from some of the victims. Not all the bodies show this treatment. Despite this paucity of contemporary sources, accounts of the Aztec Empire as a "Cannibal Kingdom" (Marvin Harris's expression) have been commonplace, from Bernal Díaz to Marvin Harris, William H. Prescott, and Michael Harner. Harner has accused his colleagues – especially those in Mexico – of diminishing or hiding evidence of Aztec cannibalism. The question, of course, is whether such evidence exists to be hidden. Even Díaz (who participated as a soldier in the conquest of Mexico) does not claim to have been an eyewitness to cannibalism. It is possible that Aztec cannibalism was simply a blood libel by the victorious Spanish. Dominican priest Diego Durán's Historia de las Indias de Nueva España y islas de tierra firme, while clearly a useful source of information (he had access to the survivors of Tenochtitlan), must be doubted on the subject of human sacrifice. Apparently combining a blood libel against the Aztecs with that against the Jews, he argued that the Aztecs were one of the lost tribes of Israel, and adduced human sacrifice and cannibalism as part of his evidence. [http://www.jqjacobs.net/anthro/cannibalism.html]

Human Sacrifice as a Political Tool

Human sacrifice was nothing new, nor was it something unique to the Mexica. Previous Mesoamerican empires, such as those of the Toltecs and Olmecs, sacrificed their enemies, as did ancient European cultures such as the Greeks and Romans. What distinguished Mexica human sacrifice from these was the sheer scale of the carnage, the importance with which it was embedded in everyday life, and the political function it served. The high-profile nature of the sacrificial ceremonies indicates that human sacrifice played an important political function. The Mexica used a sophisticated package of psychological weaponry to maintain their empire, aimed at overawing and instilling a sense of fear into local tlatoque. Whereas European empires were typically secured through the creation of garrisons and installation of puppet governments in conquered towns or settlements, in Mesoamerica such methods would be prohibitively expensive and largely impractical. The part-time Mexica army was needed to expand the frontier and was, in any event, disbanded during the rainy crop-growing seasons. The Mexica honed human sacrifice as a weapon of terror, using it even against the Spanish. Tlatoque from across the empire even those of enemy towns were invited - or in the case of tributary towns, obliged - to attend sacrificial ceremonies in Tenochtitlan. The refusal of a tlatoani would be considered an act of defiance against the Mexica and result in serious consequences, perhaps even war. Sahagún describes what awaited those condemned souls upon the summit of the temple:

"As soon as they had dragged them to the block…they threw down on their back, five men holding them, two by the feet and two by the arms, and one by the head. Then at once the priest, who was to kill him, would come and strike him a blow on the chest with both hands, holding a flint knife shaped like the iron of an anchor, cutting a hole. Into this hole he would thrust one hand and tear out the heart, which he offered to the sun… The lords from provinces who had come to observe the sacrifice were shocked and bewildered by what they had seen and they returned to their homes filled with astonishment and fright."

This psychological weapon was also a means of discouraging internal unrest. Commoners participated in the maintenance of a temple according to a rotating monthly schedule, and assisted the priests in sacrificial rituals. A commoner would have been lucidly aware of the fate that awaited those who opposed the Mexica leadership. Safety was to be found inside the Mexica polity rather than risk death outside it. Human sacrifice perpetuated the myth of invincibility that surrounded the Mexica army.

Poetry

Poetry was the only occupation worthy of an Aztec warrior in times of peace. A remarkable amount of this poetry survives, having been collected during the era of the conquest. In some cases, we know names of individual authors, such as Netzahualcoyotl, Tolatonai of Texcoco, and Cuacuatzin, Lord of Tepechpan. Miguel León-Portilla, the most renowned translator of Nahuatl, comments that it is in this poetry where we can find the real thought of the Aztecs, independent of "official" Aztec ideology. In the basement of the Great Temple there was the "house of the eagles", where in peacetime Aztec captains could drink a foaming chocolate, smoke good cigars, and have poetry contests. The poetry was accompanied by percussion instruments (teponaztli). Recurring themes in this poetry are whether life is real or a dream, whether there is an afterlife, and whether we can approach the giver of life.

:Zan te te yenelli :aca zan tlahuaco :in ipal nemoani :In cuix nelli ciox amo nelli? :Quen in conitohua :in ma oc on nentlamati :in toyollo.... :zan no monenequi :in ipal nemoani :Ma oc on nentlamati :in toyollo

:Is it you?, are you real? :Some had talked nonsense :oh, you, by whom everything lives, :Is it real?, Is it not real? :This is how they say it :Do not have anguish :in our hearts! :I will make disdainful :oh, you, by whom everything lives, :Do not have anguish :in our hearths!

:: – Netzahualcoyotl, lord of Texcoco The most important collection of these poems is Romances de los señores de la Nueva España, collected (Tezcoco 1582), probably by Juan Bautista de Pomar. This volume was later translated into Spanish by Ángel María Garibay K., teacher of León-Portilla. Bautista de Pomar was the great grandson of Netzahualcoyotl. He spoke Nahuatl, but was raised as Christian and wrote in Latin characters. The Aztec people also enjoyed a type of dramatic presentation, although it could not be called theatre. Some were comical with music and acrobats, others were staged dramas of their gods. After the conquest, the first Christian churches had open chapels reserved for these kinds of representations. Plays in Nahuatl, written by converted Indians, were an important instrument for the conversion to Christianity, and are still found today in the form of traditional pastorelas, which are played during Christmas to show the Adoration of Baby Jesus, and other Biblical passages.

Downfall

For more on the conquest of Mexico by Spain, see also Hernán Cortés. The Aztecs were conquered by Spain in 1521, when after long battle and a long siege where much of the population died from hunger and smallpox, Cuauhtémoc surrendered to Hernán Cortés (a.k.a. "Cortez"). Cortés, with his up to 500 Spaniards, did not fight alone but with as many as 150,000 or 200,000 allies from Tlaxcala, and eventually from Texcoco, who were resisting Aztec rule. He defeated Tenochtitlan's forces on August 13, 1521. An anonymous Aztec poet wrote: : How can we save our homes, my people : The Aztecs are deserting the city : The city is in flames and all : is darkness and destruction : Weep my people : Know that with these disasters : We have lost the Mexican nation : The water has turned bitter : Our food is bitter : These are the acts of the Giver of Life. :: – From the Informantes Anónimos de Tlatelolco, compiled in 1521. But even in this moment, most of the other Mesoamerican cultures were intact. The Tlaxcaltecas expected to get their part; the Purepechas and Mixtecs probably were happy at the defeat of their longtime enemy, and it was the same for other cultures. It seemed that the Cortés's intention was to maintain the structure of the Aztec empire, and at first it seemed the Aztec empire could survive. The upper classes at first were considered as noblemen (to this day, the title of Duke of Moctezuma is held by a Spanish noble family), they learned Spanish, and several learned to write in European characters. Some of their surviving writings are crucial in our knowledge of the Aztecs. Also, the first missionaries tried to learn Nahuatl and some, like Bernardino de Sahagún, decided to learn as much as they could of the Aztec culture. A record survives of a dialogue between the last tlatimine or wise men, and the missionaries, where the Aztec try to defend their ways, this reflects the sadness of their defeat: :Lords, respected lords: You have traveled much to get to this land. : :Here in front of you, :we contemplate you, we ignorant people... : :And now, what are we going to tell you? :What is what we must address to your ears? :Are we something indeed? :We are just vulgar people... : :By means of a translator we will answer, :we will return the breath and the word :about the lord of the near and far. (ometeotl /omecihuatl) :It's by his word, that we risk ourselves, :that we put ourselves in danger... : :Maybe this is our loss, :maybe is our destruction, :where are we going to be taken? : :Where should we go? :We are vulgar people :we are perishable, we are mortal. : :Let us die, let us perish, :since our gods are dead. :But there should be peace on your :hearts and your body, :Milords! :we will break a little, :we will show a little, :the secret, the ark of the lord, our God :You said :that we did not know :about the lord of the near and far, :about of one who created earth and sky. :you said :That our gods are not true. : :This is a new word, :this that you have spoken. :This is why we are disturbed, :this is why we are annoyed. : :Because our ancestors, :the ones that had been, :the ones that had lived on this earth, :they did not speak like that. : :They give us the ways of life, :they take by true, :they give cult, :they honored the gods...... :they teach us the ways of the cult, :all the ways to honor the gods. : :That way we put the mouth on earth, :by them we bleed us, :we accomplished our votes, :we burn copal :and offered sacrifice. (....) :We know to whom we owe life. :To whom we owe birth, :to whom we owe to be beget :to whom we owe to grow, :and how to invoke... : (....) :Hear milords :do not harm your people. :Do not let disgrace to be carried, :to let it perish... : :tranquil, and friendly, :take this account, milords, :of what is needed. : (....) : :Here are the ones who rule us, :the ones that take us, :the ones that have the world in charge. : :Is it not enough that we are defeated? :that we a

Tenochtitlan

Tenochtitlan (pronounced ) or, alternatively, Mexico-Tenochtitlan, was the capital of the Aztec empire, which was built on an island in Lake Texcoco in what is now central Mexico. The city was largely destroyed in the 1520s by Spanish conquistadores, Mexico City was erected on top of the ruins and, over the ensuing centuries, most of Lake Texcoco has gradually been drained. Many different tribes came and went from the shores of the lake without establishing a permanent, important culture. It was not until the arrival of the Aztecs, a tribe of people who came in from Aztlán, a settlement from the deserts in Northern or Western Mexico of which no modern remains have been identified, that the area acquired its importance. The Aztecs migrated following an ancient legend that prophesied that they would find the site for their new city in a place where they would see a mythical vision fulfilled: an eagle eating a snake while perched atop a cactus. The Aztecs eventually came across this vision on what was then a small swampy island in Lake Texcoco, and the vision is now immortalized in Mexico's coat of arms, which is shown in the Mexican flag. Not deterred by the unfavourable terrain, they invented the chinampa system to dry the land by setting up small plots in which they produced all the food they required. When enough land was dry they would begin to build there. Tenochtitlan (the Nahuatl language name for the city) was founded in 1325. A thriving culture developed, and the Aztec empire came to dominate other tribes all around Mexico. The small natural island was perpetually enlarged as an artificial island as Tenochtitlan grew to become the largest and most powerful city in Mesoamerica. Commercial routes were developed that brought goods from places as far as the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Ocean and perhaps even the Inca Empire. The city was connected to the mainland by a series of wide causeways with bridges, known as calzadas. The city was interlaced with a series of canals, so that all sections of the city could be visited either on foot or via canoe. After a flood of Lake Texcoco, the city was rebuilt in a style that made it one of the grandest ever in Mesoamerica under Emperor Auitzotl. Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés arrived in Tenochtitlan on November 8, 1519. At this time it is believed that the city was the largest in the world, surpassing even Paris and Constantinople. The most common estimates put the population at around 60,000 to 130,000 people. Aztec ruler Moctezuma II, thinking Cortés to be the returning god Quetzalcoatl, welcomed him with great pomp. Some of the conquistadores had traveled as widely as Venice and Constantinople, and many said that Tenochtitlan was as large and fine a city as any they had seen. Cortés and his men, aided by local tribes, eventually conquered the city on August 13, 1521, after a struggle that lasted months in which much of the city was destroyed. The rest of the city was either destroyed, dismantled or buried as Mexico City was built on top of it. Some of the remaining ruins of Tenochtitlan's main temple, the Templo Mayor, were excavated in the 1970's and are now open to visitors. Mexico City's Zócalo is located at the location of Tenochtitlan's original central plaza and market, and many of the original calzadas still correspond to modern streets in the city. For the later history of this city, see: History of Mexico City : Alternative meaning: there is a municipality called Tenochtitlán in the modern-day Mexican state of Veracruz. Category:Aztec history Category:Artificial islands Category:History of Mexico City ja:テノチティトラン

Mexico City

Mexico City (Spanish: Ciudad de México) is the name of a megacity located in the Valley of Mexico (Valle de México), a large valley in the high plateaus (altiplano) at the center of Mexico, about 2,240 metres (7,349 feet) above sea-level, surrounded on most sides by volcanoes towering at 4,000 to 5,500 metres (13,000 to 18,000 feet) above sea-level. Mexico City was originally a municipality founded in 1521 by Cortés in the middle of the now drained Lake Texcoco on the ruins of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire, and its lesser-known twin city Tlatelolco. The municipality was abolished in 1928, and the name "Mexico City" can now refer to two things. Officially, the name Ciudad de México is used by the Distrito Federal (D.F.). The D.F. is a federal district serving as the capital of Mexico and which is administered by the Mexican Federal Government. The D.F. encompasses the historical center of Mexico City, but is much larger than the historical municipality of Mexico City abolished in 1928. The urbanized area of Mexico City covers only the north of the D.F., while the south of the D.F. is made up of rural areas and mountains. Although the D.F. is not a municipality, the name Ciudad de México is used by Mexican authorities as a synonym for Distrito Federal (such as in Article 44 of the Mexican Constitution). In a broader meaning, "Mexico City" refers to the whole metropolitan area of Greater Mexico City. The metropolitan area extends beyond the limits of the D.F. and encompasses tens of independent municipalities located in the State of México (Estado de México), to the north, east, and west of the D.F., extending as far north as the State of Hidalgo. The population of the entire metropolitan area in 2005 is estimated between 18 and 22 million inhabitants (depending where the limits of the metropolitan area are set). This means Mexico City is the second or third most populated metropolitan area in the world (behind Tokyo, and possibly Seoul, depending which data is compared). Mexico City, with its distinct mestizo culture, blending native Indian (Nahuatl) and Spanish heritages, has in recent decades become one of the great financial, economic, educational, cultural, and tourist centers of the world.

History

:For the Pre-Columbian detailed history of the city, see: Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco. After centuries of pre-Columbian civilization, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés first arrived in the area, then the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, in 1519. He did not succeed in conquering the city until August 13, 1521, after a 79-day siege that destroyed most of the old Aztec city. The city served as the capital of the viceroyalty of New Spain from ca. 1525 to the outbreak of the War of Independence in 1810, and of the various Mexican states afterwards. Most of the growth of Mexico City in population occurred in the late 20th century. In 1950 the city had about 3 million inhabitants. By 2000 the estimated population for the metropolitan area was around 18 million. At 07:17 on September 19, 1985, the city was struck by an earthquake of magnitude 8.1 on the Richter scale which resulted in the deaths of between 5,000 (government estimate) to 20,000 people and rendered 50,000-90,000 people homeless. One hundred thousand housing units were destroyed, together with many government buildings. Up to USD $4 billion of damage was caused in three minutes. There was an additional magnitude 7.5 aftershock 36 hours later. [http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eq_depot/world/1985_09_19.html USGS Earthquake Report]

Modern Mexico City

Attractions

USD Famous landmarks in Mexico City include the Zócalo, the main central square with its time clashing Spanish-era Cathedral, modern-times Palacio Nacional, and ancient Aztec temple ruins. (The Templo Mayor was found in the early 1900s while digging to place underground electric cables.) The trademark golden Angel of Independence found on the wide, elegant avenue Paseo de la Reforma, modeled by the order of president Porfirio Díaz after the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The Avenida de los Insurgentes, locally said to be the longest street in the world, goes 28.8 km (18 miles) from end to end of the city. The Chapultepec park houses the Chapultepec Palace museum on a hill that overlooks the park and its numerous museums, monuments and the national zoo; the National Museum of Anthropology, the Bellas Artes Fine Arts Palace which is a stunning white marble theater/museum whose weight is such that it has gradually been sinking into the soft ground below, the Plaza of the Three Cultures in the Tlatelolco neighborhood, and the shrine and Basilicas of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In addition, the city has around 160 museums, over 100 art galleries, and some 30 concert halls. In many locales (The Palacio Nacional and the Instituto Nacional de Cardiología to name a few), there are murals by Diego Rivera. He and his wife Frida Kahlo lived in the southern suburb of Coyoacán, where various of their homes, studios, and collections are open to the public. Nearby is the house of Leon Trotsky, where he was murdered in 1940.

Sports

"Fútbol" (soccer) is Mexico's most popular sport and has wide following in Mexico City. Three very well known teams, Club America, Cruz Azul and Pumas, are based in Mexico City. The Aztec Stadium, home of Club America is one of the world's largest stadiums with capacity to seat approximately 110,000 fans. Mexico hosted the Football World Cup in 1970 and 1986. The Estadio Azteca was witness to spectacular games colored with full-capacity attendance and excitement of Mexican fans. Mexico City hosted the 1968 Olympic Games, winning the bids against Buenos Aires, Lyon and Detroit. NASCAR plans to hold annual Busch Series races at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez starting with the 2005 event held there.

Transportation

Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez :See also articles in the category Transportation in Mexico City Mexico City is served by the Sistema de Transporte Colectivo Metro, an extensive metro system (207 km), the largest in Latin America, the first portions of which were opened in 1969. One of the busiest in the world, the metro transports more than 4 million people every day, surpassed only by Moscow's (7.5 million), Tokyo's (5.9 million) and Seoul's (4.4 million). It is heavily subsidized, and it is one of the cheapest in the world, each trip currently costing MXN $2 (around EUR 0.13 or USD 0.19). A number of stations display Pre-Columbian artifacts and architecture that was discovered during the metro's construction. However, the Metro reaches only a fraction of the total inhabited area of the city, and therefore an extensive network of bus routes has been implemented. These are mostly managed by private companies which are allowed to operate buses as long as they adhere to certain minimal service quality standards. The city government also operates a network of large buses, in contrast with the privately operated microbuses, with fares barely exceeding that of the Metro. Electric transport other than the metro also exists, in the form of trolleybuses and the Xochimilco Light Rail line. A new project has been constructed to create the city's first bus rapid transit line, the Metrobús, on Avenida Insurgentes, in order to reduce pollution and decrease transit time for passengers. MetrobúsThere are plenty of lime-green colored taxi cabs, which, while occasionally unsafe if taken randomly from the street instead of designated locales, are undeniably economical. The freeway system is so dense that there is an ongoing project to make a second level to the main ringroad that is to this day already partially operational. Mexico City is served by Benito Juárez International Airport (IATA Airport Code: MEX). It has four major bus stations (North, South, Observatorio, TAPO), with bus service to cities across the country, and one train station, used for commercial purposes (intercity passenger trains are now virtually non-existent in Mexico). Though recently, the Tren Suburbano (suburban rail) will be built to serve metropolitan area. There is also has several toll expressways which connect it with several other major cities. The city does not have an expressway network that connects points within the city; all cross-city trips must be done on arterial roads. This is one reason why the city's streets are so congested.
Urban Problems
As one of the largest urban areas in the world, Mexico City suffers from no shortage of the problems common of many large cities, including traffic, poverty, and pollution. This is perhaps exacerbated by Mexico's developing country status. This city has a high number of street children; some estimate as many as 50,000. The mountains and volcanoes surrounding the city trap polluted air in the city and contribute to the city's serious problem with poor air quality, although major strides have been made to improve the pollution situation in the past 20 years or so. Violent crime is also a major concern; in 2003 Mexico had the second-highest number of kidnappings in the world, with some 3,000 reported cases. In taxis, a particular problem has arisen; individuals are sometimes kidnapped by unauthorized taxi drivers, in order to empty their bank accounts at ATMs. Victims are sometimes kept overnight in order to bypass daily withdrawal limits. Inside other transportation, mostly microbuses, pickpocketing is still a common activity, and Mexico City inhabitants take various levels of precaution to avoid being victims of this. Police reform has also been a focus of the government for the past decade; there is a general sense of distrust against the authorities, as conventional wisdom holds that all Mexico's police forces are corrupt one way or another. This issue came to a head in November 2004, when an angry crowd in Tláhuac allowed themselves to be whipped up into a frenzy by the local criminal elements and burned two undercover police officers alive [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4038173.stm] and seriously injured another, on rumors that they were child kidnappers.
Education
The public schools in Mexico City are operated by the Primer Congreso de Educación Pública de la Ciudad de México [http://www.alternativaeducativa.df.gob.mx/]. The Mexico City campus of Alliant International University serves the city with internationally recognized undergraduate and graduate programs.
Politics
Alliant International University Due to its special situation as the home of the federal government, the local government of Mexico City has gone through several incarnations. Since independence, the city sometimes had an independent local government and other times (the greater part of the 20th century) was administered directly by the President of the Republic, who delegated his authority to a "Head of the Federal District Department", known more tersely as the regent. This kind of political organization caused much resentment among the inhabitants of the city because for many years they were deprived of a government that properly represented them. The most serious situation arose in 1988 when people from Mexico City clearly voted for opposition candidates, despite which they were ruled for six years by the party that won the federal presidency. Under these circumstances, political reform became inevitable. First a local legislative assembly was established, and people were able to elect their Head of Government (jefe de gobierno) for the first time (both institutions still had limited powers dependent on the federal congress and president). The first elected head of government was Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, a former presidential candidate (who was, according to many, cheated out of victory in the closely fought 1988 presidential election). Cárdenas resigned later to compete in the 2000 presidential campaign and left in his place Rosario Robles, who became the first woman to govern Mexico City. A measure of the democratic development in Mexico is that the current (2000-06) chief of government in the Federal District is Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the PRD, which has an left-leaning ideology (and even has some former members of the Communist Party among its numbers), while at the same time, the federal government has a conservative president, Vicente Fox Quesada. López Obrador was deprived of his constitutional immunity as Head of Government in the Federal District on April 7, 2005. With 360 votes (489 total) from the Chamber of Deputies, he was impeached because he failed to obey a judge's order to stop a road from being built. This event is populary called the "desafuero". This issue created a political crisis, which was resolved by the judiciary's ultimate decision to refrain from prosecuting López Obrador. On July 29, 2005 López Obrador resigned and left office to be able to run for the Presidency in 2006. Alejandro Encinas was appointed López Obrador's substitute as Head of Government
Nickname
Mexico City was traditionally known as la Ciudad de los Palacios ("the City of Palaces"). Since 2000, however, the democratically elected local administrations of the PRD have introduced a new nickname: la Ciudad de la Esperanza, or "The City of Hope". Acceptance or rejection of this new sobriquet is largely determined by one's political preferences. The city is coloquially known as Chilangolandia after their locals nickname (the chilangos). Some natives of Mexico City dislike that nickname although it has been fully adopted by the hippest young urban classes. Some argue that the term "chilango" refers to campesinos who have come to Mexico City looking for employment. The "Distrito Federal" has also been abbreviated "D.F." Its inhabitants have thus been called, by themselves and others, "defeños". There is even a magazine with that name (Chilango = equivalent to Time Out) which deals only with the infinite entertainment possibilities of the megalopolis.
Delegaciones
The Distrito Federal is divided into 16 boroughs called delegaciones, which are further divided into colonias (neighborhoods). The municipio of Mexico City, abolished in 1928, was limited to the current delegaciones of Cuauhtémoc, Miguel Hidalgo, Venustiano Carranza, and Benito Juárez. However, these four delegaciones combined are in reality slightly larger that the old municipality of Mexico City because they also include the former municipalities of Tacuba, Tacubaya, Mixcoac, and General Anaya.
Colonias
:See also Neighborhoods in Mexico City Because of the city’s fragmentation each of the colonias has a very distinct character, some of the neighborhoods are former small towns close to the city, like San Ángel and Coyoacán, while other were specifically designed as urban development, for example Condesa and Polanco.

External links

- [http://www.imagenesaereasdemexico.com Stunning Aerial Views of Mexico City]
- (es) [http://www.df.gob.mx Federal District Government]
- (es) [http://www.chilangolandia.com Chilangolandia] – Informal guide to restaurants, bars and nightclubs
-
- [http://urbanrail.net/am/mexi/mexico.htm El Metro de la Ciudad de México] – Mexico City Metro
- [http://www.demographia.com/db-mxcward.htm Mexico City boroughs]
- Category:Capitals in North America Category:Host cities of the Summer Olympic Games
- ko:멕시코 시 ja:メキシコシティ

Boat

A boat is a watercraft, usually smaller than most ships. Some boats are commonly carried by a ship or on land using trailers. A boat consists of one or more buoyancy structures called hulls and some system of propulsion, such as a screw, oars, paddles, a setting pole, a sail, paddlewheels or a water jet.

Parts of a Boat

The roughly horizontal but cambered structures spanning the hull of the boat are referred to as the "deck". In a ship, there would be several but a boat is unlikely to have more than one. The similar but usually lighter structure which spans a raised cabin is a coarch-roof. The "floor" of a cabin is properly known as the sole but is more likely to be called the floor. (A floor is properly, a structural member which ties a frame to the keelson and keel.) The underside of a deck is the deck head. The vertical surfaces dividing the internal space are "bulkheads". Some are important parts of the vessel's structure. The front of a boat is called the bow or prow. The rear of the boat is called the stern. The right side is starboard and the left side is port. It is somewhat risible in modern practice to call the command area of a large boat the "bridge". It is the cockpit or wheelhouse, depending on its design. The compartments housing a toilet, and the toilet itself, are known as the "heads", and a trip to this area is a "head call". In the old days, cordage intended for the delicate hands of a yacht's owner was of linen, later cotton. Therefore cordage used to control a sailing boat, tends to be referred to as "line" rather than rope. Most have specific names, but in general, lines used for raising things like sails and flags are "halyards" while the principal ones for adjusting the positions of the sails are called "sheets". All the lines and wire collectively are referred to as "rigging". That which is set up in the yard and left is standing rigging. That which is adjustable in use is running rigging. For example, a forestay is standing rigging and a sheet or a halyard is part of the running rigging.

Types of Boats

water jet
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