Who were the Aztecs? What is Mexico like? To learn about the country where the Aztecs lived 2) To introduce ourselves to the Aztecs. Starter: Lets test ourselves from last lesson! Complete the starter activity sheet

The Aztecs came from Mexico Central America The Aztecs came from Mexico Fill in as much as you can on your blank copy of your map as you can from these maps. Success Criteria: Label the countries Label the Oceans Draw the Equator on your map Label the Continents

‘What do you think Mexico is like?

Aztecs

Popcorn Reading Who were the Aztecs? The Aztecs were a wandering (nomadic) tribe from northern Mexico and were one of the last great Native American civilizations. They wondered around Central America until they settled in Mexico. Where did they come from? They lived in an area will now know as Mexico When did they exist? The Aztecs dominated large parts of Mexico in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. What were the Aztecs famous for? The Aztecs were famous for their agriculture, cultivating all available land, introducing irrigation, draining swamps, and creating artificial islands in the lakes. They developed a form of hieroglyphic writing, a complex calendar system, and built famous pyramids and temples. They are also famous for sacrificing their people, this means killing them to pay respect to their Gods. Legend has it that the Aztecs wandered for many years in search of a sign, an eagle and a serpent fighting on a cactus, to show them where to found their city.

What did an Aztec city look like? Learning Objectives: 1) To understand how the Aztecs constructed their cities. 2) To be able to analyse if the Aztec’s were a civilised population. Starter: This symbol represented the Aztec’s and how they found their city. How does this picture show that they were a strong tribe that were the most powerful animals on the planet? Extension: Create a picture that represents your family.

Thinking question: If you were to build an Aztec City, what do you think the key features would have to be?

What was an Aztec City like? 1) What is this picture telling us? 2) What can we learn from this picture? 3) What is the picture not telling us? 4) What can’t we learn about Aztec life from this picture?

Were the Aztec’s religious? Popcorn Reading! The Aztec’s were farming people and so the thing that was most important to them was the ability to grow crops. In order to have successful crops they needed to have perfect weather conditions so their crops would grow. They also understood that nature was important for them to live; they needed food and a safe place to live. Because they didn’t have modern day science the Aztec’s didn’t understand that they couldn’t control the weather or other forces of nature. The Aztec’s worshiped the forces of nature as God’s. They did this to try and make sure that their crops would be successful and that could live a happy life. Their most important was their sun god, Huitzilopochtli. The Aztecs also used him as their god of war. The Aztec’s believed that their 'good' gods should be kept strong to keep away the 'bad' gods. They kept them strong by making human sacrifices. This meant killing people in a special ceremony.

What did other people think of the Aztec Civilisation? Popcorn Reading! When Spanish soldiers first arrived in the Valley of Mexico, they were amazed at what they found in the capital city of Tenochtitlan. Everything was clean. There were “eating houses” and hairdressers. You could buy medicines and herbs and all kinds of food. You could buy meat and game. There were streets that sold only pottery and mats. Painters could buy the paints they needed for their art.  One soldier said, “There were soldiers among us who had been in many parts of the world, in Constantinople and Rome and all over Italy, who said that they had never before seen a market place so large and so filled with people.”  Cortes, the leader of the Spanish soldiers, mentioned in one of letters home that he believed there were more than 60,000 people in the marketplace buying and selling wares. No one used money. Goods were bartered and small differences in value were evened up using cocoa beans! Cortes found the use of cocoa beans quite amusing. But then, he had never tasted hot chocolate before.