Mexica Empire

Learning about the history of the Mexica empire was a bit of a shock! I have to admit that back then I really did consider all these indigenous groups to be innocent and that the Spaniards were these evil conquistadors that came to destroy the aztecs. Yet after these readings it seems that the conquistadors  weren't evil at all they seem more like saviors and it was the much anticpated end of the Mexica regime. It was clear the Mexica empire was hated by many and it answers the reason why all these other indians created an alliance with the spanish to bring them down. The Mexica empire had a terrifying system of expansion. Their strength was based on their conquest victories and the ability to sacrifice prisoners of war to the Sun. Although at first thought it seems atrocious but once you begin to see that it was apart of the established religion and ideology its understandable why they went on with these sacrifices. They saw this as the fuel to their empire and greatness but the spanish considered these people barbaric. To my surprise they seemed like a highly civilized society. It's fascinating to see how the people of Mexica rose to power. It began to shape up with the Tepanec alliance and after Itzcoatl's war a new alliance was formed between Tezozomoc,Texcoco, and Tacuba which would become the Aztec empire which would ultimately be controlled through it's center of power in Tenochtitlan. With the rise of Itzcoatl's a new set of laws came to govern the land. For example the unequal distribution of land would end up in the hands of the Tlatoani and the Pipiltin class. Despite these changes at times being unpopular this new government would set out to justify their actions and make it seem okay. Eventually this system of conquests and sacrifices would only reach so far. The book  mentions the fact that the Mexica empire was unstable and that it was mostly like a loosely hegemony of city states. When Moctezuma came to rule he seemed to understand the flaws of the expansionist mentality and it had come to a point where internal consolidation was needed. Yet it was too late and we begin to see that this once power empire was crumbling little by little.