55
votes
Accepted
Why was the Aztec Empire known as an Empire?
First of all, as the definition you cited states,
The term empire does not have a precise definition.
The Aztec Empire was large by the standards of their time in their part of the world. It ...
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13
votes
Accepted
What is this tool/thing in an Aztec painting?
It's cuitlatl, a symbol of excrement, sin, perhaps fire.
We see plate 57 from the Codex Borgia. It depicts Tlazolteotl goddess of earth and filth, here as a moon goddess and goddess of pulque, ...
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8
votes
Why is the Maya civilization not considered one of the cradles of civilization?
From the Olmec link: Pre-Olmec cultures had flourished since about 2500 BCE. That's roughly equivalent to the "Pre-Classic" Maya period, which only dates back to 2000 BCE, as per its link. ...
- 118k
8
votes
Was there contact between the Inca, Maya and Aztecs?
Aztecs did know about Mayas but the Mayan civilization was already dead. But of course, they did traded with its descendants - even prehistoric men traded with their neighbours.
And no direct contacts ...
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7
votes
Accepted
What were the major ethnic / cultural / politcal divisions of pre-conquest Mesoamerica?
It won't tell you much about short-term politics, but one useful angle with which to look at this question is the linguistic division into language families:
The languages of Mesoamerica belong to ...
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7
votes
Was there contact between the Inca, Maya and Aztecs?
This article on Pre-Columbian Trade by Chester S. Chard would suggest they did. For instance:
There is no evidence that Maya traders themselves reached the highlands of Mexico; they traded their ...
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7
votes
Accepted
What type of name did the common Mayans use?
Maya society was organized in city states and clans and possibly other entities. Each of these naturally provides its own narratives and mythology from which names would often be chosen. It is ...
- 2,706
7
votes
What mesoamerican culture used long, "pike-like" spears?
Bernal Díaz del Castillo obliquely compared spears of the Chinantec people to pikes (at least in translation -- I didn't check the Spanish original) and remarked that they were longer than the ...
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6
votes
Why was it Spain, not Tlaxcala, that dominated over Mesoamerica despite the Tlaxcaltecs being the major force in the conquest of Tenochtitlan?
Tlaxcala was strong enough to be independent of Tenochtitlan and the Triple Alliance, while combating them in the regular "flower wars" which provided sacrificial victims and opportunities for valor. ...
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6
votes
Why was the Aztec Empire known as an Empire?
As "empires" go, the Aztec "empire" is pretty small. It ranks 212th among large empires, with 220,000 square miles. That's about the size of two large European countries, say Germany and France, or ...
- 104k
5
votes
Why was the Aztec Empire known as an Empire?
I think it is called an empire by the following criterion: it is a multi-ethnic state where one ethnic group (or nation) rules over the other, usually conquered, ethnic groups. (This applies to the ...
- 38.5k
5
votes
What were the major ethnic / cultural / politcal divisions of pre-conquest Mesoamerica?
The Mexica
The epicenter of Mesoamerica was the "The Triple Alliance", this was dominated by the ruling tribe, the Mexica (the people from Aztlan- Aztec). Note: They weren't actually the Aztecs.
...
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4
votes
Accepted
How were Mesoamerican inks produced?
Most ink used was black (just like with everyone else's writing). According to archeologist Michael Coe, this was most likely derived from soot "scraped off the bottom of their cooking pots".
In the ...
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4
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What was a "Teuctli" in Mesoamerican history
The term Teuctli is mentioned several times in this book:
The name of the office held by Montezuma according to the best
accessible information was simply Teuctli which signifies a war chief.
...
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3
votes
Is there any documentation that indicates the Aztecs were as violent as they are made out?
While, as the other answer says Mesoamerican civilizations did not shed much more blood than European ones, they did it in a different way.
Aztecs sacrificed random people, Europeans executed ...
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3
votes
What does the Aztec word "calpuleque" mean?
All these words refer to the hierarchical organization of the society.
"Tlatoani" was the title of the ruler. The word derives from the local "nahuatl" language and denotes a spokesman. Huey tlatoani ...
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3
votes
Why did the maize-based society that Spain found in the Central Valley of Mexico not dominate over Europe?
In point of fact, corn/maize (from now on I'll just use the US term "corn") is the world's largest grain crop¹, well ahead of wheat (which is not that far ahead of rice):
The European domination over ...
- 2,915
3
votes
Mesoamerican and Giza's Pyramids
No. That is impossible. Continental drift is a geological phenomena millions, if not billions of years, in progress.
You probably wonder why those constructions look fairly similar. Mesoamericans ...
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1
vote
How far did climate affect civilisation development in the Americas?
Your thesis is borne out by some "American" history, but a better source of instruction is post colonial, rather than "Native American" history.
South America is divided east and west, roughly 50-50 ...
- 104k
1
vote
Accepted
Why was it Spain, not Tlaxcala, that dominated over Mesoamerica despite the Tlaxcaltecs being the major force in the conquest of Tenochtitlan?
When Cortez was fighting the Aztecs, there was a rough, three way balance of power, between the Aztecs, the Tlaxcalans, and the Spaniards. The Aztecs lost because they were on the wrong "side" of a ...
- 104k
1
vote
Was there contact between the Inca, Maya and Aztecs?
The Aztecs and the Mayas did know about each other. After all, they were right next to each other. But I don't think there is any evidence that one of those two civilizations met the Incas. Probably ...
1
vote
Accepted
What was a "Teuctli" in Mesoamerican history
From what I have read, several bands of Chichimecs came into the Valley of Mexico and took over various city states. Each tribe and city state was ruled by a Tlatoani. The Acolhua tribe took over ...
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