One of the most powerful and well-founded cultures of our Humanity has been the one that took place in the current territory of Mexico and in other current countries of Central America: the Aztec culture. This warrior people stood out among the various pre-Columbian peoples for their military power but also for the interesting number of cultural contributions they made to current American society and which greatly dazzled the Spaniards who came to know the Aztec inhabitants at the same time.
The imposingness of a culture that has been subsumed to European power
When the Spanish arrived in the city of Tenochtitlán they could not believe what they saw with their own eyes. That promised town, which for many would be nothing more than a group of half-naked people like all those they had found in America so far, had founded one of the largest and most prosperous cities in history. The capital of the Aztec empire rose before their eyes like a cosmopolitan city that they were used to seeing in Europe.
That was the first moment of approaching a culture that was clearly not minor. The Aztecs had reached their maximum splendor in the fourteenth century. Around 1300 the city of Tenochtitlán was one of the most populous in America and an endless number of economic as well as cultural circuits developed in it. This made it one of the most powerful and important cultural expressions of the continent and the world.
Elements that justify the Aztec power over the other peoples of America
One of the main elements that characterized the Aztec culture was its great military predominance and its strong warrior tradition. This, in addition to making them one of the most powerful peoples of the time, allowed them to conquer a large number of smaller populations, which were subsumed under their aggressiveness and terror. There are chronicles and illustrations of the sacrifices they made to their many gods with prisoners who had been captured in battle.
In addition to the religious and ceremonial traditions to which they paid special attention, always related to the forces of nature and the gods that represented them, they also knew how to stand out in arts such as textiles that allowed them to provide themselves with the most complex and beautiful fabrics in all of America. .
Metallurgy was of central importance since with the use of bronze and iron they managed to get hold of weapons that positioned them above the rest of the pre-Columbian peoples.
Finally, we cannot fail to mention the sculptural abilities that can still be appreciated today in funerary complexes, in museums or in different colonial buildings that resumed the tradition. Astronomy and reflection on the heavens allowed them to determine the existence of numerous constellations and thirteen skies, each recipient of a different element of nature.
Images: Fotolia. Patryk Kosmider–Luisrs
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