Heritage History: Montezuma. Tenochtitlan, Aztec Review Video (5 min) - syamamura - Island Pacific Academy Mail. The Aztecs — Mighty Warriors of Mexico. Activity 1. Meet the Aztecs Have the students carry out Web research to find out about the ancient Aztecs and answer the questions on the Student Version of the Meet the Aztecs chart, provided in pdf format. A Teacher Version of the chart has also been provided. They should visit the Conquistadors site and the Encarta pages on the Aztec Empire. Now let's put the Aztecs on the map! Have the students go to National Geographic's Xpeditions map site to find the geographical context of the Aztec realm. Distribute blackline printouts of the North America map and have the students color in the country of Mexico.
Activity 2. Tell the students that they will now learn about how the Aztecs lived. Local Environment: Describe the geography of the Aztec territory -- were there mountains? Distribute the lists of useful websites provided in .pdf format to each group. Instruct your students to read each web page carefully and look closely at graphics before answering their questions. Activity 3. From Aztecs to Aztlan: Building Cultural Bridges through Literature. Introduction and Personal Goals Recently, while I was having coffee with a friend at an outdoor café in downtown Santa Fe, out of nowhere a band of about twenty brightly costumed dancers appeared and started dancing in the street below.
Rhythmic footwork pulsed to the beat of a steady drum while a Spanish soldier and an Aztec slave tussled for supremacy. It was the Baile de los Matachines, the story of the Aztec conquest by Imperial Spain and the Aztec people's resistance to it. This story, retold countless times, came alive again in mythic guise for me right there on Burro Alley, reminding me that the kingdom of Aztlan lives on in the daily lives of all of us who inhabit the Indo-Hispanic Southwest. The dancers melted away, as mysteriously as they had appeared, and I was left with only the vibrating air and the myth surrounding it.
Living in Santa Fe, New Mexico is living in antiquity and possibility. We will achieve this unity by employing the symbol of "mirrors" as a unifying theme. Arts Curriculum. Mask. Teotihuacan, ca. 450. Stone, turquoise, obsidian, and shell, 21.5 x 20 cm. Museo Nacional de Antropología, INAH, Mexico City 10-9630. Photo: Michel Zabé, assistant Enrique Macías The Aztecs were not the first people to settle in Mexico. For 2,500 years before their arrival, the area had been home to many civilizations, including the Olmecs, Toltecs, and the people of Teotihuacan. Perhaps the two greatest influences on Aztec art and culture came from the ancient cities of Teotihuacan and Tula. Tula (“place of reeds”), home to the Toltecs, thrived a few hundred years after Teotihuacan, and left a similarly influential legacy to later Mesoamerican cultures.
The Aztecs took their inspiration from Teotihuacan, Tula, Mixtec, Olmec, and other ancient Mesoamerican cultures, adopting everything from stone-cutting techniques to calendar systems. Mask. 99.02.01: The Aztecs: A Pre-Columbian History. History The Beginning The Aztecs started as a group of American Indians speaking Nahuatl (Nah-wah-tl), a language of the Siouan (See-oh-ooahn) family. They were descendants of theAsian people who arrived on the North American continent after crossing the Bering Strait during Earths last Ice Age and migrating south, following the mammoth herds.
They came originally from the Northwest, from the arid cactus lands, but may have been in Mexico for several centuries before they became a powerful tribe. A similar language, Nahua, was also spoken by the Toltecs (Tohl-teks), who controlled most of Mexico between 750 AD and 1000 AD. The Aztecs never called themselves Aztecs, but rather Mexica (Meh-shee-kah)the folk of Mexi, a priest-chief from ancient, legendary times.
The Forefathers A new civilization arose around the city of Teotihuacan (Tee-oh-tee-wh-kahn), the Place where the Gods were Made, on the highland plateau of Central Mexico. The Toltecs The Eagle and the Serpent Aztec Religion.