Denny Jennings , age 13, of Henderson, Nev., for his question:
WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE AZTECS
The Aztecs were Indian people who dominated central and southern Mexico from the 14th to the 16th century and who are best know for having established an empire based on conquest, tribute paying and the religious sacrifice of humans and animals. Their name is derived from a mythical homeland to the north called Azatian.
After the fall of the Toltec civilization in the 10th or 11th century, great waves of immigrants flooded into Mexico's central plateau area around Lake Texcoco. As late arrivals, the Aztecs were forced to occupy the swampy area on the western side of the lake.
The Aztecs were surrounded by powerful neighbors who extracted tribute from them and their only piece of dry land was a tiny island surrounded by marshes.
That the Aztecs were able to convert this disadvantageous beginning into a powerful empire within two centuries was due in part to their belief in a certain legend. According to this legend, they would establish a great civilization in a marshy area where they would see a cactus growing out of a rock and, perched on the cactus, an eagle eating a snake.
The Aztec priests supposedly saw this cactus and eagle when they arrived in the dismal swamp. This belief was so strong that even today the eagle, cactus and serpent appear on all Mexican paper money.
As the Aztecs grew in number, they established superior military and civil organizations. By 1325 they founded the city of Tenochtitlan, located on the site of present day Mexico City.
The shallow lake bed was converted by the Aztecs into chinampas, a highly productive garden formed by piling up mud from the lake bottom to make artificial islands. Causeways and bridges were built to connect the city to the mainland. Aqueducts were constructed and canals were dug throughout the city for easy transportation of goods and people.
When the Spanish arrived they called Tenochtitlan the Venice of the New World. Religious structures dominated the landscape giant, stepped, limestone faced pyramids on which temples were erected.
As a result of its location and superior organization, the city flourished. By the time Hernan Cortex arrived in 1519, the great market was attracting up to 60,000 people daily. Goods were brought into Aztec hands by tribute agreements with conquered territories and many goods were exported from the city to be traded in other parts of the Aztec Empire and Central America.
The Aztecs formed military alliances with other groups, creating an empire that extended from central Mexico to the Guatemalan border.
In the early 15th century Tenochtitlan ruled jointly with the city states of Texcoco and Tlateloco. Within 100 years the Aztecs seized complete power and by 1520, 348 tributary provinces had been established.
In 1521, Cortex defeated the entire empire.