Misunderstood Moments in History - Rise of the Aztec Empire

The Aztecs are famous for their clash with Cortes during the discovery of the New World. However for many this is where their story begins and ends. As such they are terribly misunderstood. Today we will be giving them a proper introduction by following the rise of the Aztecs from their earliest beginnings to the arrival of the Spanish!

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Documentary Credits:
Research: Sean Kiskel
Script: Invicta
Artwork: Robbie McSweeney
Narration: Invicta
Editing: Invicta
Music: ICentury

Bibliography:
Diego Duran 1581 "History of the Indies of New Spain", Heyden trans. 1994
Alva Ixlilxochitl 1640 "Historia de la Nacion Chichimeca"
Don Domingo Chimalpahin 1621 "Codex Chimalpahin", Anderson and Schroeder trans. 1997
Sahagun 1569 "General History of the Things of New Spain: Book 10, the People", Anderson and Dibble trans. 1981
"Annals of Cuauhtitlan" ca.1610-1628, Bierhorst trans. 1992
Hassig 1988 "Aztec Warfare"
Townsend 2009 "The Aztecs"
Smith 1966 "The Aztecs"

[InvictaHistory]

Thanks to a Patron suggestion we now turn our attention to Mesoamerican history. Its a topic I knew very little about but am falling in love with. There's so much unexplored history to explore together! I want to thank Sean Kiskel our researcher for all his help prepping the script and helping with pronunciation. A huge shout out also goes out to Robbie McSweeney for some more incredible artwork.

[HistoryHouseProductions]

The guy who does the artwork for these is very talented.

[atreides]

The fact that there were no beasts of burden in the Aztec Empire makes their feats all the more incredible. Think how complex and intricate their logistics had to have been to compensate for this disadvantage.

[jjfajen]

I had a Spanish teacher that told the class about the founding of Tenochtitlan. She mentioned the migration and the eagle eating a snake on a cactus in a lake. She left out the whole murdering a princess and wearing her face to provoke a war part...

[reigee]

Thank you for an informative video that neither tries to villainize nor sugarcoat the Aztecs or the Mexica empire. It seems that whenever it's their turn to be discussed, people are particularly good at applying rampant presentism or double standards to their empire and their history. They were a people of the new world, living in their times and they were as brutal as they were amazing like many other young civilizations.

[Физ.лицо-вь]

I'm russian, and thanks for such an exciting and talented videos with sophisticated language. That makes practicing english great hobby, and what is more, with a bonus as a closing gaps in geography and history.

[bigakudoki-doki]

Snakes: *exist*
Mexica: Eat up bois, gotta make this land more habitable.

[ASMProductions]

The Spanish landing and meeting the Aztec people for the first time Would definitely be one of those moments you wish you could go back and see. The feeling of awe and wonder the Spanish felt on arrival and the curiosity of the Aztecs would be something astounding to witness

[CollegeKiD]

My mother who was born in a small town not far from the capital of Mexico, still speaks the language of Nahuatl fluently. Although I was born in the US, learning from what can possibly be my roots is very fascinating.

[HoundofOdin]

The Aztec built the largest city in the world in the middle of a lake with no beasts of burden and using stone tools, but all people know about them is that they did human sacrifice and lost to the conquistadors. History is truly unfair.

[danieldebilek]

Yay someting from history that I have no clue about. Time to learn.

[Sarcastic_Asmodeus]

Bruhhh we're getting a Viking game from the Assassin's creed franchise! We definitely need a Aztec one next!

[Magoo]

I’ve spent the past 3-4 hours looking up history on the Aztecs. I learned more in 20 minutes then I have all day. Thank you.

[Travois]

Mexican history aficionado here. Great work, nicely explained, condensed and includes information on every tlatoani that we had.

One thing I would like to have been added or that can be done in a future video is the "Aztec's Flower wars pact" or xōchiyāōyōtl. As far as Im concerned, It is the only Pact of war that the humanity has ever had.

Every four years the Mexica, Tlaxacaleans, Choluleans, and Huejotzingo, would go to war voluntarily, to get enough sacrifices to satisfy their gods. This is how Ahuizotl manage to sacrifice more than 80, 000 prisoners in the temple of huitzilopoztli as mentioned in your video.

[josehoessaye]

1:08 great pronunciation, your efforts won’t go unnoticed. Great video!

[gilbertotoledo]

Amazing video I love the effort that went into it. Just a minor detail the effigy of the Aztec god in the images isn't Huitzilopochtli. It's Coatlicue, she was actually a benevolent earth goddess despite her terrifying appearance. Huitzilopochtli was often portrayed as a warrior in blue, or as a hummingbird. Ironic how the monstrous looking one is the gentle one and nice looking one is the angry one, right? Lol

[yudit.loves.raccoons]

Aztecs had library’s and books not to mention a language we would’ve known so much more about them now

[BruderSenf]

itzcoatl grew mighty old 1247-1440 must be a healthy lifestyle "one sacrifice a day keeps the doctor away" i guess

[browsebrowserton]

Impressed by the pronunciations, Kudos!

[kong]

"Hey Huitzilin, are we the baddies?"
"What do you mean?"
"Have you noticed you're wearing a princess' skin?"