![]() ![]() Drawn by Kristin Sullivan.Ĭurrent research on the Aztecs comes from various disciplines: anthropology, history, art history, religion, and literature. Map of the Aztec Empire in 1519 (after Berdan et al. Furthermore, international attention continues to focus upon the ongoing excavations at the Templo Mayor, the “Great Temple” of Tenochtitlan.įigure 1. Their continuing historical legacy is symbolized in the name of the nation and its capital, derived from the Mexica, most powerful of all Aztecs, and in the flag of the modern nation of Mexico, with its eagle-and-cactus motif capturing the moment of Tenochtitlan's establishment (Florescano 2002). The Aztecs created the largest state and urbanized area in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica ( Figure 1). We are able to understand Aztec culture through the accounts written in the sixteenth century by eyewitness observers, including descendents of the culture bearers, through manuscripts illustrating philosophical concepts and world views, and through archaeological studies of the material culture, including sites and settlement patterns of the Aztecs and their contemporaries. Aztec culture serves as a gateway to Mesoamerican studies because it represents the connecting point between the pre-Hispanic past and the globalized present. ![]()
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