Aztec History and CultureCulture, History and Religion of the Aztec Indians before the Spanish Conquest. The story of rise and fall of the Aztec Civilization.HomeRSS FeedAztec History and CultureThe story of Aztecs rise from a nomadic tribe of Nahuatl-speakingIndians to become the conquerors of the Valley of Mexico and the proudpossessors of one of the New World's three indigenous civilizations isan important segment of a vast American epic: the arrival of the firstman on the American continent and his progress, and that of his successors, in creating a culture and ultimately a highly developed civilization. Part of the Aztec story belongs to pre-history and part of it to relatively modern history.Some time in the dim past the most accurate estimates place itanywhere from fifteen to twenty-five thousand years ago men of theMongoloid race, in search of food, made their way across the frozenBering Strait from Asia to the North American continent. Huntingand fishing in small bands, they spread out over North America, pushing their way down into Central America, and farther down into SouthAmerica until they occupied both continents in varying degrees ofpopulation density.By the time the white man arrived in the New World, he founda wide variety of social patterns and customs in evidence among thesepeoples, whom he mistakenly called Indians. These patterns rangedfrom crude, primitive societies to those capable of observing the movements of the heavenly bodies with more precision than the Europeanswho came to these shores.But it was not until relatively recent times that anthropologists,archaeologists, and historians began to talk of Indian civilizations. Menlike Means, Morley, Kidder, Vaillant, Thompson, Spinden, Maudslay,Caso, and a host of other eminent scientists and scholars have accumulated a vast amount of knowledge from excavations and studies, especially the accounts of the early Spanish missionaries in the New World.From this body of knowledge a pattern emerged, and historiansand philosophers began to speak of the Aztec civilization, the Mayacivilization, and the Inca civilization. Historians and philosophers couldno longer ignore America and its three indigenous world outlooks, asHegel had done.What made it possible for these three great civilizations to emerge theAztec in the Valley of Mexico, the Maya in Guatemala, Honduras and Yukatan, andInca in Peru and Bolivia? In each case the domestication of a staple food supply seemsto have been a deciding factor; among the Aztec and Mayas it was maize or corn and amongthe Incas the white potato.The scene of the Aztec triumph was the Central Valley of Mexico. Several centuriesbefore Christ, agricultural tribes had already settled here, and by the time of Christhad established their great religious center at Teotihuacan. Archeologists place the advent, rise, and fall of this great civilization roughly from the second century to the tenthcentury A.D. About this time a new group moved into the Valley