Class Notes for Tenochtitlan
Physical Characteristics:
Lake
Buildings like towers
Great temples
Market place
Great courts and walls
Draw bridges
Political and Religious leadership:
Great Montezuma
Cortes
Idols: Tezcatepuca and Huchilobos
Chieftains and priest
In this city there is a joint leadership of both political and religious. The Great Montezuma acts as the link for the humans to the gods, and Cortes is the leader of the city.
Working of trade and its relative importance
Merchants sold
Gold, silver, precious stones, feathers, Indian slaves (both women and men)
Traders traded
cloth, cotton, a special sweet cooked root, tiger and lion skins both tanned and not tanned, beans, vegetables , herbs, Women made dough and sold cooked food...the point is that they had a significant amount of trade and their society was based on it.
Social Organization
This city was organized around slaves. (Refer to political and leadership also)
Comments
I got the notion that some people thought Cortés was part of the indigenous population. Hernan Cortés was the conquistador, in the text referred to as Captain by Diaz. Both Cortés and Diaz were part of the third expedition to the Aztec Empire from Cuba. Cortés held no official position in the city until after Moctezuma was executed and the revolts put down. Diaz's edited account was a trifle unclear regarding this, but it is an important distinction that showed just how much reverence Moctezuma showed Cortés, who he believed to be the Quetzalcoatl.
Posted by: Dave H | January 25, 2007 12:21 AM