Maya and Aztec

The finding and Founding of Tenochtitlan
excerpt from the Cronica Mexicayotl by Hernando Alvarado Tezozomoc written in 1609
I.
Here it is told, it is recounted
How the ancients who were called, who were named,
Teochichimeca, Azteca, Mexitin, Chicomoztoca, came, arrived,
When they came to seek,
When they came to gain possession of their land here,
In the great city of Mexico [...]

Cortes First March to Tenochtitlan
Upon arrival, Cortes founded a town and called it Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. At about the same time he had all ten of his ships scuttled and sank so that his followers could not escape Emperor Montezuma’s ambassaders eventually appeared in the Spanish camp. They brought with them some [...]

Following the collapse of Teotihuacan, the Toltecs swept down from the north and wiped out the few remaining survivors and took over the Valley of Mexico. They set up a capital in Tula under a ruler named Topiltzin. Then, Tula itself fell to invaders in 1224. The fall of Tula led the way for the [...]

The Aztecs and other Mesoamerican cultures believed that several successive worlds (4) had existed before ours, and each time mankind had been wiped out by some catastrophic event. This series of worlds were called the “Four Suns.” and the age that we now live in is the fifth.
The ancient Aztecs believed that two beings were [...]

Aztec children were dedicated to war from the day that they were born. At birth, their umbilical cords were cut and buried with a shield and arrows. The children were told that they had come into the world to fight. Boys that wore six or seven attended telpochcalli. These were neighborhood schools where the) received [...]

Archaeologists believe that the first Native Americans entered the New World by way of the Bering Strait. This migration took place during the “Ice Age.” or Pleistocene. They crossed the strait when lowered sea levels between Siberia and Alaska ex­posed a land bridge. We do not know the exact date of the first arrivals, but [...]

Ancient Aztec children were usually born with the help of a mid-wife. After the umbilical cord was cut, the mid-wife washed the baby and prayed to the water god Chalchiuhtlicue. Soon after the prayer the name of the child was announced. Most Aztec children survived on a strict diet of corn cakes and mothers milk. [...]

The Mexica or Aztecs from Aztlan, were guided by their god Huitzilopochtli, while they traveled for many years. They were told to go until they found an eagle sitting on a cactus eating a serpent. Finally, they found what they were looking for on the shores of Lake Texcoco. Unfortunately, they were among the last [...]

Cortes was born in the city of Medillin, on the banks of the Guadiana River, in the province of Estramadura, in the country of Spain. This was in 1485, in the last years of the Middle Ages. Estramadura was a poor and un­forgiving place that was void of opportunities. Its summers brought blinding heat and [...]