Your Life as an Aztec: The Fall of Tenochtitlan

Tenochtitlan, 8 November 1519. You are standing on a stone causeway across a lake – and strangers in metal, riding animals no one has ever seen, are coming toward your city. Live the life of a Mexica warrior: born in one of the largest cities in the world, raised among chinampas, canals and the great market of Tlatelolco, trained to capture enemies alive. Then the Spaniards arrive – and in less than two years your city falls: the Toxcatl massacre, the Night of Sorrows, smallpox, the siege of 1521 and the last emperor, Cuauhtémoc. Plus the myths (did the Aztecs really think Cortés was a god?) and what you can still see today, from the Templo Mayor to the canals of Xochimilco. An animated history film, drawn in ink. Chapters 0:00 Tenochtitlan, 8 November 1519 0:49 Born in Tenochtitlan 1:00 Not "Aztecs": the Mexica and their island city 1:31 Chinampas – the gardens that don't float 1:47 The great market of Tlatelolco 2:12 Daily life: food and school 2:39 Warriors who tried not to kill 3:07 The macuahuitl and cotton armour 3:28 Sacrifice – myth and reality 3:47 An empire of tribute 4:13 1519: strangers on the coast 4:37 Tlaxcala joins the Spaniards 4:52 The meeting on the causeway 5:06 Did the Aztecs think Cortés was a god? 5:43 Who really defeated the Aztecs 6:14 1520: the Toxcatl massacre and the uprising 6:39 The Night of Sorrows 6:55 Smallpox 7:19 1521: the siege of Tenochtitlan 7:45 Cuauhtémoc, the last emperor 7:59 After the fall: Mexico City and the Florentine Codex 8:27 1978: the Coyolxauhqui stone 8:44 The Templo Mayor today 8:54 Xochimilco, Nahuatl and Mexico today 9:21 And you? Sources & further reading • Bernal Díaz del Castillo, "The True History of the Conquest of New Spain" (c. 1568) • Hernán Cortés, "Letters from Mexico" (1519–1526) • Bernardino de Sahagún and Nahua scholars, "Florentine Codex" (completed 1577), especially Book 12 – the conquest told by Mexica elders • Camilla Townsend, "Burying the White Gods: New Perspectives on the Conquest of Mexico", American Historical Review 108 (2003), and "Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs" (2019) • Matthew Restall, "Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest" (2003) and "When Montezuma Met Cortés" (2018) • Ross Hassig, "Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control" (1988) • Frances F. Berdan, "Aztec Archaeology and Ethnohistory" (2014); Anderson, Berdan & Lockhart, "Beyond the Codices" (1976) – the 1545 cacao price list from Tlaxcala • Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) – Proyecto Templo Mayor (the Coyolxauhqui stone, found on 21 February 1978) • UNESCO World Heritage: Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimilco (1987); FAO: the chinampa system of Mexico City (2018) • INEGI, Censo de Población y Vivienda 2020 – speakers of Nahuatl Many details are still debated by historians – numbers and dates are best estimates. Which life from history should we live next? Tell us in the comments! Subscribe to Sepia Saga – history, drawn in ink. #history #aztecs #tenochtitlan