Burkhart, Louise M. (1997). "Mexican women on the home front". In S Schroeder; S Wood; RS Haskett (eds.). Indian women of early Mexico. pp.25–54. Gillespie, Susan D. (1989). The Aztec Kings: the Construction of Rulership in Mexica History. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-1095-5. OCLC 19353576. Main article: Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire The meeting of Moctezuma II and Hernán Cortés, with his cultural translator La Malinche, 8 November 1519, as depicted in the Lienzo de Tlaxcala Morfín, Lourdes Márquez; Storey, Rebecca (2016). "Population History in Precolumbian and Colonial Times". The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs. p.189. Brumfiel, Elizabeth M. (1998). "The multiple identities of Aztec craft specialists". Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association. 8 (1): 145–152. doi: 10.1525/ap3a.1998.8.1.145.

Kubler, George (1942). "Population Movements in Mexico, 1520-1600". Hispanic American Historical Review. 22 (4): 606–643. doi: 10.2307/2506768. JSTOR 2506768. Cline, Sarah (2000). "Native Peoples of Colonial Central Mexico". The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas. Vol. 2. Mesoamerica Part 2. Cambridge University Press. pp.187–222. ISBN 978-0-521-65204-9.In 1396, at Acamapichtli's death, his son Huitzilihhuitl ( lit. "Hummingbird feather") became ruler; married to Tezozomoc's daughter, the relation with Azcapotzalco remained close. Chimalpopoca ( lit. "She smokes like a shield"), son of Huitzilihhuitl, became ruler of Tenochtitlan in 1417. In 1418, Azcapotzalco initiated a war against the Acolhua of Texcoco and killed their ruler Ixtlilxochitl. Even though Ixtlilxochitl was married to Chimalpopoca's daughter, the Mexica ruler continued to support Tezozomoc. Tezozomoc died in 1426, and his sons began a struggle for rulership of Azcapotzalco. During this struggle for power, Chimalpopoca died, probably killed by Tezozomoc's son Maxtla who saw him as a competitor. [37] Itzcoatl, brother of Huitzilihhuitl and uncle of Chimalpopoca, was elected the next Mexica tlatoani. The Mexica were now in open war with Azcapotzalco and Itzcoatl petitioned for an alliance with Nezahualcoyotl, son of the slain Texcocan ruler Ixtlilxochitl against Maxtla. Itzcoatl also allied with Maxtla's brother Totoquihuaztli ruler of the Tepanec city of Tlacopan. The Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tlacopan besieged Azcapotzalco, and in 1428 they destroyed the city and sacrificed Maxtla. Through this victory Tenochtitlan became the dominant city state in the Valley of Mexico, and the alliance between the three city-states provided the basis on which the Aztec Empire was built. [38] In 1481 at Axayacatls death, his older brother Tizoc was elected ruler. Tizoc's coronation campaign against the Otomi of Metztitlan failed as he lost the major battle and only managed to secure 40 prisoners to be sacrificed for his coronation ceremony. Having shown weakness, many cities rebelled and consequently most of Tizoc's short reign was spent attempting to quell rebellions and maintain control of areas conquered by his predecessors. Tizoc died suddenly in 1485, and it has been suggested that he was poisoned by his brother and war leader Ahuitzotl who became the next tlatoani. Tizoc is mostly known as the namesake of the Stone of Tizoc a monumental sculpture (Nahuatl temalacatl), decorated with representation of Tizoc's conquests. [49] Ahuitzotl [ edit ] Ahuitzotl in Codex Mendoza As all Mesoamerican peoples, Aztec society was organized around maize agriculture. The humid environment in the Valley of Mexico with its many lakes and swamps permitted intensive agriculture. The main crops in addition to maize were beans, squashes, chilies and amaranth. Particularly important for agricultural production in the valley was the construction of chinampas on the lake, artificial islands that allowed the conversion of the shallow waters into highly fertile gardens that could be cultivated year round. Chinampas are human-made extensions of agricultural land, created from alternating layers of mud from the bottom of the lake, and plant matter and other vegetation. These raised beds were separated by narrow canals, which allowed farmers to move between them by canoe. Chinampas were extremely fertile pieces of land, and yielded, on average, seven crops annually. On the basis of current chinampa yields, it has been estimated that one hectare (2.5 acres) of chinampa would feed 20 individuals and 9,000 hectares (22,000 acres) of chinampas could feed 180,000. [68] The centerpiece of Tenochtitlan was the Templo Mayor, the Great Temple, a large stepped pyramid with a double staircase leading up to two twin shrines– one dedicated to Tlaloc, the other to Huitzilopochtli. This was where most of the human sacrifices were carried out during the ritual festivals and the bodies of sacrificial victims were thrown down the stairs. The temple was enlarged in several stages, and most of the Aztec rulers made a point of adding a further stage, each with a new dedication and inauguration. The temple has been excavated in the center of Mexico City and the rich dedicatory offerings are displayed in the Museum of the Templo Mayor. [81] Carrasco, David (2012). The Aztecs: A very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-1953-7938-9.

Nahua metaphysics centers around teotl, "a single, dynamic, vivifying, eternally self-generating and self-regenerating sacred power, energy or force." [84] This is conceptualized in a kind of monistic pantheism [85] as manifest in the supreme god Ometeotl, [86] as well as a large pantheon of lesser gods and idealizations of natural phenomena such as stars and fire. [87] Priests and educated upper classes held more monistic views, while the popular religion of the uneducated tended to embrace the polytheistic and mythological aspects. [88] Offner, Jerome A. (1983). Law and Politics in Aztec Texcoco. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-23475-7. Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo (1988). The Great Temple of the Aztecs: Treasures of Tenochtitlan. New Aspects of Antiquity series. Doris Heyden (trans.). New York: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-39024-5. OCLC 17968786. Sahagún, Bernardino de (1577). Historia general de las cosas de nueva España[ General History of the Things of New Spain (The Florentine Codex)] (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2 December 2020 . Retrieved 31 January 2020– via World Digital Library. See also: Aztec cuisine and List of Mexican dishes Las Tortilleras, an 1836 lithograph after a painting by Carl Nebel of women grinding corn and making tortillas. Chapulines, grasshoppers toasted and dusted with chilis, continue to be a popular delicacy.Maffie n.d., sec 2b,2c, citing Hunt 1977 and I. Nicholson 1959; Leon-Portilla 1966, p. 387 cited by Barnett 2007, "M. Leon-Portilla argues that Ometeotl was neither strictly pantheistic nor strictly monistic." Taube, Karl (2012). "Creation and Cosmology:Gods and Mythic Origins in Ancient Mesoamerica". In Deborah L. Nichols; Christopher A. Pool (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology. Oxford University Press. pp.741–752. Chipman, Donald E. (2005). Moctezuma's Children: Aztec Royalty Under Spanish Rule, 1520-1700. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-72597-3. Some codices were produces post-conquest, sometimes commissioned by the colonial government, for example Codex Mendoza, were painted by Aztec tlacuilos (codex creators), but under the control of Spanish authorities, who also sometimes commissioned codices describing precolonial religious practices, for example Codex Ríos. After the conquest, codices with calendric or religious information were sought out and systematically destroyed by the church– whereas other types of painted books, particularly historical narratives and tax lists continued to be produced. [26] Although depicting Aztec deities and describing religious practices also shared by the Aztecs of the Valley of Mexico, the codices produced in Southern Puebla near Cholula, are sometimes not considered to be Aztec codices, because they were produced outside of the Aztec "heartland". [26] Karl Anton Nowotny, nevertheless considered that the Codex Borgia, painted in the area around Cholula and using a Mixtec style, was the "most significant work of art among the extant manuscripts". [127]