Chapter 7-Aztecs

Question 1

What was the key to Aztec farming success?

Answer 1

The chinampas they built in the waters around Tenochititlan and other areas to grow their crops

Question 2

What is a chinampa?

Answer 2

Floating islands built in the waters of Tenochititlan and other areas to grow their crops

Question 3

What did farmers grow in chinampas?

Answer 3

Vegetables, flowers and medical herbs

Question 4

Explain some details about the god Huitzilopochtli

Answer 4

Encouraged the Aztecs to leave their homeland and settle in the valley of Mexico
They believed he needed the blood of sacrificial victims to give him strength
Tribal god that had war-like aspects

Question 5

Explain some details about the god Tezcatlipoca

Answer 5

Most powerful of the gods
Also called the Lord of the Night Sky
Locked in eternal struggle with the god Huitzilopochtli

Question 6

Explain the details about the god Quetzalcoatl

Answer 6

God of the wind
Name means feathered serpent
He left Mexico after a fight with Tezcatlipoca
Priests thought when he would return, it would bring destruction

Question 7

Explain some details about the god Tlaloc

Answer 7

The god of rain
Could release deadly floods or withhold rain for years
The Aztecs feared him because he controlled their survival

Question 8

What belief led the Aztecs to deicide to settle in Tenochititlan?

Answer 8

Their god, Huitzilopochtli sent them a vision telling them to migrate south and look for an eagle perched on a cactus. There they would settle and build a city. Their journey south lasted 150 years