Aztecs And Other Tribes example essay topic

The Aztecs Ben Garrett 10 Oct. 2000 Introduction The tribe in which I will be researching is the Aztecs tribe. I plan to find out the answers to the questions below. 1. Where they lived? 2. Their religions?

3. What they ate? 4. Some of their beliefs? 5. What life was like?

The Aztecs The Indian tribe I am studying is the Aztecs. I plan on answering questions such as what life was like, what they ate, how they dressed, what their religions were, and many other questions which I intended on finding out. I learned many interesting facts about the Aztecs. And a few of the most interesting facts in which I learned are that the Aztecs believed deeply in sacrifices, and would capture prisoners of another tribe of war, and would make them climb a pyramid and at the top they would have their heart cut out from their chest and burned as an offering to their gods. (Unstead, 9&10.) The Aztecs had many gods, which they believed in. The two chief gods were Oretecuhtlick and Orecihuatl.

They were the lord and the lady of creation. They had four sons who would be the creators of the other gods. (Unstead, 8&9.) The Aztecs believed in a god for everything. There was a food god, a sun god, a water god, a moon god, even a god for their clothing. The Aztecs would eat food such as corn and bread; they would dress in a type of cloth, which they would have made. A major part of an average Aztec man or woman entertaining area would be the game Tlachlli.

This game would be played, and the results would affect how the future could be. They would play in a semi big stadium where a rubber ball would be hit with the Aztec players, as they would try to get it through a hole up on a wall. Goals were extremely rare, but if you did score, you would extremely famous throughout the empire. (Steele, 20&21.) Priests said that the gods would play Tlachlli, the sky would be their court, and the sun would be their ball.

The results of a game would tell the priest what would happen in the future. (Steele, 21&25.) I found many interesting facts during this study, and the most interesting fact, which I found was one of the Aztecs ancient beliefs. The Aztecs said that where they would find an eagle on a cactus with a snake in its mouth, which is where they would build their city. (Stuart, 69.) They found a snake on a cactus with a eagle in its mouth and built their city on it. The city was named Teno chit.

This tremendous city was their home, and in the center they had Pyramids where they would make their sacrifices for their gods. This city is now what makes the heart of the huge capital of Mexico, Mexico City. And the emblem in which the Aztecs had pictured of an eagle on a cactus with a snake in its mouth can now be found on the flag of Mexico. I learned many things about the Aztecs that have changed the way I think about them and other Native Americans.

I now understand why they would make some of the sacrifices, which they did. That they would go and live their lives the way in which they had chosen to live. I understand many things about Native Americans now, and this report has made me understand about get involved with the Aztecs, and get me to want to find out more about the Aztecs and other tribes that have to deal with Native Americans. I wonder now what if I could be part Aztec, or part of a Indian tribe, and doing this report had got me involved and made me think differently about native Americans. Researching the Aztecs is a different story; I mainly had trouble finding out facts on about the Aztec game Tlachlli and why they would do some of the rituals that they did. I found that the only way to find out what you needed to know is to look your hardest and try to go through as many books as possible to find out the information that you are trying to find.

I found most of my religion facts in encyclopedias. After I got started on the project, the information and the facts that I had been trying to find just got easier. After a few days I found that it was not difficult at all to find out any information on the Aztecs. It seemed, as I had known everything about the Aztecs. So I have to say that it was fun to have a challenge on this report, and I enjoyed researching them also. The main thing that helped me in this report would have to be all of the encyclopedias that I went through.

When I first started researching them, I was having trouble on the religions and games they had. Then all of the encyclopedias I went through helped me get back up and on my feet. This was without question a great report; I enjoyed learning about the Aztecs. I enjoyed the trouble that I went through to get the right information that I needed to make a good report. I liked the challenge of trying to find out many of the facts about why they would do some of the things that they did.

If I could change anything, I would have to say that next time I would spend more time on smaller things like what they would dress, and small things like that. But overall, I have to say that this was a great report.

Bibliography

1. Stuart, Gene. The Mighty Aztecs. Washington: National Geographic Society, 19852.
Warburton, Lois. Aztec Civilization. San Diego: Luce n Books, 19953.
Warwick, Bray. "Aztecs". Encyclopedia America. 19754.
Unstead, R.J. An Aztec Town. New York: Warwick Press, 19805.
Stelle, Philip. The Aztec News. Cambridge: Candlewick Press, 1995.