Aztec Architecture and
City-Structure
The capital city of the Aztec empire
was Tenochtitlan, which was in what we now call México City, the fifteenth most
populated city in the modern world.
The city layout
was planned and made so that it was divided into four city sections called campans. Tenochtitlan
had several canals as well, for the purpose of transporting goods across the city with
ease. Tenochtitlan, being the capital of
the Aztec nation housed the majority and all of the besttechnology and
architecture found in the empire.
Around the island were series of
chinampa beds which were used to plant food and were used to increase the size
of the island. They were incorrectly
named “floating gardens” since they were used to grow up to seven different
types of crops a year. One hectare of
these “gardens” could feed 20 people, and about 9000 hectares were found. The reasons I consider them a type of
architecture is that they were most likely man-made and they did provide much
of the food the Aztecs needed.
The cities like Tenochtitlan were not
rare among the Aztecs. Several like
these were made all across the empire, but only a few structures like the great
pyramid of the Aztecs were made. The
Tenochtitlan Pyramid, also known as the Tenochtitlan Sun Pyramid, was about 60
meters tall. This Aztec Pyramid was also
called ‘el Templo Mayor’ because it was surrounded by several smaller buildings
which were associated with this temple. It was a place of worship for the Aztecs, who
had no true established religion, they simply worshiped many minor gods like
the god of corn or the god of water.
Sadly, the Pyramid of Tenochtitlan was destroyed by the Spaniards when
the Aztecs were invaded, conquered, and forced to convert to Christianity. Although the Pyramid of Tenochtitlan was an
amazing piece of architecture of the time it was not the only one of the time. Several other smaller pyramids were made
outside of Tenochtitlan and they all had similar purposes, one which all had in
common was the use as a sacrificial temple.
They usually had four stages, with platforms in between each. The
pyramids had stairs up all four sides, and at the top, there was a sacrificial
temple. Both human and animal sacrifices
took place in these temples and the sacrifices were offerings to the many gods.
Tenochtitlan houses the majority of
advanced architecture in the Aztec lands.
When anyone hears the word “Pyramid” they immediately think of the Great
Pyramid at Giza. Worthy of mention is the fact that many civilizations like the
Mayans and other unknown civilizations used the shape of a pyramid to build
important buildings. This was a popular
structure across the ancient world most likely because they are very stable
structures, yet they are extremely simple.
Architecture I had never heard of before, however, is of something like
chinampa beds. They were natural but
they were purposely placed to expand the island of Tenochtitlan and add to the
amount of land in which crops could grow.
Map
of what Tenochtitlan most-likely looked like when it was still standing,
according to GNU.
This
picture describes the chinampa beds which expanded the city of Tenochtitlan and
helped
provide
food for most of the city’s population.
