The Aztecs of central Mexico : an imperial society / Frances F. Berdan. [print]

Includes bibliographies and index.

Mexico and the Mexica -- Origin of the Mexica and the arrival in Central Mexico -- Historical background of the Aztec Empire -- Urban settlement and organization -- Unraveling Mexica culture: a note on methods -- Economic organization -- Modes of food production -- Division of labor and occupational specialization -- Tribute and trade -- Social structure and dynamics -- Social class structure -- Kinship, family, and domestic life -- Daily life -- Cultural codes, daily life, and interpersonal relations -- Life cycle and education -- Social control and law -- Imperial politics and warfare -- Rulership and government -- Warfare and conquest -- Human sacrifice -- Religious organization and beliefs -- Mythology and legend -- the structure of the universe -- The Deities and their domains -- The Priestly hierarchy -- Rites and ceremonies -- Divination, magic, and omens -- Intellectual and artistic achievements -- Calendrics and the reckoning of time -- Mexica medicine -- Hieroglyphic writing -- Sculpture and the luxury crafts -- Literature and music -- The Consequences of conquest -- Arrival of the Spaniards -- The Conquest -- Indigenous adaptations to Spanish rule.

This case study is about the Aztecs of central Mexico, a people who dominated a vast area of what is now Mexico when the Spanish conquistadors arrived in AD 1519, but who had humble beginnings as despised nomads. The story of the confrontation and the defeat of the Aztecs by the small force of Spaniards led by Hernan Cortes is told in the last chapter. The larger part of this book is devoted to an ethnographic reconstruction of Aztec culture as it flourished in the period immediately preceding the conquest.

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