Lesson video

Hello there, welcome to History Today with me, Mrs. Badhan.

Today we will be looking at the Aztecs.

We will be starting a new enquiry of four lessons, looking at the question, how far did fear allow the Aztecs to control their Empire? In this first lesson of this four-lesson enquiry, we will be looking at the question today, who were the Aztecs? For this lesson today, you will need a piece of paper and a pen.

If you don't have these items, just press pause on the video now and go and grab them.

Great.

Let's make a start.

For this first task, I would like you to pause the video, and have a look at the image and pick out any details you can see.

Press pause now and have a good look.

Great.

This is a picture of an Aztec calendar.

You may have noticed a face in the middle of this image.

This face is now circled in blue.

This is an image representing the sun, or Lord of the Earth.

The Aztecs believed the sun was the most important thing as, without it, they thought the Earth would stop.

You may have also noticed some boxes around the edge where the first arrow is pointing to.

Aztecs had 18 months in a calendar year, and these 20 boxes represent the 20 days within each of the months.

Did you also spot some mythical creatures? This is where the bottom arrow is pointing to.

I'm sure you saw lots of other things in this image.

Could you now have a go at writing down some of your observations in the following structure, and explain what these observations may suggest about the Aztecs? Pause the video now and write out your answer.

Press play when you're ready.

Fantastic.

You may have written something like this.

"In this picture, I can see the Sun "in the centre of the image.

"This suggests that the Sun was a central feature "of the Aztec culture and beliefs." You may have also written something else based on your observations, and that's absolutely fine, too.

So, where did the Aztecs settle? As you can see from this image, the Aztecs came to settle in what is modern day Mexico.

When did the Aztecs exist? The Aztecs arrived and settled in the Valley of Mexico, between 1200 and 1300, in the 13th and 14th century.

They resided here until the Spanish arrived in 1519.

For this next task, I would like you to pause and see if you can work out which of the following statements are true or false on this slide and the next.

Don't worry if you aren't too sure.

Give them a go anyway.

Press pause now and have a go, this slide and the next.

Let's see how you did.

A, the Aztecs were a group or tribe of warriors.

This was true.

B, they lived as nomads, which meant they travelled around different parts of central Africa until they settled in the Valley of Mexico around 1600.

This was false, as they didn't settle in central Africa.

C, you will now find Mexico City, the capital city of modern day Mexico, where Tenochtitlan once stood.

This was true.

D, Religion was not important to the Aztecs, and they believed that there was no God.

This was false, as they definitely did believe that there was a God and they were heavily religious.

E, every Aztec male was trained as a warrior.

This was true.

F, the Aztec people used to call themselves Mexica, which is where the name of the country of Mexico actually comes from.

This was true.

And G, Aztecs did not go to school.

This was false.

They did go to school.

For this next task, you will need to read through the text on the Aztecs and answer the comprehension questions in full.

The questions to answer are the following.

Question number one, where did the Aztecs settle? Question number two, what did the Aztecs enjoy doing? Question number three, what problems did the Aztecs face when trying to create a settlement in Tenochtitlan? Question number four, how did the Aztecs overcome these problems? Question number five, why was the Sun Calendar so important to the Aztecs? And the challenge question, what do the Aztec customs, such as sacrificing humans, tell us about the Aztecs? Pause the video now, read through the information page and answer the comprehension questions.

Resume once you're finished.

Let's see how you did with the comprehension questions.

Question number one was, where did the Aztecs settle? You could have put something like, "The Aztecs settled in Mexico." If you wanted to take your answer a little bit further, you could have put something like, "The Aztecs settled in the Valley of Mexico "in the 13th century.

"Here, they then established their capital, Tenochtitlan, "which became a place of power for their Empire." You may have had other variations where you developed it a bit further, and that's okay.

Question number two.

The question was, what did the Aztecs enjoy doing? You could have put something like, "The Aztecs enjoyed music, hunting and fishing." If you wanted to take the answer a little bit further, you could have put something like, "The Aztecs enjoyed a number of activities, "such as hunting, fishing, carving and being creative.

"Much of the Aztecs' art was about pleasing "and honouring the gods, so Aztec temples "were covered with carvings and stone sculptures.

"The Aztecs liked music, too, "and they played the pipes, trumpets, drums and rattles." Question number three, what problems did the Aztecs face when trying to create a settlement in Tenochtitlan? You could have put something like, "The Aztecs found it difficult to build in Tenochtitlan "because of the land." You wanted to explain that just a little bit further, you could have put something like, "The Aztecs faced the problems with building "and construction when trying to create a settlement "in Tenochtitlan due to the marshy terrain of the area, "which made the foundations weak to build upon." Question number four.

An acceptable answer to the question, how did the Aztecs overcome these problems?, may have been, "The Aztecs overcame these problems "by building islands and bridges." To extend that answer further, you may also have said something along the lines of, "The Aztecs overcame these problems by creating islands, "called chinampas, by piling up mud "from the bottom of the lake.

"Eventually, they also built bridges "to connect the island to the mainland.

"Furthermore, they dug canals and lined them with stone "to allow easy movement." Question number five, why was the Sun Calendar so important to the Aztecs? You may have put something like, "The Sun Calendar was important as it allowed the Aztecs "to know when important festivals were, and it made them "feel like there was a sense to their existence." You wanted to extend this answer further, you may have elaborated a little bit more and you could have put something along the lines of, "The Sun was important to the Aztecs as it allowed them "to make sense of time and their existence.

"As well as using the Sun as part of their calendar "to keep track of important festival dates, "they also believed that the Sun "would not continue its journey across the sky "if they did not make human sacrifices.

"The Aztec Calendar contained 18 months, "which had 20 days each and five extra days.

"Time was divided into 52 centuries.

"Therefore, the Sun allowed them "to make sense of how time worked." For the challenge question, what do Aztec customs, such as sacrificing humans, tell us about the Aztecs? Now it would have been absolutely acceptable for you to have said something along the lines of, "They believed in superstitions "and thought about the reason for their existence." However, if you wanted to extend this further, you could have said, "The Aztec custom, "such as sacrificing humans, shows that the Aztecs "were highly superstitious people, "and had strong customs and traditions.

"It also shows that they were trying to make sense "of the world in which they lived "and had some sort of religious beliefs.

"It also suggests that they had ideas "about how the world was created." You may have had other variations of how you answered that question, and that's okay.

Now for your last challenge, I would like you to make a list of the things that helped the Aztecs control their Empire and the things that made it hard for them to control their Empire.

If you pause the video now and go to the table, you can make your list there, and then, once you're ready, resume and come back to the slides.

So, you may have said the following things that helped the Aztecs control their Empire.

You may have said things like, "The Aztecs had many trained warriors.

"The Aztecs built temples, pyramids and palaces," because that obviously would have made their presence known within the Empire, and that would have made it easier for them to control people.

You may have also talked about Tenochtitlan being very powerful, and this, then, being able to control the Empire through the city.

However, things which made it difficult for them to control their Empire, you may have talked about the marshy land, which made it difficult for them all to settle in one area, which therefore made it very difficult to control the entirety of their Empire, as they were all dispersed and settled in and around different geographical locations.

You may have also mentioned that they did not know when the fifth world creation would end, and this created a fear within the Aztec people, and this made it harder for them to be able to be controlled.

I hope you enjoyed lesson one today on who were the Aztecs.

And, if you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

Thank you very much for a great lesson, as I look forward to seeing you in lesson two to learn lots more about the Aztecs.