Montezuma essays

Montezuma essays You do not lead by hitting people over the head thats assault, not leadership quoted by Dwight D. Eisenhower. This quote describes how Montezuma, the last independent Aztec ruler, and the greatest leader of the Aztecs, treated his Aztec people before the Spaniards conquest and domination of Tenochititlan. Montezuma was known as one of the greatest leaders in history. To understand more about his life, it is important to understand who the Aztecs were and their powerful empire. Knowing more about the Aztecs, then it comes to knowing about the Aztec government and Montezumas leadership life. Finally, it is important to understand the fall of Montezuma and the Aztecs to the dominating Spaniards. During the same period as the Inca Empire, the Aztec Empire dominated Mesoamerica from Mexico and Guatemala to the territories of Salvador and Honduras for nearly 100 years. This empire consisted of the native speaking people known as the Nahuatl-speakers and those of the Culhua-Mexico, who had migrated from the Pacific Northwest and inhabited the area which would become the capital of Mexico, Tenochtitlan. The people of this culture were refined workers, merchants, farmers and fishermen. Also, they were devoted worshippers of the many gods of the Sun. In this role they were responsible for providing the blood of sacrificial victims to sustain the sun in its journey each day across the sky. While human sacrifices were also offered to other gods in the Aztec empire, it was this need to maintain the sun that was the basis for the warrior religious group of the Aztec state. This cult promoted warfare as the means for taking prisoners to be offered on the sacrificial stone of th e great pyramid. Their blood provided nutrition for the sun and another day of life and light for the world. The Aztecs believed that their ancestors were not from Central America. They believed that their ancestors came fro...