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The '''Aztec''' civilization was an Indo-American empire existing in [[Central Mexico]] which lasted from roughly 1325 to 1521AD. At the height of it's power, controlling the Aztec empire controlled a population of roughly 20 millioninhabitants. The capital of the Aztec empire was [[Tenochtitlán]], which was built on islands a large island in the middle of [[Lake Texcoco]]. The capital of modern [[Mexico]], [[Mexico City]], is was built on upon the ruins of Tenochtitlánafter the Spanish conquest in 1521. Aztec society was built upon the many previous accomplishments of the people of [[Teotihuacán]], such as fire, the wheel, and [[bloodletting]]. Education among many of the Aztecs was also important, including literacy, [[arithmetic]], [[history]], and [[premodern philosophy]]. The Aztecs also contributed many knowledgeable inventions to the world; most famously they . The Aztecs were famously the first to use the cacao bean in food. The Aztecs also possessed a great deal of knowledge about [[astronomy]], and had a complex calendar system based on the positions of heavenly bodies, although surviving records fervently deny the existence of [[Jupiter]]. The Aztecs also made significant advances in [[irrigation]]and had an advanced numeral system based on the number 20 as opposed to the modern numeral system based on the number 10.

The Aztecs have become somewhat infamous in the modern era for their religious practice of human sacrifice. Before the arrival of the first European Christians first encountered to encounter the civilization, human sacrifice was very profound in Aztec civilization. At the sanctification of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlán in 1487for example, records report the sacrifice of tens of thousands of prisoners over the span of a period of four weeks.

As described by According to [[Spain|Spanish]] accounts texts referencing the affair, <ref>Díaz, Bernal (2005, published posthumously in 1632). , Historia verdadera de la conquista de Nueva España (Introducción y notas de Joaquín Ramírez Cabañas). Editorial Porrúa, 24.</ref>, the Aztecs tore the heart from the sacrificed, while the victims were still alive.

 The Aztec empire was conquered however at the height of it's glory by Spanish conquistador [[Hernán Cortés]] . Cortés of Spain arrived at [[Veracruz]], Mexico in 1519, in search of rumors of [[gold]]. Cortés led an army of [[conquistadores]] ([[Spanish language|Spanish]] for 'conquerors') on a march towards the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán. The Aztecs famously believed Cortés and the Spaniards to be their god Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, who had proclaimed that he would one day return to rule the empire. After being received into the city by the Aztec Emperor [[Moctezuma II]] (who may have believed Cortés to be a manifestation of the god [[Quetzalcoatl]] fulfilling an ancient prophecy of return), Cortés and his men witnessed a bloody sacrifice ritual. Horrified at thisby a display the Spaniards considered to be barbaric, the Spaniards attacked proceeded to attack the Aztec priests. The Aztecs revolted, kicking out and expelled the occupying conquistadores conquistadors in what came to be known as [[La Noche Trieste]] (the sad night), in which . During the struggle many conquistadores conquistadors were killed. The empire however, was then stricken with an epidemic of smallpox which was brought over by the Spanish and which the Aztecs had no immunity to. Cortés regrouped, and by 1521 he had conquered the entire empire. Unfortunately, Cortés and his men burned thousands of manuscripts in the Aztec library in what is now Mexico City in the belief that they were the work of the Devil.