By Carole Reedy

Two of the greatest civilizations on our planet originated in Mexico: the Mayan and the Aztec. The Mayan civilization of the present-day Yucatán area dates back as early as 2000 BCE. The Aztec civilization, centered around present-day Mexico City, emerged later, about 1325 CE until the Spanish conquest in the 1500s.

The Aztec people and culture are among the most recognizable, and yet most mysterious, subjects of today’s Mexican culture. Most contemporary people have heard the tales of fierce Aztecs, their magnificent pyramids, and a culture of sacrifice.

To understand more, a visit to Mexico City is essential. It will allow you to enter the core of Aztec life, enhancing your understanding of their society.

Start with a visit to the center of the Aztec city Tenochtitlán (our present-day zócalo). Here you’ll feel the open-air expanse of the ancient city, surrounded now by 16th century Spanish architecture.

Imagine the streets as canals and the somber 16th century Spanish Cathedral as a grand colorful pyramid. Visit the Templo Mayor, home of the Aztecs’ largest pyramid. A must-see museum packed with treasures accompanies the site.

Remarkably, the pyramid ruins weren’t discovered until 1978, when electricians, diligently working in the city center, happened upon the 500-year-old Aztec wealth. All construction immediately halted. Archeologists stepped in, and they have been excavating ever since. To this day they are uncovering riches of the Aztecs that help us understand their culture and daily life. For details of the actual discovery and excavation, read Life and Death in the Templo Mayor (1995) by Eduardo Matos Montezuma who directed the excavation project.

The Templo Mayor was destroyed in 1521 by the Spanish, the rubble and stones reused to build Spanish structures like the cathedral. This practice continued throughout Mexico after the Spanish invasion. The first item on Cortés’ agenda when conquering a city was to build a cathedral.

Storytelling is an effective way to pass on a people’s history. With a variety of viewpoints, we can synthesize facts, observations, and feelings to understand a culture not our own. There’s a wealth of information and many books, both fiction and nonfiction, in which to discover more about the enigmatic Aztecs. Here are several reading suggestions that dispel some myths and reinforce the importance of the Aztecs in the overall scheme of this most significant of countries and civilizations.

Most of the stories below come from the points of view of the Azteca, rather than the traditional Spanish versions we are accustomed to hearing.

When Moctezuma Met Cortés: The True Story of the Meeting that Changed History, by Matthew Restall (2018)
This is a well-researched and exquisitely written account of the August first meeting between the Aztec leader Moctezuma and the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés.

Backed up by pages of reputable references, Restall paints a strikingly complex picture of the Aztecs and their encounters with the Spanish. Although the references are scholarly, Restall writes in an accessible style. He paints a vivid portrait of the Aztecs and especially the family of Moctezuma in their daily lives.

Beyond his focus on the meeting itself, Restall analyzes the tactics of the Spanish during their journey from Veracruz to Tenochtitlán (our Mexico City) as well as the long days they spent in the city. He also examines the outlying native societies and their relationship with both the Aztecs and the Spanish, providing a fresh look at exactly who defeated the Aztecs.

Restall also takes a closer look at Hernán Cortés, offering a different aspect of the man who enjoyed basking in the limelight. The views of the King of Spain and of other conquistadors, which can be found in Bernal Díaz de Castillo’s tome (see below), provide a more realistic profile of the conquistador.

Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs, by Camilla Townsend (2019)
Camilla Townsend is a Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University. She is a winner of multiple prizes over the years for her impressive research and conclusions.

Fifth Sun is the story of the Aztecs in their own words. Before the invasion of the Europeans, these native people had their own history, which is related to us thanks to Townsend’s research and determination.

Also notable is Townsend’s The Annals of Native America: How the Nahuas of Colonial Mexico Kept Their History Alive (2016).

After receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2010, she began looking at the Nahua, one of the Aztec peoples, in their own language. Spanish friars had taught the Nahua the Latin alphabet so they could read the Bible, thus paving the way for their conversion to Christianity.

The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, by Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1568; tr. Janet Burke and Ted Humphrey, 2012)
This well-regarded conquistador’s account of his many years in North America must be considered despite its inaccuracies, since this is only one of two first-hand accounts of the overthrow of the Aztecs.

“We came to serve God and to get rich, as all men wish to do,” is the famous quote for which Díaz can take credit. Despite the intent, many of the conquistadors themselves did not walk away with anywhere near the riches they had hoped to attain.

Díaz wrote the memoirs 30 years after the conquest and later refined and expanded them. He found the biographies and other sources glorifying Cortés’s efforts to be highly inaccurate. His observations of the new land and its people are described in detail, which adds a much-needed human touch to the volume and this significant time in Latin-American history.

Díaz had participated in other expeditions, among them in Cuba and the Yucatán, before his lengthy time with Cortés. He lived a long life, dying in Guatemala in 1584 at the ripe old age of 92.

If you are learning Spanish, this is a good book to start reading in your new language. The prose is forthright, you know something of the subject, and the grammar is not complicated.

During your visit to the Templo Mayor be sure to stop and read the long quotes from Bernal Díaz and Cortés that are inscribed on huge slabs of concrete overlooking the ruins.

The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico, by Miguel León-Portilla (1568; tr. Lysander Kemp, 2006)
Eyewitness accounts of the Aztecs told to Spanish friars in the 1500s make this one of the most significant resources for understanding Aztec society.

This book was first published in 1959 and has undergone several revisions and printings. It has been widely translated–into English, French, Italian, German, Hebrew, Polish, Swedish, Hungarian, and Japanese, among other languages.

Leon-Portilla, a renowned historian and anthropologist, is known for his numerous books and research into the Azteca.

The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, by Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1568; tr. Janet Burke and Ted Humphrey, 2012)
This well-regarded conquistador’s account of his many years in North America must be considered despite its inaccuracies, since this is only one of two first-hand accounts of the overthrow of the Aztecs.

“We came to serve God and to get rich, as all men wish to do,” is the famous quote for which Díaz can take credit. Despite the intent, many of the conquistadors themselves did not walk away with anywhere near the riches they had hoped to attain.

Díaz wrote the memoirs 30 years after the conquest and later refined and expanded them. He found the biographies and other sources glorifying Cortés’s efforts to be highly inaccurate. His observations of the new land and its people are described in detail, which adds a much-needed human touch to the volume and this significant time in Latin-American history.

Díaz had participated in other expeditions, among them in Cuba and the Yucatán, before his lengthy time with Cortés. He lived a long life, dying in Guatemala in 1584 at the ripe old age of 92.

If you are learning Spanish, this is a good book to start reading in your new language. The prose is forthright, you know something of the subject, and the grammar is not complicated.

During your visit to the Templo Mayor be sure to stop and read the long quotes from Bernal Díaz and Cortés that are inscribed on huge slabs of concrete overlooking the ruins.

The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico, by Miguel León-Portilla (1568; tr. Lysander Kemp, 2006)
Eyewitness accounts of the Aztecs told to Spanish friars in the 1500s make this one of the most significant resources for understanding Aztec society.

This book was first published in 1959 and has undergone several revisions and printings. It has been widely translated–into English, French, Italian, German, Hebrew, Polish, Swedish, Hungarian, and Japanese, among other languages.

Leon-Portilla, a renowned historian and anthropologist, is known for his numerous books and research into the Azteca.