Chapter 8 - The Aztec World: An Integrated View

Summary

The sick person said ... And a feathered cloak of mine, with duck feathers, will also be sold ... and two very fine cotton cloaks will be sold ... one of them of yellow cotton, and one with a basket-flower design.... And the shield with 200 quetzal plumes, let it be as it is; it is to be in the keeping of Diego and Bautista, and a coyote’s head (headdress) with crest device will also be so kept ... and the monkey [of feathers] with the pheasant’s head (device).

Testament [will] of don Julián de la Rosa, Tlaxcallan, 1566; in Anderson et al. 1976: 44–53

Throughout, this book has stressed the complexity and interconnectedness of the many facets of the Aztec world: demography both required and supported complex polities, economic production and distribution underwrote imperial bureaucracies, trade and markets extended standards of living and the Empire itself, social statuses were reinforced by political policy, and religious dictates, politics, and religion reinforced one another in symbol and ceremony – the list of connections goes on and on. And these were not static conditions. Rather, the Aztec world was an intensely dynamic one, with dramatic changes discernible even within the short life span of the Empire. Although these complex and dynamic relationships can be readily seen throughout the book, I would like to place particular emphasis on them by presenting here, in the book’s final chapter, three extended case studies, each revolving around a particular theoretical concept. The first focuses on military regalia, expanding on this small arena to illustrate the manner in which various dimensions of Aztec life were interwoven via the theme of inalienable wealth. The second considers the Aztec scene as a world system, viewing the imperial realm and beyond in interrelated geographic, economic, linguistic, political, social, and symbolic terms. These relations were not entirely one-way or one-sided; indeed, the Empire itself was influenced by external areas while it was extending its own political and economic hegemony. The third takes a close look at Aztec culture under the stress of a conquest by outsiders. Having become accustomed to their position as conquerors, how did Aztecs, as individuals and as a collectivity, respond and adjust to being the conquered? How did they adapt to the new rulers of the land with their different culture, explicit demands, and unfamiliar technology and ideas?