Some facts about the Aztecs

• In Aztec mythology, Huitzilopochtli, "Hummingbird on the Left", or "Left-Handed Hummingbird", was a god of war, a sun god, and the patron of the city of Tenochtitlan. He was also the national god of the Mexicas of Tenochtitlan.
• Aztecs another name is Mexica.
• Obsidian was used for weapons and gifts to be traded.
• Aztec Jaguar warrior; Eagle warriors held high position in the military.
• To the Mexicas, the Toltecs were the originators of all culture; "Toltecayōtl" was a synonym for culture.
• Aztecs established by a prophecy with an eagle and a serpent on a cactus.
• According to myth, Huitzilopochtli directed the wanderers to found a city on the site where they would see an eagle devouring a snake perched on a fruit-bearing nopal cactus.
• Tenochtitlan was the largest city (5 square miles) and had markets that were comparable to Rome or Constantinople.
• As all other Mesoamerican cultures, the Aztecs played a variant of the Mesoamerican ballgame, named tlachtli or ollamaliztli in Nahuatl.
• Chinampas or “floating gardens” was build and put on the lake for agricultural purposes in Tenochtitlan.
• Pochteca or special merchants that did all the long distance trade.
• Rank in military achieved through capturing enemy soldiers for sacrifice.
• For most people today, and for the European Catholics who first met the Aztecs, human sacrifice was the most striking feature of Aztec civilization.