Aztec DBQ: Sacrifice v.s Agriculture

The Aztecs were known for their human sacrifices and agriculture. Aztecs sacrificed 2,300 prisoners, from midday to nightfall. However, Aztecs were quite accomplished at agriculture too. They grew maize, beans, flowers, and squash, on chinampas. Chinampas are floating islands where Aztecs grew most of their crops on. However, should historians emphasize agriculture or human sacrifice? Historians should emphasize agriculture because it would require significant knowledge of engineering, that it was very important to Aztecs, and we might still eat some of the food even today.

Aztecs grew a lot of their crops on floating islands called chinampas. Chinampas are floating islands, 17 feet long and 100-330 feet wide (Doc B). These floating islands were anchored to the bottom of the lake where the Aztecs settled. Trees were planted at an interval to anchor the soil and provide shade. Canals were also made to give chinampas enough water. The Aztecs also had 20,000 acres of chinampas, which is a lot. Aztecs valued agriculture and must have needed a lot of engineering to do this.

The Aztecs' main crop was maize, otherwise known as corn. There is art that shows people making tortillas (Doc C). They also had a corn goddess. In the background are chinampas and some mountains. The chinampas were probably very important to the Aztecs.

The Aztecs were also very successful in military campaigns. The Aztecs would need to expand land to keep feeding it's growing population. As a benefit of military campaigns, they would also get sacrifice victims. (http://www.aztec-history.com/aztec-farming.html) The growing population had set demand for more food, which meant agriculture would have a high priority.

Historians should emphasize agriculture because it affects us today, was a huge engineering accomplishment, and pushed military conquests. All of these are important to us today.