Moctezuma I.
Moctezuma I. (actually Motēcuhzōma Ilhuicamīna [ moteːkʷ'soːma ilwika'miːna ], Nahuatl for He looks gloomy like a prince and the distinctive nickname that shoots for the sky , Spanish also Montezuma ; * 1390 ; † 1469 ) was from 1440 to 1469 Ruler of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlán . Together with his deputy Tlacaélel , he shaped the shape of the Aztec state during the years of his reign as it still existed at the time of the Spanish conquest of Mexico .
Life
Moctezuma was the son of the former ruler Huitzilíhuitl and his wife Miyahuaxihuitl from the city of Cuauhnahuac . At a young age he took part in a campaign against the city of Chalco , where he was captured and barely survived. The clashes with this city had already started under the ruler Acamapichtli and Moctezuma's predecessor, his uncle Itzcóatl , had also waged war with Chalco. When Moctezuma now ascended the throne in 1440, he immediately began new war preparations. As a sign of submission, he asked Chalco for materials for the construction of the temple of Huitzilopochtli in Tenochtitlán, but the residents of the city refused.
In the war that followed, Tenochtitlán and many previously conquered cities took part, but despite some successes, they did not succeed in a quick victory. While the war was still ongoing, Tenochtitlán was hit by a plague of locusts, a flood and a famine between 1446 and 1450. Many people left the city and had to sell themselves and their children as slaves in order to survive. Moctezuma had a 16-kilometer dam built across Lake Texcoco and an aqueduct , but it had become clear that the city could no longer get its own food.
The following wars were then primarily fought with the aim of increasing the volume of tribute payments, especially for food. The first war target was the Mixtec trading center Coaixtlahuacán , the conquest of which opened the way to the valley of Oaxaca , which was also subjugated. Thereafter, Aztec warriors advanced to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico by bypassing the independent neighbors Tlaxcala and Puebla to the north and south . In both cases, important trading hubs such as Tlatlauhquitepec and Tepeaca were conquered. Finally, in 1464, the old rival Chalco fell through betrayal. By the end of Moctezuma's rule in 1471, the Aztecs still conquered large parts of the central Gulf coast as well as the present-day Mexican states of Hidalgo and Guerrero .
As the distance from Tenochtitlán increased, the operations became more and more complex, and accordingly it also became more difficult to get prisoners for ritual sacrifices . That is why the concept of the Flower Wars was invented . The Aztecs left some of their culturally related neighbors independent in order to wage ritual wars against them at regular intervals and thereby win a certain number of prisoners who were then to be sacrificed.
Domestically, the nobility and the lower folk were separated from one another by strict regulations. Members of the respective class had to make their status clearly recognizable by wearing appropriate clothing, jewelry or the like.
Moctezuma I died in 1469 without leaving a son as a legitimate successor. It is not clear who exactly ruled until 1471. It is possible that his daughter Atotoztli ruled together with her husband for some time, but in the end Axayacatl , who was only nineteen when he ascended the throne, was elected as his successor.
literature
- Hanns J. Prem : History of ancient America . Oldenbourg, Munich 1989 (2nd revised edition 2007). ISBN 3-486-53032-1 .
- Hanns J. Prem: The Aztecs. Culture - history - religion . Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2006. ISBN 3-406-45835-1 .
- Ross Hassig: Aztec Warfare. Imperial Expansion and Political Control. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1988. ISBN 0-8061-2121-1 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Moctezuma I. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Motēuczōma Ilhuicamīna (Nahuatl); Montezuma (Spanish) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Ruler of the Aztec city Tenochtitlán (1440–1469) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1390 |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1469 |