Aztec Empire
Glossary and Terms
History >> Aztec, Maya, and Inca for Kids
Adobe - A building material made from mixing sand, clay, and water together and then letting it dry in the sun. Some of the Aztec homes were built from adobe.
Amanteca - Aztec craftspeople who worked with feathers. They made clothing and headdresses for the nobility.
Aqueduct - A manmade channel used to transport water over a long distance.
Calmecac - A school for the nobility where they trained to become government officials, military leaders, and priests.
Calpulli - A group of families like a clan. It was the division of the Aztec government below the city-state.
Causeway - A road across a waterway. There were causeways across the lake leading to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.
Chinampa - Manmade islands used for growing crops. The Aztecs built these around the city of Tenochtitlan because much of the land was swampy.
City-state - An independent government that consists of a main city and the lands around it.
Codex - A book made up of a number of pages folded in a zig-zag pattern. Much of what we know about the Aztecs comes from codices.
Conquistadors - Spanish explorers, adventurers, and conquerors. They colonized much of Central and South American for the Spanish Empire.
Empire - A group of states or peoples united under one leader or monarch called an emperor.
Huitzilopochtli - The primary Aztec god, he was the god of the sun and war. He was also the patron god of Tenochtitlan.
Macehualtin - The commoner class of the Aztec Empire.
Maize - A vegetable like corn. It was the main staple food of the Aztecs.
Mesoamerica - A region of southern North America that stretches from Mexico to Costa Rica.
Mexica - A name for the people who lived in the Valley of Mexico.
Montezuma - Two of the most important emperors of the Aztecs were named Montezuma. It is also sometimes spelled Moctezuma.
Nahuatl - The language spoken by the Aztecs. It is still spoken by some people in central Mexico today.
Obsidian - A hard, brittle rock that can be used to make sharp edges for tools.
Ollama - An Aztec game played with a rubber ball.
Omens - Events or phenomena that some people believe tell the future.
Pictograph - A symbol that conveys meaning and has a resemblance to a physical object.
Pipiltin - The upper or noble class of the Aztec Empire. They held the top positions in the priesthood, military, and government.
Pochteca - A class of merchants that traveled long distances to bring luxury goods to the Aztecs. They were an important and respected class of people.
Pyramid - A building that has the general shape of a geometric pyramid with four sides on the bottom that taper to a point on top. Aztec pyramids were built with large steps and had a flat top. They were built as temples to their gods.
Sacrifice - An offering to the gods, usually food or an animal. The Aztecs also offered human sacrifices.
Smallpox - An infectious disease that often causes death.
Tenochtitlan - The capital city of the Aztec Empire.
Tlatoani - The king of a city-state, the word Tlatoani means "speaker". The emperor of the Aztec Empire was the Huey Tlatoani or "great speaker".
Tlaxcala - An enemy city-state to the Aztecs, the Tlaxcala allied with Cortes to conquer the Aztecs.
Toltecs - An early civilization that came before the Aztecs. The nobility claimed to be descendants of these legendary people.
Tribute - A tax paid by the city-states to the Aztec Emperor in the capital city of Tenochtitlan.
Works Cited
History >> Aztec, Maya, and Inca for Kids
