These are my answers to the questions. I hope they are correct but of you find any mistakes, please comment and tell me where I went wrong. Enjoy reading!

Step 1:
Where did the Aztecs originally live? What prompted them to relocate? Where did they end up and why? Chose an artifact, which you feel best, represents this event. Support your choice
Step 1:
They came from Atzlan, somewhere in the North West Mexico
The Aztecs relocated because their chief had a vision of their main god telling them to go to a swampy lake with a cactus, eagle and snake. After days and years of traveling, they came to the swampy land, just like their chief’s vision. They stayed at this place and named it Tenochtitlan after their chief. They ended up there because the vision came true.

Step 2:
The Aztecs ended up in the middle of a lake and built their new capital Tenochtitlan. What were the pros and cons of settling in the middle of a lake? Describe the lay of the land and chose an image for your exhibit.

Pros: lots of water and irrigation is easy. Crops were easy to grow because there was plenty of water. Vegetation was great in that area.
Cons: the land was swampy and snake infested. Parts were missing, the soil was really damp. The surrounding area was taken up by another tribe and they were very mean and vicious.
The land: the land was a swampy, snake-infested island but the Aztecs still started their home there. They made floating gardens, otherwise known as chinampas, by filling the empty parts with soil and grew crops with irrigation. It was built on the Lake Texcoco and although it was damp, the Aztecs managed to come up with the chinampa system. They also made canals running through the land so people could travel from one section to another via canoe or foot. They made beautiful temples and other buildings and soon it became the most beautiful city in the world (they built their temples etc on dry land only). They planted many trees to strengthen the soil.

Step 3:
Which gods were worshiped? The pyramids were built for what purpose?
The Aztecs worshipped many gods and goddesses. Their main god was Huitzilopochtli, the god of war and was a very important god. He told the Aztecs to go and make a living in the swampy land. His name actually means Warrior of the South and he comes in the form of a blue hummingbird with warrior clothing. When he comes to the earth, he is said to come in the form of an eagle. Due to the fact that he was also a sun god, the Aztecs believed that he needed ‘daily nourishment’. This ‘nourishment’ consisted of the blood and the heart of human beings. The Aztecs sacrificed certain humans and offered their hearts at the temples.
Tezcatlipoca, the god of the night sky and the Great Bear constellation, was another god that the Aztecs worshipped. Because his name means Smoking Mirror, his form has a mirror in place of one of his feet. He was known as the protector of slaves and punished wrong-doers by sending them sickness or by giving them poverty and slavery. This god also received a sacrifice every year on the fifth month.
The Aztecs adopted Xipe Totec, the god of new vegetation and spring, as a god during 1469-81. He wore masks and always had new, flayed skin on him. Another god was Quetzalcoatl, the god of morning and evening star. He was a symbol of death and resurrection, but also was one of the major gods for the Aztecs. The rest of the gods were important as well. These gods are Chalchiuhtlicue, god of the water and Tlaloc, god of rain.
The pyramids are beautiful, each with its own different style of design. The pyramids were usually a place to worship the gods and also make the sacrifices, such as human sacrifices. The

Step 4:
Who are the different members of Aztec society? What are their roles? Choose an artifact that represents the social order of Aztec society.
The Aztec society consisted of three classes: the slaves, the commoners and the nobles. The slaves were poor and worked for the nobles and the commoners. The kids of the poor could be sold into slavery but they could also buy their own freedom. The commoners were the most abundant social group and were known as the macehualtin. They were usually engaged in agriculture and common trades. Although most of their products were sold, they were allowed to keep their products as well. Many commoners were allowed to own areas of land for a lifetime but the lowest group of commoners, the peasants, were not (they only were allowed to farm). The nobles were nobles through birth, priests and/or those who proved themselves and earned their rank. The nobles, along with the warrior and priests, were the most respected in Aztec culture. The nobles received the top positions in the government and the leader was a noble as well. Overall, the slaves worked as maids etc for the nobles and commoners, the commoners were the farmers and looked over the agriculture, and finally the nobles held the top positions in the government.

Step 5:
The Aztecs have a spoken language. What was it called? Did they use any other forms of communication? Include an example of either written or visual language of the Aztecs.
The Aztecs spoke a language known as Nahuatl, a language spoken by many Indian tribes in western North America. In this language, pictographs were used to communicate through writing. Some of the pictographs represented sounds of syllables and others symbolized ideas and thoughts. It is said that that the Aztec writing came from the Mixtec writing and is logographic. This language is not written in alphabetical form but written with pictures and symbols known as glyphs.

Step 6:
How did the Aztecs grow food and what was their main crop? Did they trade and with whom? Did they have a currency (money)? Find an image for your exhibit about making a living Aztec style.

The Aztecs grew their crops in many places. One of the major places was the terraces. The terraces were steps going down a hill to control the amount of water passing through. They also built chinampas which helped the growth of the crops. The chinampas were built by making big reed mats and covering them up with mud. The chinampas were rooted to the ground through plant roots; however, they did seem to float. The chinampas helped to extend the area for crops to grow on. Therefore, many crops were able to grow, such as corn, chili peppers, squash, tomatoes, beans and many more. Their main crop was corn because it was used to make their main food, tlaxcalli, a thin cornmeal pancake or more commonly known as tortilla. Scooping up food and wrapping up food were a few of the reasons why tlaxcallis were important to Aztec civilization. The Aztecs also ate meat such as deer, rabbits, ducks, geese, turkeys and dogs.
Trade was very important to the Aztecs and therefore, they traded with many other cities and civilizations. They traded with the people in the Maya zone and even the people in today’s Panama! The Aztecs had many different types of currency but cacao was the main form of currency.

Step 7:
Discuss the Impact of Spanish Contact 1519 from both the Aztec point of view and the Spanish point of view. Find an image depicting this event.
Spanish point of view: the Spanish believed that it was a good thing that they arrived in Tenochtitlan. They appreciated the Aztecs and admired their wealth and gold. They didn’t like the fact that the Aztecs sacrificed human beings for their gods. They wanted to preach Christianity and convert them. Cortes was treated like a god when he arrived in the city but realized that if a war was to break out, the Spaniards were greatly outnumbered. Therefore, he arrested Montezuma, to prevent him from plotting a war against the Spanish. While Cortes went to fight the army that arrived to arrest him, he left a man in charge. However, this man arrested leaders and killed some Aztecs fearing that they would attack them. The Aztecs revolted and attacked them. Many Spaniards fell and therefore, it was called the night of tears. Soon though, Cortes managed to recapture the city and destroyed the inhuman Aztec civilization.
Aztec point of view: the Aztecs didn’t like the Spanish invading their city and disrupting the peace that the Aztecs had. The emperor Montezuma, heard of the attack from the Spanish and believed that Cortes was actually the god, Quetzalcoatl, in the form of a human being. Luckily for Cortes, he arrived the year that the prophecy mentioned above was to come true and therefore, Montezuma decided to welcome Cortes with open arms. Soon, he began to doubt Cortes and didn’t believe he was a god. He decided to give Cortes a big sum of Aztec gold, hoping that he would leave. Unfortunately, Cortes had heard about the Aztec’s immense wealth and wanted even more. Cortes then decided to hold the emperor prisoner hoping to gain more Aztec riches. One time, while Cortes was away, the man left in charge, treated the Aztecs very cruelly and massacred many Aztecs at a religious ceremony. Soon that became the last straw and the Aztecs began lashing out. They surrounded the Spaniards and killed them. Cortes, under great pressure, let Montezuma go and hoped he would calm them down. But, the fierce warriors of the Aztecs thought Montezuma was a traitor for going with Cortes and killed him as well. The Aztecs continued living in their style but the Spaniards spread a disease to them a disease called small pox. Cortes was in a lot of despair and fought back. Fortunately, the Aztec over threw them and killed them. After a few years, Cortes built up his army again and went back to fight the Aztecs. Unfortunately, he won. He conquered the once great city and over 40,000 Aztecs lay dead.

Step 8:
Discuss La Malinche or Dona Marina. Debate her positive/negative impact on Mexico past and present. What does the term Mestizo refer to? What influences remain today from Aztec culture of the past

She was known as Dona Marina or La Malinche, the slave, interpreter, secretary, mistress and mother of the first Mexican. The very mention of her name still stirs controversy among the Mexicans and Spanish. She had many positive and negative impacts on Mexico. She was born as an Aztec but was given away by her mom to some traveling traders. Soon she became a slave and was sold to Cortes. She helped with the negotiations between Cortes and Montezuma when he arrived in the Aztec Empire. She knew the Aztec language and Mayan language and quickly picked up the Spanish language. She was a loyal servant and loved her master.
Positive: she helped with the negotiations between Cortes and the Emperor Montezuma by translating what Montezuma said to Spanish and vice-versa. Due to her translating skills, she saved many lives from being lost. She was a strong, determined and fearless woman who is said to have protected Mexico from its fierce and blood-thirsty rulers. She also helped make the first friendly relations between the Aztecs and Spaniards.
Negative: through her negotiations, she allowed Cortes to convert the Aztecs into Christianity and prevent them from continuing their own religion.

            “But you are only a young child!” These words…these exasperating words are the words that spill out of many parents’ lips when they talk to their children. Parents of preteens and teens, including mine, feel that young adults don’t know anything and don’t worry about vital issues in life. The truth is these parents are highly mistaken. Preteens and teens worry about many things and like Anne Frank mentioned in her diary, we do have a great deal going on in our “souls”. We don’t only worry about hair, nails and who likes who, we also worry about the most crucial points in our life.

            One fundamental worry for all teenagers including me is the future and what I want to achieve. How will the world be when I grow-up? Can I make a difference in the world? How can I make sure I excel in my studies? What do I want to achieve in life? What do I want to be? These are just a few questions that run in my mind from time to time and I’m sure most teenagers will agree, that they have at least pondered over these questions once. One more thought is what goals I should make and how I will achieve them. These goals can range from making sure I do my homework tomorrow to getting a good job twenty years from now. Any goal I make is important but whether I accomplish them or not and how I do that is much more significant. Making goals has been taught in many of my classes and although I sometime find it quite tiresome, I realize that it is a very valuable lesson that you carry with you throughout your life.

   Another wonder is relationships from the past, present and future. Due to traveling, I have made many friends, some which have ventured away from me and others who I have left. I think about them every time and always wonder whether I will see them again or would they always be a chapter from my past. I always dream and wish that I would meet an old friend while working in my dream job.

            Apart from worries about the future, I also have many current problems in my life that bother me. One main dilemma is my worry about my grades. Starting a new school and catching up with work is very difficult and therefore, my grades are great concerns. I fear that my grades might not come up to be my parents’ expectations and that they will punish me for that. I have begun to realize that my grades from this year onwards are very critical and can determine my future. Thus, I have decided to work extra hard to achieve my goals. The final thing I have pondered over many times is how to make precious and important friends. Travelers, like me, go through the process of making friends and leaving them behind. Going through this procedure again makes me realize how hard it is to make friends. Although I worry about whether I will make friends or not, I have realized that if someone can’t accept you for who you are, then that person is not a worthy friend.

            I have many wonders that I ponder on from hours on end but I believe that these are the most important ones to me. Hopefully, you can see that a teenager’s life is not as superficial and easy-going as it may seem. We also have many thoughts and questions that run through our minds like every other person on this planet.