Aztecs

Cultural  

1. A Native American people who ruled Mexico and neighboring areas before the Spaniards conquered the region in the sixteenth century. Starting in the twelfth century, they built up an advanced civilization and empire. (See Hernando Cortés and Montezuma.)

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Example Sentences

However, once Hernán Cortés triumphed, the conquistadors went from waging war — vanquishing the Aztecs — to the project of subjugating Indigenous holdouts and building a self-sustaining territory loyal to the crown.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 23, 2026

After the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, Mexico’s European overlords used its silver and its agricultural wealth to nourish their global enterprises.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 14, 2025

Whether you watch with the original Spanish track or the English dub, the dialogue is laced with phrases and words in the Nahuatl language, the native tongue of the Aztecs.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 9, 2025

Why focus on the Aztecs out of the numerous civilizations that existed in the territory that now constitutes Mexico?

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 9, 2025

The Aztecs flourished culturally, economically, militarily, and politically, but they faced growing rebellion by the peoples from whom they exacted tribute.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz