The Aztec Empire — the innovations

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On an island in Lake Texcoco, in the Valley of Mexico. The Mexica founded it in 1325, and by Moctezuma I's reign (1440-1469) it had grown into the Aztec capital.

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A raised road built across water or wet ground, connecting an island city to the shore.

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Iztapalapa (south), Tepeyac (north), and Tlacopan (west).

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So the Aztecs could pull them up in wartime, cutting off the mainland and turning the island city into a defensible fortress.

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A raised, highly productive garden plot built up from lake mud, reeds, and stakes in the shallow waters around Tenochtitlan.

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Constant contact with water kept the soil fertile year-round, allowing several harvests a year — crucial for feeding a capital of well over 100,000 people.

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The Totonac region on the Gulf coast of Mexico, home to valuable resources like cotton, cacao, and vanilla.

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To secure tribute (cacao, cotton, vanilla, feathers) and resources the Valley of Mexico could not produce itself, strengthening the growing empire's economy.

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Goods or resources that a conquered or subordinate people is forced to pay regularly to a ruling power.

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A network of canals ran through the city like streets, letting canoes move people, chinampa produce, and building materials efficiently across the island.

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Causeways solved the problem of connecting an island city to land; canals solved the problem of moving goods and people within the city itself. Together they made an island capital workable.

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