MAN FROM THE FARTHEST PAST 
hundred years ago, finding themselves at war with their 
more civilized neighbors, they took refuge in certain 
swampy islands in the shallow lakes of the valley of 
Mexico. Here they lived a sort of amphibious life, partly 
on land and partly on the water, and steadily absorbed 
more and more of the higher culture of their neighbors. 
In their island refuge, approximately in A. D. 1325, 
they founded their capital city of Tenochtitlan, later 
called Mexico. In time they filled in and built over more 
and more ground, erecting palaces, temples, and pyramids, 
as well as great communal houses. Long causeways con- 
nected this island stronghold with the mainland, the sole 
other means of approach being by water. Here the Aztecs 
dwelt secure from attack and by degrees extended their 
power. About A. D. 1430 they formed with the nearby 
cities of Tezcuco and Tlacopan a league in which the 
leading place was held by Tenochtitlan. The war-chief 
of the latter, who also possessed many priestly attributes, 
was its supreme head. The Spaniards called Montezuma 
an ‘‘emperor.”” He was in reality a priest-king of a very 
ancient type, such as the more advanced peoples of the 
Old World had outgrown thousands of years before. 
Aztec society, however, was far removed from simple 
savagery. It had a highly organized priesthood and what 
was tending to become a real hereditary aristocracy; it 
had warriors, craftsmen, laborers, peasants, and slaves. 
The upper classes kept the masses of the people under a 
severe social discipline, through which they learned habits 
of obedience and of submissiveness to superiors. 
The Aztecs had made great advances in farming, or 
more properly gardening. Most of the land belonged not 
tc individuals but to the local village communities. They 
constructed floating islands, called chinampas, made of 
rafts covered with earth, where they grew not only vege- 
tables but also flowers, for which they showed much 
fondness. They possessed no domestic animals other than 
the dog, as no wild species suited for domestication then 
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