Aztecs Stage 5 Comprehension - The Origin - Comprehension Pack.pdf

STAGE 5 Unit focus: Aztecs Text focus: Information Text The Origin A thousand years ago, the Mexica people roamed a land called Anáhuac in Mesoamerica. They hadn’t al...

STAGE 5 Unit focus: Aztecs Text focus: Information Text The Origin A thousand years ago, the Mexica people roamed a land called Anáhuac in Mesoamerica. They hadn’t always been a nomadic people. They once lived in a land called Aztlan, but a message from their god changed everything. Their most important god was called Huitzilopochtli. One day, Huitzilopochtli told the Mexica priests that they must leave their homeland and search for a new place to build a great civilisation. The god told the priests that they would know where to start this new settlement when they saw an eagle perching on a cactus while eating a snake. The people wandered for a long time. Anáhuac was covered in a dense jungle which was hard to travel through. Within the area, there were five lakes, all connected to each other. At each of them, the priests would stop and wait to see if they could see a sign from their god. At four of them, they were disappointed. One day, they approached Lake Texcoco. In the middle of the lake was a small island on which a handful of cacti had grown. The priests had pushed on ahead of the rest of the tribe, so they were the first to see the eagle perched atop one of the plants. Sure enough, the bird was holding a snake in its talon. Seeing this as a sign from Huitzilopochtli, the priests raced back to the others and told them the good news. Work began immediately, and soon the city of Tenochtitlan was rising in the middle of the lake. It was built across two islands in the middle of the water. They used floating islands made of wood, called chinampas, to make it even larger. In the end, the city was over 5 square miles in size. The city was a great technological achievement. The lakes were connected to the ocean, and saltwater would mix with the freshwater. They knew that this would be bad for their structures, so they built large walkways that not only connected the city to the mainland but they also kept the saltwater away from the city. A ding ro Rea und all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed e um C u r r ic ul Th http://www.literacyshedplus.com Gods and religion were very important to the new Aztec civilisation (they referred to themselves as Culhua-Mexica, not Aztecs). Temples were erected on the floating islands so that people could worship. The city itself was set out in a symmetrical grid pattern, with four sections separated by canals. These waterways were essential; they made it easier for goods to be brought in and out of the city. Tenochtitlan was built around 1325 CE and lasted until the Spanish invaded in 1521. When Hernan Cortés and the Spanish conquistadors reached the city, they laid siege to it. The Aztecs held out for 93 days before surrendering and ending the Aztec civilisation. The modern capital city of Mexico, Mexico City, is built where Tenochtitlan once stood. Some of the ancient city is still visible. The flag of Mexico shows an eagle sitting atop a cactus while eating a snake. RETRIEVAL FOCUS 1. Where were the Mexica people originally from? 2. Who told them to leave? 3. Which two animals were they on the lookout for? 4. What might you find today in the place where they settled? 5. What did they use to give themselves more space to build on? VIPERS QUESTIONS I What evidence is there that the Mexica were religious people? V Find and copy a word that describes how the bird stood on the cactus. V Find and copy a phrase that means “gone on ahead”. I Find evidence in the text that supports the idea of the Mexica being technologically clever. S How is the ancient settlement still recognised today? all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com