Aztecs III

1428-1521 CE

From 1428 to 1521 CE, the Aztecs built an empire on blood and flowers — the Triple Alliance rising from Texcoco's lake to demand tribute from both oceans, their warriors capturing victims for sacrifices that fed the sun and terrified subject peoples. Tenochtitlan's causeways and canals awed Spanish soldiers who had seen Venice; its skull racks horrified them. In the end, disease and native allies accomplished what Spanish steel alone could never have achieved.