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Aztec Nobility
The Pipiltin (sg. ''pilli'') were the noble social class in the Mexica Empire. They are the lowest nobles in the civilization's social structure and above the commoners who achieved noble status due to an outstanding deed in war. These people were members of the hereditary nobility and occupied positions in the government as ambassadors and ministers, the army and the priesthood. Pipiltin often headed their own noble houses, called tecalli, with their own lands and dependent labourers. The subclasses within the ''Pipiltin'' were: tlahtohcapilli (a tlahtoani's son), tecpilli or teucpilli (a teuctli's son), tlazohpilli (son of a legitimate wife), and calpanpilli (son of a concubine). Children of the ''Pipiltin'' were given extensive education in preparation for the role they would play in their adult life. They were sent to the ''calmecac'', which was the center for higher learning, to study the ancient wisdom as well as "elegant forms of speech, ancient hymns, poems and historic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristics associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles or simply formal functions (e.g., precedence), and vary by country and by era. Membership in the nobility, including rights and responsibilities, is typically hereditary and patrilineal. Membership in the nobility has historically been granted by a monarch or government, and acquisition of sufficient power, wealth, ownerships, or royal favour has occasionally enabled commoners to ascend into the nobility. There are often a variety of ranks within the noble class. Legal recognition of nobility has been much more common in monarchies, but nobility also existed in such regimes as the Dutch Republic (1581–1795), the Republic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Class
A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the Bourgeoisie, capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for example be dependent on education, wealth, occupation, income, and belonging to a particular subculture or social network. Class is a subject of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists and Social history, social historians. The term has a wide range of sometimes conflicting meanings, and there is no broad consensus on a definition of class. Some people argue that due to social mobility, class boundaries do not exist. In common parlance, the term social class is usually synonymous with Socioeconomic status, socioeconomic class, defined as "people having the same social, economic, cultural, political or educational status", e.g. the working class, "an emerging professional class" etc. However, academics distinguish socia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mexica Empire
The Aztec Empire, also known as the Triple Alliance (, �jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ or the Tenochca Empire, was an alliance of three Nahua city-states: , , and . These three city-states ruled that area in and around the Valley of Mexico from 1428 until the combined forces of the Spanish and their native allies who ruled under defeated them in 1521. Its people and civil society are historiographically referred to as the ''Aztecs'' or the ''Culhua-Mexica''. The alliance was formed from the victorious factions of a civil war fought between the city of and its former tributary provinces. Despite the initial conception of the empire as an alliance of three self-governed city-states, the capital became dominant militarily. By the time the Spanish arrived in 1519, the lands of the alliance were effectively ruled from , while other partners of the alliance had taken subsidiary roles. The alliance waged wars of conquest and expanded after its formation. The allian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), executive, and judiciary. Government is a means by which organizational policies are enforced, as well as a mechanism for determining policy. In many countries, the government has a kind of constitution, a statement of its governing principles and philosophy. While all types of organizations have governance, the term ''government'' is often used more specifically to refer to the approximately 200 list of sovereign states, independent national governments and government agency, subsidiary organizations. The main types of modern political systems recognized are democracy, democracies, totalitarian regimes, and, sitting between these two, authoritarianism, authoritarian regimes with a variety of hybrid regimes. Modern classification systems also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tecalli
In ancient Mexico, a teccalli was a noble household or lineage. The Nahuatl word ''teccalli'' is a combination of ''teuctli'', meaning lord, and ''calli'', meaning house. It directly translates to "lord-house" and it can be found in the house compounds of ''altepetls''. The ruler ''tlatoani'' and other nobles ''pipiltin'' would inhabit this house and have commoners ''macehualtin The mācēhualtin ( IPA: , singular ''mācēhualli'' ) were the commoner social class in Aztec society. The Aztec social class of the ''mācēhualtin'' were rural farmers, forming the majority of the commoners in the Aztec Empire. The ''mācēhu ...'' work on the land. Background In altepetl structure, the differentiation between ''teccalli'' and ''calli'' allows for the understanding of the division between commoners and nobles. Although certain city-states may have organized themselves differently, the western ones fully integrated the ''teccalli'' into their housing compound, while the eastern one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tlahtoani
''Tlahtoāni'' ( , "ruler, sovereign"; plural ' ) is a historical title used by the dynastic rulers of (singular ''āltepētl'', often translated into English as "city-state"), autonomous political entities formed by many pre-Columbian Nahuatl-speaking peoples in the Valley of Mexico during the Postclassic Period. The title of ' (, "great ruler, emperor") was used by the rulers of the Aztec Empire, an alliance between the ''āltepēmeh'' of Tenochtitlan, Tetzcoco, and Tlacopan. Each ''āltepētl'' had its own ''tlahtoāni'' who would concurrently function as its ruler, high priest and commander-in-chief. The ''tlahtoāni'' wielded ultimate authority over all land within the ''āltepētl'', overseeing tribute collection, market activities, temple affairs, and the resolution of judicial disputes. Typically a dynastic ruler hailing from the royal lineage, the ''tlahtoāni'' served for life. However, in certain instances, a council of nobles, elders, and priests could elect a '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teuctocaitl
A ''teuctocaitl'', (Nahuatl for "lordly name"; ), was a special title usually ending in the word ''teuctli'' ("lord"). It was borne by Nahua tlatoani (rulers) in pre-Columbian central Mexico. Each position of rulership had its own title associated with it, although a ''teuctocaitl'' could be borne by multiple rulers. Tlatoani is the Nahuatl term for the ruler of an altepetl The ( , plural ''altepeme'' or ''altepemeh'') was the local, ethnically-based political entity, usually translated into English as "city-state", of pre-Columbian Nahuatl-speaking societiesSmith 1997 p. 37 in the Americas. The ''altepetl'' was ..., a pre-Hispanic state. References * Titles and offices of Native American leaders Nahuatl words and phrases Aztec society Royal titles {{Royal-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Concubine
Concubinage is an interpersonal relationship, interpersonal and Intimate relationship, sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar, but mutually exclusive. During the early stages of European colonialism, administrators often encouraged European men to practice concubinage to discourage them from paying prostitutes for sex (which could spread venereal disease) and from homosexuality. Colonial administrators also believed that having an intimate relationship with a native woman would enhance white men's understanding of native culture and would provide them with essential domestic labor. The latter was critical, as it meant white men did not require wives from the metropole, hence did not require a family wage. Colonial administrators eventually discouraged the practice when these liaisons resulted in offspring who threatened colonial rule by producing a m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calmecac
The calmecac (, from ''calmecatl'' meaning "line/grouping of houses/buildings" and by extension a scholarly campus) was a school for the sons of Aztec nobility ('' pīpiltin'' ) in the Late Postclassic period of Mesoamerican history, where they would receive rigorous training in history, calendars, astronomy, religion, economy, law, ethics and warfare. The two main primary sources for information on the ''calmecac'' and ''telpochcalli'' are in Bernardino de Sahagún's Florentine Codex of the ''General History of the Things of New Spain'' (Books III, VI, and VIII) and part 3 of the Codex Mendoza. Telpcatli ''Calmecac'' The ''calmecac'' of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, was located in the ceremonial centre of the city and was dedicated to Quetzalcoatl.Hassig (1988), p. 34. It was situated conveniently close to the Templo Mayor, where ''calmecac'' graduates destined for priesthood would perform the rituals they had been trained in. The main shrine was judged to be 150 feet t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aztecs
The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to the 16th centuries. Aztec culture was organized into city-states ('' altepetl''), some of which joined to form alliances, political confederations, or empires. The Aztec Empire was a confederation of three city-states established in 1427: Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the Mexica or Tenochca, Tetzcoco, and Tlacopan, previously part of the Tepanec empire, whose dominant power was Azcapotzalco. Although the term Aztecs is often narrowly restricted to the Mexica of Tenochtitlan, it is also broadly used to refer to Nahua polities or peoples of central Mexico in the prehispanic era, as well as the Spanish colonial era (1521–1821). The definitions of Azt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toltecs
The Toltec culture () was a Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula (Mesoamerican site), Tula, Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology, reaching prominence from 950 to 1150 CE. The later Aztec culture considered the Toltec to be their intellectual and cultural predecessors and described Toltec culture emanating from Tollan, ''Tōllān'' (Nahuatl language, Nahuatl for Tula) as the epitome of civilization. In the Nahuatl language the word ''Tōltēkatl'' (singular) or ''Tōltēkah'' (plural) came to take on the meaning "artisan". The Aztec oral tradition, oral and pictographic tradition also described the history of the Toltec Empire, giving lists of rulers and their exploits. Modern scholars debate whether the Aztec narratives of Toltec history should be given credence as descriptions of actual historical events. While all scholars acknowledge that the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
