The Aztec: Tenochtitlan, floating gardens and tribute

Grade 7 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   The fall of Tenochtitlan (1519 to 1521)

   Topic	What we know
   1519	Hernán Cortés landed with about 500 Spaniards and reached Tenochtitlan on November 8, with thousands of Tlaxcalan and other allied warriors
   Allies	many peoples who resented Aztec tribute and attacks fought alongside the Spanish
   Smallpox	a disease that came with the Spanish expedition and spread among people who had no immunity to it; sources differ on the death toll, and estimates run into the millions
   1521	Spanish and Indigenous soldiers led by Cortés took Tenochtitlan; Mexico City was built on its ruins
   Today	Nahuatl, the Aztec language, is the most spoken Indigenous language in Mexico: about 1.65 million speakers in the 2020 census

   Below the chart, a summary in our words: soon after 1521, a Nahua writer recorded in Nahuatl that the city was lost and that its people went hungry during the siege. It is the earliest account of the fall by the Aztec people themselves.

2. 1.

   When did Spanish and Indigenous soldiers take Tenochtitlan, Bo asks?

   • 1428
   • 1521
   • 1519
   • 1325
3. 2.

   Who fought alongside the Spanish, by the chart, Esme asks?

   • The Maya kings
   • No one
   • Peoples who resented Aztec tribute
   • The Inca army
4. 3.

   Which language does the chart say is the most spoken Indigenous language in Mexico today, Jun asks?

   • Nahuatl
   • Latin
   • Quechua
   • Mexica
5. 4.

   Which causes together help explain the fall of Tenochtitlan, Kira asks?

   • Soldiers, allies and smallpox together
   • A few hundred Spaniards fighting by themselves
   • A flood of Lake Texcoco
   • Smallpox by itself
6. 5.

   Why does the chart give no exact death toll for smallpox, Milo asks?

   • Smallpox came from Tenochtitlan
   • No one caught smallpox
   • The number is exactly known
   • Sources differ on the number
7. 6.

   What did the Nahua writer record, by the summary, Noah asks?

   • The city was lost; people went hungry
   • The city won the war and drove out Cortés
   • Chinampas grew bigger
   • The Spanish left in 1519
8. 7.

   Is the Nahua account in the chart quoted or summarized, Ren asks?

   • Summarized in our words
   • Copied from a 1521 book in English
   • Written by the chart's maker in 1521
   • Quoted word for word

9. Three societies, same columns

   Society	Land and farming	Building and engineering	Records, writing and numbers
   Maya	maize, beans, squashes and chili peppers in the tropical lowlands	stone cities with tall buildings and carved monuments	a writing system of word signs and syllables, now mostly deciphered; numbers in twenties with a shell for zero
   Aztec (Mexica)	maize, beans and tomatoes on chinampas in a shallow lake	an island city with stone aqueducts for fresh water	picture-writing in books such as the Codex Mendoza
   Inca	potatoes, quinoa and maize, grown on terraces in the Andes	roads of about 30,000 to 40,000 km and fine stonework, built without wheels or iron	no writing system; quipus stored numbers in tens

10. 8.

    Which society farmed on chinampas in a shallow lake, by the chart, Tala asks?

    • The Maya
    • The three of them
    • The Aztec
    • The Inca
11. 9.

    How did the Aztec and the Inca keep records differently, Zee asks?

    • Both used quipus
    • Aztec books of picture-writing; Inca quipus
    • Neither kept records
    • Aztec quipus; Inca picture books
12. 10.

    Which society built roads without wheels or iron, by the chart, Ari asks?

    • The Aztec (Mexica)
    • The three of them
    • The Inca
    • The Maya