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?

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

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

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

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

   • Mexica
   • Latin
   • Nahuatl
   • Quechua
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
   • Smallpox by itself
   • A flood of Lake Texcoco
6. 5.

   Why did many peoples join the Spanish against the Aztec, Luz asks?

   • They resented Aztec tribute and attacks
   • They were from Peru
   • They were Spanish
   • They wanted to pay more tribute to the Aztec
7. 6.

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

   • Sources differ on the number
   • The number is exactly known
   • Smallpox came from Tenochtitlan
   • No one caught smallpox
8. 7.

   Why does the Nahua account matter to historians, Pia asks?

   • It gives the Aztec people's own view
   • It is written in Spanish
   • It was written by Cortés for the king
   • It is about the Inca
9. 8.

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

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

10. 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

11. 9.

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

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

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

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