The year is 1519, when Cortes sets foot on the Mexican beaches along with 550 men, 16 horses, 14 cannon, and many dogs. Shortly after he was greeted by ambassadors of the Aztec empire who were under rule of Montezuma II lord of the Aztecs. After receiving amazing gifts of gold and riches. This would prompt an ill-legal expedition to the Aztec capitol. If the Cuban government which Cortes was working for had known of this expedition he would surely have been killed. For he was on a search for gold and riches to bring the country. Which in the end, they would return with many treasures.

But nothing could prepare the men of what they were to find. Cities which were larger than any in Spain, huge volcanoes, armies so large that they stretched out of sight, and unknown rituals of bloody human sacrifice.

This was a completely astonishing event for Cortes and his men. For all their lives they had believed that Spain and their culture was the mightiest and largest in the world, and that only savages lived on the

Contrary to popular beliefs the Aztecs were not inferior savages, but an extremely advanced and intelligent society. Much like today the Aztecs had a social government with a king and members of "government." Basic unit of the Aztec society Calpulli. Known as a clan or a group of families who descended from a common ancestor. Each Calpulli ran their own style of government, keeping order, led in war, dispensed justice, and kept records. They also ran school for males that taught the art of war, history, crafts, religion, and citizenship. Another common myth of the Aztec empire was that they were a peaceful loving society. This is not true. As part of their religion bloody human sacrifices were held. The ruins where the sacrifices were held were elaborate, each temple was calculated according to the stars to please certain gods at certain times. Victims would ascend the steps of the pyramid, a priest then would stretch the victim along a stone alter and cut the victims heart out, holding it high above his head as a sign of honor and then throw it into the sacred fire while it was still beating. Most of the times many victims were killed at once. According to legend Aztec priest sacrificed more than 80,000 prisoners of war in 1487. A religious calender of 260 days provided the information on when human sacrafices were to be held.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 900
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)