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Rise of The Aztec Empire: 1345 the Mexica settled on a marshy island in Lake Texcoco and founded the city Tenochtitlan which later became their capital city. This marshy island provided the Mexica with several advantages. The lake harbored a plentiful amount of frogs, fish, and waterfowl. This lake possessed very rich and fertile muck which the Mexica used to build plots of land called Chinampas. By the early 15th century, the Mexica were powerful enough to overthrow their immediate neighbors and demanded allegiance of their newly conquered subordinates. The land of Texcoco and Tlacopan were under the rule of the Mexica. These three great empires formed and allegiance which composed the Aztec Empire.
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Political and social structure: The Aztec Empire was a very military based political society. The duration between the years 1428-1440 was ruled by Itzcoatl who launched ambitious campaigns of imperial expansion. Montezuma who shared Itzcoatl”s ideals continued to expand the empire. The Mexica society was rigidly hierarchical with public honors and rewards mostly going to the military elite. These military elite leaders came from aristocratic families. Men of noble birth received the most careful instruction and intensive training in military affairs. The most successful warriors formed a council which discussed political issues and filled government positions.