Hello and welcome to a history of the United States.

Membership feed. Episode 5, The Great Expansion Part 1. Last time out, we saw the opening years of Moctezuma I reign, a very significant moment

in the formation of the Aztec identity. Under the rule of its

coattel, the Aztecs had thrown off their Teperneka overlords to become masters of the Mexican

valley. Moctezuma began a war against the neighboring power of Chalco, a war which would be a tremendous

undertaking. But as we saw, it was cut short due to the

Great Hunger. A series of bad frost and late rains had led to years of famine, and life in

Central Mexico had come to a standing stop. Staying alive was the priority. Other things, such as civilization, began to crumble. But eventually, the rains did come, food was grown, and the Aztecs we are dealing with now, are different to the ones we've previously worked with. This was when the constant warfare began, such as the War of Flowers, against the cities of

the Puebla-slashla Valley, and the practice of human sacrifice shifted from individual

sacrifice to the mass offerings we're more familiar with.

There was a need to get more victims for the sacrifices than the Pueblood-Lashkla Valley could supply, and so what began in

1458 was the Great Expansion. This is, well, strange.

Moctezuma had cut his teeth in the wars against the Tepineca, but it was now, as he entered his

60s, that he began his great campaigns.

It's not very often, you see, the militant founders of great expansionist empires only get going

in their 60s. War is a young man's game. The empire was already quite large, the largest the region

had seen in living memory, controlling the Mexican Valley and the neighboring people, but, as I

say, the Great great famine changed everything.

When the famine hit the inland plazao, it was the low-lying area by the Mexican coast that

the starving Aztecs fled to. This area was completely unaffected. I've made the point previously that Mexico is a very large

country, and as such, it should be expected that there is great climatic variation. There are dry areas,

such as the Valley of Mexico, and fertile areas, such as the Gulf Coast.

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