An Aztec could become a slave as a punishment. A murderer sentenced to death could instead, upon the request of the wife of his victim, be given to her as a slave. A father could sell his son into slavery if the son was declared incorrigible by an authority.

Those who did not pay their debts could also be sold as slaves. People could sell themselves as slaves. They could stay free long enough to enjoy the price of their liberty, about twenty blankets, usually enough for a year; after that time they went to their new master. Usually this was the destiny of gamblers and of old ahuini (courtesans or prostitutes).

Motolinía reports that some war captives, future victims of human sacrifice, were treated as slaves with all the rights of an Aztec slave until the time of their sacrifice. It was not clear how they were kept from running away.

The Aztecs were famous for their agriculture, cultivating all available land, introducing irrigation, draining swamps, and creating artificial islands in the lakes. They developed a form of hieroglyphic writing, a complex calendar system, and built famous pyramids and temples.

Aztec Culture and Society - Crystalinks. The Aztecs were a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican people of central Mexico in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. They called themselves Mexica. The Republic of Mexico and its capital, Mexico City, derive their names from the word "Mexica"

www.crystalinks.com/azteculture.html

The other name they used for themselves was Mexica. They did not call themselves Aztecs.

www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/aztecs.htm

The Aztecs enjoyed a vigorous ball game called tlachtli, which was played on a large court with a hard rubber ball. The aim was to hit the ball through a stone hoop using only the hips and the knees. Goals were unusual, and the game stopped when someone scored