Without access to large livestock the inhabitants of Lake Texcoco needed a source of fertilizer. The only available option at scale was night soil (human dung). This led to a contender for the worst job in history, dung collector. Dung was collected at designated sites (public toilets) and transported via canoe to either farms or at large dumping (pun not intended) sites to be purchased at market.

Some topics would be chinampas, their use of obsidian for tool making, the evolution of the teosinte plant into multiple maize varietals, farm forests, dung canoes, maguey plant cultivation, lake ecosystem for food (from axolotls to lake skum tortillas), dual canal aqueducts, three sisters agriculture, and the methods of distribution via marketplace & the royal state.

As far as YouTubers I enjoy Ancient Americas and Aztlan Historian.

I suggest “Handbook to Life in the Aztec World” Manuel Aguilar-Moreno. It has a couple of outdated facts and has some misconceptions of how some of the religion worked (Ometeotl is a mistranslation and ongoing point of contention). Other than that it’s a good textbook for getting a solid foundation of understanding on the subject.

The way that Mesoamerica built their civilization in isolation from the old world is intensely fascinating (example: making farm land in the middle of lakes). The uniqueness in the way they extracted resources to what was considered valuable gives insight into the way humanity develops. The Mexica Empire/Valley of Mexico Triple Alliance/The Tenochca Empire/Aztec Empire is particularly interesting due it’s success being derived from an abundance of practices already in place rather than innovation (they revved up everything to an 11). Their approach to warfare emphasizing one on one combat was dramatic. Finally their methods of human sacrifice are some of the most metal things I’ve ever heard to the point where I find violence in fiction to be banal by comparison.

Good lord, I wonder if the character is public domain now?

I guess that’s the other side of the coin. I’m a Mesoamerican history nerd and a lot of the articles on Wiki are sparse at best on the subject or outright misinformation (repeated misinformation I see almost verbatim copied and pasted). I see your point though, without an easy way of archiving information a lot of subjects would and have fallen through the cracks in humanity’s notice.

Out of all the dudes that are nearly a 100 I think I would like to hang out with Everett the most.

Depends on the subject matter. The less popular subject matters still should be read in books.

I’m damn near 40, can I please talk to you about the Aztec Empire for an hour and a half?

Campaign editor and a level cap of 20. I just want to run D&D for friends in game.

I hate this timeline.

I hope the nightmare fuel is enough to get Megaman built before 2040.

Bolts of cotton too. Or maybe some jade or obsidian.

I find all the party members insufferable. I change their classes almost immediately for better synergy or I switch them out for the soulless NPC’s Withers has. Ironically, I’ve been D&D 5E Dungeon Master numerous times and I find the party members to be absolutely authentic characters real people would play. Good work Larian, ya made the characters so table top believable that I want to find a new group to play with.

If the stratagem was more appealing I wonder if those orphans would have been left to die.

European executions could be excessively cruel. Being burned alive, drowned, stoning, crucifixion, being eaten alive by rats escaping hot coals, or being locked in a cage to die from exposure is on the same level as having one’s heart cut out or being shot with arrows. Europeans would impale men on pikes and the Tenochca would rack skulls, apples to oranges but it’s all the same fruit.

I think the nation/tribe that were the Spanish collaborators you’re referring to was Tlaxcala which were the target of habitual Flower Wars for captuered warrior sacrifice. The pleas of the Tenochca, the residents of Tenochtitlan, fell on deaf ears to the only other major power in the region the Purépecha Empire.

While Aztecs valued human sacrifice to a great extent it was due to the benefits it’s bestowed in Mixtec-Pueblo culture. It was a source of not only spiritual reverence, but also military and economic superiority. It also had non domestic function as a diplomatic tool to visiting nobles and bounty haulers / tax collectors. Not to mention it served as a form of community entertainment in a similar fashion to European public executions.

As far as saying Europeans tried to slow down to make the Americas a vassal state is a misconception. Disease wiped out an apocalyptic amount of people. Following the fall of Tenochtitlan small pox ravaged the Valley of Mexico and all along the Gulf Coast. This nearly wiped out all infrastructure and Spain tried to subjugate the rest. Hilariously trying to impose a 30% tax written in Spanish and using that as a legal justification for military actions.

Aztecs didn’t value gold all that much. If they put through the effort to smuggle anything it would have been cacao seeds or quetzal feathers.

Do you guys even eat peanut butter sandwiches?