Montezuma's Revenge Trivia Quiz

Answer: White Land

White Land is often quoted as the meaning, with 'home of herons/egrets' and 'place where tools are found' being among the other descriptions. There is considerable doubt about whether it was a real place or mythical, as the limited details about Aztlán come from records kept by the Spanish invaders. If it was a real place, the most likely location is considered to be the north west of Mexico or the south west of the USA.

The photo may not have helped too much, but there is a lot of white.

Answer: Mexico

The Aztecs were migratory at first, wandering around the Mexican Valley. Once they settled, they established one of the biggest and best organised empires of the fifteenth century. They subjugated other native tribes, and practised human sacrifice. This caused unrest among some of the other tribes and would eventually contribute to their downfall.

Although the Spanish destroyed the Aztec Empire, they did keep meticulous records so we know a lot of detail about their history. Of the other options, Peru was home to the Incas.

Answer: Tenochtitlan

The Aztecs settled in around 1325 on the banks of Lake Texcoco. The area was marshy and much of the building was done on islands in the lake, joined to the mainland by causeways and bridges, which could be moved to allow access by water, using canoes, or to prevent access from attackers. At its peak, Tenochtitlan covered over five square miles (thirteen square kilometres) and was home to about 400,000 people, the most populous in the history of Mesoamerica. It all came crashing down with the arrival of the Spanish.

The photo clue was a hint that the name started with ten, denoted by X in Roman numerals.

Answer: War

The name of Huitzilopochtli translates as huitzilin,, meaning hummingbird, and opochtli, which means left. The Aztecs believed that hummingbirds represented reincarnated dead soldiers. Left was equivalent to the south. Other names by which he is known translate as turquoise prince or our lord. Huitzilopochtli is the god who guided the Aztecs during their migration to the Valley of Mexico.

He is one of the two main gods of the Aztecs. The other is possibly better known - the feathered serpent called Quetzalcoatl, the god of the morning and evening star (Venus) and of priests.

Answer: Mexico City

Following the conquest of the Aztecs, the Spanish destroyed their capital and built their own, which is now known as Mexico City. Because of its location, the city suffered from regular floods and efforts to control these began as soon as the Spanish began developing Mexico City by building channels and tunnels to drain the water away.

In the 1960s, more extreme measures were taken to prevent flooding, which is no longer a factor. Unfortunately, this has caused other ecological problems including a reduced water supply for Mexico City and areas of desert. The city has sunk by an estimated ten metres (33 ft) in the past hundred years and the instability of the ground has left it vulnerable to earthquakes.

Answer: Nahuatl

Nahuatl is still a live language with many native speakers in Mexico and some parts of the USA. The written version consisted of pictures, as displayed in the photograph. Although the Spanish destroyed the civilisation and many of the manuscripts of the Aztecs, some have survived and are held in museums around the world. In addition, the Florentine Codex, so called as it is kept in a library in Florence, is a record created by a Franciscan friar named Bernardino de Sahagún, of many aspects of Aztec life..

Some of our present day words have their roots in the language of the Aztecs. Chocolate might be the best known, but they also gave us coyote (coyotl), ocelot (ocelotl) and tomato (tomatl). Axolotl, a type of salamander, remains in use and is unchanged from its Aztec roots.

Answer: Sun and Moon

The pyramids and Teotihuacán are located about 30 miles (50 km) to the north east of Mexico City. Who originally built them is lost in the mists of time, with some estimates saying they date from around 200 AD. The city had been long abandoned before the Aztecs found it and gave it the name by which we now know it - the name means 'the place where gods were created'. The two main pyramids are not the only ones there. There are many smaller pyramids, dwellings, temples and palaces still there. Other important remains are the Ciudadela, a sunken plaza, and the Temple of Quetzacoatl.

The pyramid depicted is the Temple of the Moon.

Answer: True

The first emperor of this name was the second of the Aztec emperors and ruled from 1440-1469. He was responsible for expanding the empire. The better known Montezuma II became emperor around 1502 when the empire was at its height, extending into what is now Central America, the present day countries of Nicaragua and Honduras.

He and his empire met their ends with the arrival of the conquistadores from Spain in 1519. Montezuma initially welcomed the newcomers, but was imprisoned by them and was killed soon after. The cause of his death isn't clear, as the Spaniards were assisted by tribes who were resistant to the Aztec forces and Montezuma II was considered to be weak by having shown initial hospitality to the invaders. He may have been killed in battle, by the Spanish or assassinated, but, whatever the cause, he died in 1520.

Montezuma's Revenge is still used in everyday language to refer to attacks of travellers' diarrhoea suffered by visitors to alien countries and eating unfamiliar foods.

Answer: Smallpox

The Europeans were responsible for bringing diseases to the Americas which had never previously been encountered. Consequently, the native peoples had no resistance to these illnesses and succumbed to conditions such as measles and typhus, among others. Smallpox was the biggest killer, though, The conquest by the Spaniards was aided by these infections, wiping out many of the Aztecs. The syphilis option may actually have worked the other way around. Many historians believe the disease was brought from the Americas to Europe. Maybe this was the true Montezuma's Revenge!

The photo is of a smallpox mite infestation on a leaf which resembles human smallpox without being quite so unpleasant to see.

Answer: Hernán Cortés

Hernán Cortés was the man who led the overthrow of the Aztec empire. Having spent time in Hispaniola and Cuba, Cortés turned his attention to the mainland of the Americas. He established Veracruz in 1519, and made clear his intention to remain in the area by sinking the ships which had brought him and his forces to the region. Cortés then set off for the interior, gathering allies among the native tribes, many of whom were unhappy with the rule of the Aztecs, along the way. Having captured the Aztec capital, Cortés had to leave to deal with a rival Spanish incursion and his forces were, for a time, expelled. By 1521, the Spanish were in full control and the Aztec empire had finally fallen.

Columbus never set foot on the mainland of America, while Pizarro is the conquistador who conquered Peru and the Incans. Coronado was rather later in time, exploring parts of what is now the USA in the 1540s.

The photo is of a bust, depicting Cortés.