This History Channel documentary explains many aspects of the structures created by the Aztec culture in present-day Mexico.

Following are points the documentary makes:

— In 1325 AD a group of Aztecs were ostracized into building a new city of Tenochtitlan on a marshy island in the middle of Lake Texcoco near present-day Mexico City due to them murdering the daughter of a chieftain.

— The Aztec culture practiced rituals of human sacrifice.

— The city of Tenochtitlan was built based on the city Teotihuacan that was nearby to the north, where they emulated structures such its large pyramids that are as large as The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.

— The swampy land on the island of Tenochtitlan presented many challenges to building, which they overcame by filling the ground with 30 foot long wooden pilings that were driven into the ground to create a stable foundation.  [Note: That is exactly the same technique that architects in Venice, Italy used to create a foundation for the buildings in that area as well.]

— The wooden piling foundation was effective enough to enable building large stone pyramids on top of them.

— The Aztecs built rock causeways that had edges of wooden pilings to access the shore of the lake from the Island, which allowed for easily transporting large and heavy materials to the island.

— The Aztecs were at war with a tribe called the Tepenecs who lived on the shores of the lake, and they eventually won the war in 1428 AD and built a sophisticated aqueducts that brought water to their island from springs in the countryside (as the Roman Empire also did).

— In the mid-1400’s the Aztec empire was rapidly expanding in the Mexico region to include as many as 15 million people.

— Much of the city was destroyed by a flood in the mid-1400s, prompting them to construct a huge dyke in the lake to protect the city from similar future events.

— They created additional farmland by making artificial islands in the lake.

— In the late 1400’s and early 1500’s the Aztecs further expanded their empire to the other coast while continuing their practice of human sacrifice.

— They constructed a network of roads between areas where messages could quickly be sent across the empire using relay runners.

— At around 1500 they constructed a large pyramid at the center of Tenochtitlan that was the height of a 15 story building, with the temple being built over the remains of a previous smaller pyramid.

— The brutal techniques of human sacrifice that the Aztecs practiced are explained.

— The conflict that happened when the Spanish Conquistadors met the Aztecs at the height of the Aztec culture starting in 1519 is explained, where it ultimately resulted in the destruction of Tenochtitlan, along with many of the native population dying from disease.