Europeans often described the Aztecs as cruel or uncivilized people, mainly because of the human sacrifices they used to make. Still, Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Aztec Empire (today’s Mexico city) with its pyramids, paved streets, navigable canals and estimated 200 000 inhabitants, was ahead of most European cities of its time. Paved streets were actually rare in Europe of the early 16th century, canals only existed in Venice, and few cities surpassed Tenochtitlán for the number of inhabitants. On top of that, there were the pyramids, architectural wonders that very few other pieces of architecture could compare to, especially at that time.
The fact that Tenochtitlán had paved streets is not a major factor but I believe it still shows advance; paved streets are of better quality and more stable than non-paved streets. Also, they are definitely a sign of modernity; I could never imagine Montreal, or any city of a ‘developed’ country, not having all of its streets paved.
Another factor of relative importance is the substitution of many streets by navigable canals, due to the fact that the city was built on a lake(lake Texcoco, which has partly dried since). The city was even compared to Venice for that reason. Still, other than Venice, there were no such cities in Europe, probably because building canals must require special and very different techniques, and I would say a lot more time and effort.
The population, estimated at 200 000 inhabitants in 1519 (when Cortés first came to the ‘Indian Venice’) is another factor that shows how advanced the Aztecs were; not only is it three times the population of Seville, which was the biggest city in Spain at this time, but it is also an indication of advanced agricultural techniques; to be able to have a high density of population in a specific place, a society needs to have techniques of agriculture developed enough to allow them to feed not only the peasants and their families, but the rest of the population as well.
The Aztecs, considering that they did not have horses, must have had well advanced techniques. One of these was the ‘chinampas’, a technique borrowed from some neighbors. This one consisted of a kind of floating artificial islands which were used as gardens. The fertile soil of lake Texcoco was used in these artificial gardens to grow corn, beans, tomatoes and other crops. This technique itself, which I would compare to greenhouses in that it is an artificial setting, shows a lot of advance; greenhouses are a very common thing nowadays, but I cannot imagine it being so in Europe of the early 16th century. This technique, along with others, allowed for the concentration of the population and the diversification of peoples’ occupations, which I would say is yet another sign of modernity.
For the Aztecs, having more time to themselves was an occasion to honor numerous gods with many gigantic pyramids. Even with today’s means, it would be very difficult to move one of the blocks (weighting a few tons each) that form the structure of the pyramids. Considering the number of these that is required for each pyramid, it would take years to build only one. With the means the Aztecs had, which are strictly human strength and intelligence, it is a real mystery how they were able to build such pieces of architecture; there are many hypotheses, but no sure answer and since the ‘Indian Venice’ was destroyed pretty much entirely, as well as its records, there is no saying we will ever have one.
In short, the Aztecs built in Tenochtitlán a city that surpassed European cities of its time in many ways, and at least equaled them in many other ways, like in astronomy and other scientific fields. It might be the reason why Cortés and his men destroyed it, in spite of the fact that they were all amazed by its greatness; maybe they simply did not want anyone to know that these ‘uncivilized’ people, from their point of view, could build such a great city.
