The Aztecs lived on a lake and were surrounded my mountains beyond that lake, so when they first settled there, they were really isolated from other Mexican societies.
The Aztecs lived in Tenochtitlan, which was on an island in Lake Texcoco, which was in the middle of the Valley of Mexico.
Well, the fact that they were on an island made it very easy for defence, as you can see in the picture to the right. There were very few entrances to the island, so you could easily spot and remove intruders.
Another thing that affect people’s lives is the fact that they were surrounded by a lake. You might think that they would have an infinite water source, but you’d be wrong. The fact is, the North-East part of Lake Texcoco was salty, and was useless for pretty much everything, other than possibly getting spices for the emperor. You can see this to the left.
Due to the fact that the Aztecs lived on an island surrounded by mountains, they had little farming space. How did they deal with this? They made Chinampas, floating islands used for farming. As you can see in the picture to the left, they are around the main island and on the south end of the island. Also, the fresh water that surrounded the Aztecs was most likely dirty, so they had to make a system that brought fresh water from springs to the city. These became aqueducts. They also had canoes to travel to and from the Chinampas, and causeways to travel to and from the island.