1487

Events in 1487 2

• 1455 – 1487 Wars of the Roses Lancaster versus York Civil wars fought between rival branches of the Plantagenet dynasty.
• 1487 The great sacrifice of 1487 -- the Templo Mayor dedication The dedication of the expanded Templo Mayor in 1487 under Ahuitzotl is recorded as one of the largest single sacrificial events in pre-Columbian history. The sources (primarily Spanish colonial) record 20,000 victims sacrificed over four days -- a figure so large it has been questioned by modern scholars, who suggest the real number may be in the hundreds or low thousands. Even at the lower estimates, it represents a deliberate display of power directed at the entire empire: subject rulers are invited to witness the ceremony, to see the scale of Aztec religious commitment and military capacity, and to draw the appropriate conclusions about the cost of rebellion. The sacrifice is simultaneously a religious act (feeding the sun), a political demonstration (displaying the fruits of imperial warfare), and an economic statement (the sacrificial victims represent the tribute extracted from the empire's conquest). The debate over the true scale of Aztec sacrifice is one of the most contested in Mesoamerican scholarship.