While most tribes in North America formed relatively modest-sized towns and nomadic groups, Native Americans in Mesoamerica developed into three huge empires: the Aztecs, the Mayans and the Incas. The Aztec empire was centered in Tenochtitlán, an enormous city in the middle of a lake with 100,000 inhabitants. Aztec society consisted of distinct social classes: nobles, peasants and slaves. The Aztecs also had a powerful standing army with a corps of professional warriors whose rank depended on how many prisoners of war they had captured.

The Aztecs also engaged in human sacrifice. At times, Aztecs sacrificed 1,000 people per day. One Aztec account, which is likely exaggerated, notes that during the construction of the great stone temple in Tenochtitlán, 84,000 people were sacrificed in four days.

What is the main purpose of the second paragraph of this passage?

A
to suggest that accounts of the Aztecs’ human sacrifices are exaggerated

B
to describe the location and the structure of the Aztec empire

C
to contrast the Aztec empire with the Mayan empire

D
to support the claim that the Aztecs were peaceful and did not practice warfare