THE WORLD ATLAS

Empire · 1428–1521 · Southern North America

Aztec Empire (Triple Alliance)

Also known as Aztec Empire

The Mexica, a people who claimed to have migrated from a homeland called Aztlan, founded Tenochtitlan on an island in Lake Texcoco around 1325. At first vassals of the Tepanec city of Azcapotzalco, in 1428 they formed the Triple Alliance with Texcoco and Tlacopan and overthrew their overlords.

Under rulers such as Moctezuma I and Ahuitzotl, the alliance conquered much of central and southern Mexico, collecting tribute in maize, cotton, cacao, feathers and gold from hundreds of towns rather than governing them directly. Tenochtitlan, linked to the shore by causeways and fed by floating chinampa gardens, held perhaps 200,000 people. Warfare also supplied captives for human sacrifice. In 1519 Hernán Cortés arrived; allied with the Tlaxcalans and helped by smallpox, the Spanish captured Tenochtitlan in 1521.

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The Aztec Sun Stone, carved in the late 15th or early 16th century and found in Mexico City
The Aztec Sun Stone, carved in the late 15th or early 16th century and found in Mexico City Gary Todd · CC0
Years
1428–1521
Capital
Tenochtitlan
Greatest extent
1520, about 220,000 km²
Region
Southern North America

Tributary provinces from the Gulf Coast to the Pacific; c. 0.22M km² in 1520 (Taagepera 1997)

Legacy

Mexico City stands on the ruins of Tenochtitlan, and the Aztec emblem of an eagle on a cactus appears on the Mexican flag.

Timeline of Aztec Empire (Triple Alliance)

  1. c. 1375: Acamapichtli becomes the first tlatoani of Tenochtitlan

    The Mexica had settled on an island in Lake Texcoco, in the Valley of Mexico, where they founded Tenochtitlan, traditionally in 1325. It was a small city paying tribute to the powerful Tepanec city of Azcapotzalco. After the death of their leader Tenoch, the elders chose a king with prestigious connections: Acamapichtli, a noble from Culhuacan whose rulers claimed descent from the ancient Toltecs. He became the first tlatoani (king) of Tenochtitlan and founded its royal dynasty. The chronicles disagree on his dates, placing the start of his reign between 1350 and 1376.

  2. Tenochtitlan and allies defeat Azcapotzalco; Triple Alliance formed

    For decades Tenochtitlan fought as a junior ally of Azcapotzalco, helping it build a tributary empire. When the Tepanec king Tezozomoc died in 1426, his son Maxtla seized power, turned on the Mexica and blockaded their city, and their king Chimalpopoca died, possibly murdered. The new Mexica king Itzcoatl allied with Nezahualcoyotl of Texcoco, the city of Tlacopan and Huexotzinco. Together they defeated Azcapotzalco in 1428. Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tlacopan formed the Triple Alliance, and the Aztec Empire begins on the map.

  3. Moctezuma I succeeds Itzcoatl; expansion to the Gulf and Oaxaca

    Moctezuma I, a nephew of Itzcoatl, had been one of his leading generals and was chosen as ruler on Itzcoatl's death in 1440. Early in his reign he conquered Oaxaca, and he went on to push the empire beyond the Valley of Mexico to the Gulf Coast for the first time, subduing the Huastec and Totonac peoples. This brought luxury goods such as cacao, rubber, cotton and feathers to Tenochtitlan as tribute. He also faced frost, drought and severe famine in the 1450s. By his death in 1469, the empire stretched from the Gulf toward the Pacific.

  4. Axayacatl retakes the Toluca Valley from the Purépecha

    The Toluca Valley, west of the Valley of Mexico, was home to the Matlatzinca people and lay on the frontier with the Purépecha (Tarascan) Empire of Michoacán, the Aztecs' great western rival. According to the Aztec Empire article, the Purépecha had invaded the valley in 1455. Axayacatl, Moctezuma I's successor, retook it in 1472 and held it against Purépecha counterattacks. The article on Axayacatl dates his Toluca campaign to 1474. The valley became the Aztecs' heavily defended western frontier.

  5. Aztec invasion of the Purépecha Empire ends in heavy defeat

    Encouraged by his success in the Toluca Valley, Axayacatl launched a major invasion of the Purépecha Empire. According to the Aztec Empire article, in 1479 he led 32,000 soldiers into Michoacán and met a Purépecha army of 50,000 just across the border, which killed or captured over 90% of his force. The article on Axayacatl dates the defeat to 1476. Axayacatl was wounded and never fought the Purépecha again. It was the Aztecs' first major defeat, and the Purépecha frontier, fortified afterwards, permanently blocked Aztec expansion to the west.

  6. Ahuitzotl takes power; conquests reach Oaxaca and Soconusco

    After Axayacatl's brother Tizoc died, probably murdered by his own nobles, another brother, Ahuitzotl, took power in 1486. He first crushed rebellions, then launched a great wave of conquests. His armies took the Oaxaca Valley, conquered Mixtec and Zapotec peoples and pushed down the Pacific coast as far as Soconusco, near today's border with Guatemala. He also rebuilt the Templo Mayor, the great temple of Tenochtitlan, on a grander scale in 1487. Under Ahuitzotl the Aztec Empire reached close to its greatest extent on the map.

  7. Moctezuma II succeeds Ahuitzotl

    When Ahuitzotl died in 1502, his nephew Moctezuma II, son of Axayacatl, was chosen as ruler. He set out to centralise power, creating new provinces and replacing many of his predecessors' advisers. He also widened the gap between nobles and commoners, barring commoners from serving in the royal palace or high office. He continued campaigns of conquest early in his reign and fought 'flower wars' against Tlaxcala, the Aztecs' unconquered enemy to the east. The empire was at its height, but many subject peoples resented its heavy tribute.

  8. Aztec armies invade the Purépecha Empire again

    The Purépecha Empire to the west remained undefeated since Axayacatl's disaster decades earlier, and border clashes continued. In 1515 Aztec armies commanded by the Tlaxcalan general Tlahuicole invaded Purépecha territory again. They failed to take any land and were mostly limited to raiding, and the Purépecha defeated them and forced them to withdraw. The western frontier stayed where it was. Just four years later, Spanish ships would appear on the Gulf coast.

  9. Cortés lands and founds Veracruz; enters Tenochtitlan in November

    In 1519 the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés sailed from Cuba with a small expedition. In April he landed on the Gulf coast, where he founded the settlement of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz and allied with the Totonac city of Cempoala. With the help of his interpreter, La Malinche, he gathered indigenous allies, above all the Tlaxcalans, who were the Aztecs' bitter enemies. On 8 November 1519 he entered Tenochtitlan and met Moctezuma II. Soon afterwards he took the emperor captive in his own city.

  10. Moctezuma dies; Spaniards flee on La Noche Triste; smallpox spreads

    In May 1520 the Spaniard Pedro de Alvarado massacred Aztec nobles during the festival of Toxcatl, and the city rose against the Spaniards. In late June Moctezuma died in unclear circumstances, perhaps killed by the Spaniards, perhaps by his own people. On 30 June, La Noche Triste ('the Sad Night'), the Spaniards and Tlaxcalans fled Tenochtitlan with heavy losses. A smallpox epidemic then swept the city, killing the new ruler Cuitlahuac in December. Weakened by disease, Tenochtitlan fell to Cortés and his allies in August 1521.

Periods and reigns

Rulers

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