The Mexica (Aztecs) and Tenochtitlan

The Mexica, also called Aztecs, said they had come from Aztlán, a mythical place in the north, and wandered until they founded Mexico-Tenochtitlan in 1325 on an island in Lake Texcoco. Tenochtitlan became the most important city of their empire. At its center stood the Templo Mayor, dedicated to Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc, and beside it the tzompantli, a ritual rack where the skulls of the sacrificed were displayed. Rulers’ palaces surrounded the plaza: that of Axayácatl, known as the “Old Houses” (Casas Viejas), where Hernán Cortés was lodged in 1519, and Moctezuma II’s “New Houses” (Casas Nuevas), where the National Palace stands today.

With Texcoco and Tlacopan, Tenochtitlan formed the Triple Alliance, which dominated much of Mesoamerica. The Mexica were known as warriors, but also for their agriculture, trade and intense religious worship, and theirs was the culture that reached the greatest development in the Postclassic period, until the fall of Tenochtitlan in 1521.