According to the pictographic codices in which the Aztecs recorded their history, the place of origin was called Aztlán. The migration story of the Mexica is similar to those of other polities in central Mexico, with supernatural sites, individuals, and events, joining earthly and divine history as they sought political legitimacy. Nahua peoples descended from Chichimec peoples who migrated to central Mexico from the north (mainly centered sparsely around present-day states of Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí and Guanajuato) in the early 13th century. Peoples in conquered provinces were allowed to retain and freely continue their own religious traditions, so long as they added the imperial god Huitzilopochtli to their local pantheons.įirst page of Codex Boturini, showing the migration of the Mexica. The imperial cult, specifically, was that of Huitzilopochtli, the distinctive warlike patron god of the Mexica. Many had officially recognized cults large enough so that the deity was represented in the central temple precinct of the capital Tenochtitlan. The state religion of the empire was polytheistic, worshiping a diverse pantheon that included dozens of deities. In return, the imperial authority offered protection and political stability, and facilitated an integrated economic network of diverse lands and peoples who had significant local autonomy. The Aztecs left rulers of conquered cities in power so long as they agreed to pay semi-annual tribute to the alliance, as well as supply military forces when needed for the Aztec war efforts. Aztec rule has been described by scholars as ' hegemonic' or 'indirect'. At its height, the alliance controlled most of central Mexico as well as some more distant territories within Mesoamerica, such as the Xoconochco province, an Aztec exclave near the present-day Guatemalan border. The alliance waged wars of conquest and expanded rapidly after its formation. By the time the Spanish arrived in 1519, the lands from the alliance were effectively ruled from the capital, Tenochtitlan, while the other partners from the alliance had taken many subsidiary roles. Despite the initial conception of the empire as an alliance of three self-governed city-states, Tenochtitlan quickly became dominant militarily. The alliance was formed from the victorious factions of a civil war that was fought between the city of Azcapotzalco and the former tributary provinces from it.

These three city-states ruled that area in and around the Valley of Mexico from 1428, until the combined forces of the Spanish conquistadores and their native allies, under the name of Hernán Cortés, defeated them in 1521.

The Aztec Empire, or the Triple Alliance ( Classical Nahuatl: Ēxcān Tlahtōlōyān, ), was an alliance of three Nahua altepetl city-states: Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Tetzcoco, and Tlacopan.

Age of empires 2 aztec