Tamoanchan: In Search Of The Origins Of The Aztecs
About 1,800 years ago, a group of people migrating from an unknown northern location began to settle in what is now called the Valley of Mexico. They are called Aztec, a name derived from the word Aztlán, which means "White Land," the “home of the seven caves.” This might refer to their ancestral homeland. Its exact location is uncertain, but many anthropologists believe it to be in what is now northern Mexico, while others place it much farther to the north. They were a Nahuatl-speaking culture, who soon began to build an extensive system of canals and dikes, needed to control water levels for agriculture.
Itzcoatl in the Codex Mendoza (Public Domain)
By 1428, Itzcoatl, their ruler, allied his people with Tlacopan and Texcoco, forming what is called the Triple Alliance, which controlled the nation until the arrival of the Spanish in 1519. That is the official version in most history books, but the narrative told by native Aztec historians is much richer, a lot more intriguing, and takes one back to ancient times.
