The Aztecs (Mexica) were not native to the Valley of Mexico. Instead they migrated there from their fabled homeland of Aztlán centuries before the arrival of the Spanish. Let's explore the Aztec's founding story🧵 (Thread)
The Aztecs were a Nahua people. Legend has it there was 7 Nahua groups who all called Aztlán home. The Tlaxcallans, the Aztecs great rivals, who famously forged an alliance with conquestidor Hernán Cortés, were also of Nahua stock.
The word Aztec actually comes from the Nahuatl word Aztecah which means "People of Aztlán"
Aztlán is described as an earthly paradise something akin to Eden. Some Aztec accounts describe it as a island on a lake surrounded by bountiful lands and untamed beauty. Similar to Tenochtitlán...
The exact location remains the topic of much debate, some have proposed areas such as California, Utah and New Mexico as potential sites. What we do know is sometime around the 11th century perhaps (May of 1065) the Nahua groups began to leave Aztlan and travel southwards.
Their reason for departure is not exactly clear, perhaps due to decline in resources. The Aztecs, it is said, were guided by the diety Huitzilopochtli. He told his people that one day they would carve out their own mighty empire.
Huitzilopochtli told his priests that they were not to settle until they came upon a large lake. At the lake they would see a sign. The sign in question would be an eagle, perched upon a cactus with a snake in it's mouth.
Generation after generation travelled from place to place without ever seeing such a sight. 200 years passed and in this time the Aztecs served as vassals and mercenaries for the more powerful and settled states.
Finally they came upon Lake Texcoco and there it was, perched on a small swampy flat, an eagle perched upon a cactus with a snake in it's mouth. On this spot the Aztecs founded the city of Tenochtitlán (site of modern Mexico City).
The Industrious Aztecs got to work turning a swampy and muddy lake into the greatest city Mesoamerica had ever seen. The city hosted giant pyramidal temples, acres of floating Chinampas (raised farms) and aqueducts stretching for miles all the way to the shore line.
Huitzilopochtli was right, the Aztecs did forge a mighty empire, one that would come to dominate the Mesoamerican world. The modern state of Mexico still honours this story and the flag sports the sacred symbol of the Eagle, Cactus and Snake.
