THE ORIGIN OF THE AZTEC PEOPLE

In ancient and classical times, Mesoamerica was a region of the globe diversely inhabited by many different groups of people, many of which had established great societies and civilizations for themselves long before the Aztecs began their ascent to power. As such, tracking the exact origins of the Aztec peoples from their early origins is a task that has presented much difficulty to modern scholars. Further complicating this already difficult problem is the fact that the Aztecs, like many ancient peoples, had their own complex mythology about their origins. Like most origin myths of civilizations around the globe, it is almost certain that the mythological origin of the Aztecs is partly legend and partly real history.

The primary tribe that has come to be known as the Aztec was in reality known to itself as the Mexica, from which the modern name of the country of Mexico is derived. This is the tribe that founded the city of Tenochtitlan, which would eventually become the capital of the Aztec Empire. Due to their status as the predominant Aztec group at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards, the Mexica are the source from which most of the accounts of the Aztec origin myth were recorded. However, it seems certain that other groups that were ethnically connected to the Mexica and spoke the same language, Nahuatl, had a fairly similar origin mythos.

The starting point of the Aztec origin myth is a place known to the Mexica as Chicomoztoc, a place from which they emerged from one of seven caves, each of which was the place of origin for one of the great Nahuatl-speaking tribal lineages of Mesoamerica. Interestingly, this mythological concept is common to many different groups of Central America and even the southwestern United States. As such, it is probable that this myth dates back to very ancient groups in the region that probably developed over time into the more familiar tribal groups in this part of the world. Chicomoztoc, however, was only the first stage of the supposed history of the Mexica before they migrated into their historically known territory and established themselves as a major regional power.

Following their emergence from Chicomoztoc, the Mexica believed that they resided in yet another mythological or semi-mythological place known as Aztlan. Unlike Chicomoztoc, which is probably a purely mythical allegory for the divergence of the various tribes as a means of explaining their existence, it is probable that Aztlan represents a real place that the Mexica lived prior to migrating into their eventual dwelling place and founding Tenochtitlan. In Aztlan, some surviving accounts suggest that the Mexica found themselves living in oppressive conditions under the rule of an enigmatic group called the Azteca, literally meaning “people of Aztlan.” Interestingly, this is the name that would eventually be applied to the Mexica, though they themselves would have known the word Aztec only in this mythological (and rather negative) context. The tyrannical rule of the Azteca would eventually lead the Mexica to leave Aztlan, beginning their journey to the future site of Tenochtitlan. How much of the story of Aztlan is true remains very uncertain, but the Aztec are generally believed to have migrated south into the region they came to occupy. This means that if Aztlan represents a place grounded in any objective historical reality, its location was probably either in what is today the northern regions of Mexico or possibly in the extreme southwest of the United States.

Linguistic evidence confirms at least some parts of this migration myth. Nahuatl, the language that was spoken by the Mexica, was also spoken by many other groups that migrated into central Mexico and is part of a broader family of languages known as the Uto-Aztecan group. These languages are thought to have originated from a common proto-language root that was spoken in northern Mexico and/or the  south-western United States in prehistory before spreading throughout large parts of both countries through migrations, eventually diverging into many inter-related languages. The Nahuatl language itself seems to have begun to enter central Mexico beginning in about 500 BCE, when a general migration of groups that spoke it began migrating south. Given the traditional dating of the Aztec migration from Aztlan into central Mexico, it is likely that the Mexica were among the last Nahuatl-speaking groups to make this migratory journey.

With the leaving of Aztlan, the Mexica are said to have wandered in search of a sign that would inform them of where they should establish themselves. These wanderings would lead them south to the Valley of Mexico and the shores of Lake Texcoco, where they would establish a more permanent occupation (discussed more thoroughly in the next section). Eventually, the site of Tenochtitlan was chosen when, according to legend, the wandering Mexica sighted an eagle devouring a snake while sitting on a cactus, a sign they had supposedly been informed they would see by their patron god Huitzilopochtli upon leaving Atzlan. Though this account is almost certainly mythological in nature, it was a key facet of the semi-mythological history of the Mexica as a people, as it was this sign that supposedly led to the establishment of what would become one of the greatest cities of the New World and, in time, the capital of the Aztec Empire.

As has been previously stated, there is much doubt as to how much of this history is grounded in real historical events and how much of it was purely myth. However, there are some objective historical conclusions that can be made from the condition of Mexico in the time contemporary and prior to the arrival of the Mexica in the Valley of Mexico. Precise dating on this event is impossible, but there is a general consensus that Tenochtitlan was probably established sometime in the 14th century CE. Surviving accounts of the Aztlan myth suggest that the migration of the Mexica away from their homeland occurred sometime in or around the 11th century CE.

It is known that central Mexico was far from uninhabited or even without major civilizations before the Mexica arrived there. Of those peoples who dominated the region before the Aztec would establish their power, the most influential was without any serious doubt the Toltec people, a group that held power over much of Mexico in the 10th through 12th centuries CE. Though far less well-known than the Aztec, the Toltec created a complex civilization that would go on to become the template for the Aztecs. The Toltecs, are classified in the context of Mesoamerican history as representing the early years of the Postclassic Period, an era beginning in about 1000 CE, when many of the city-states and peoples that had dominated Central America up to that point either collapsed entirely or went into a declining period. The Aztec, too, represent the Postclassic Period, but are representative of a later part of it.

In art, architecture and other cultural aspects, there seems to have been a great degree of Toltec influence on the Aztec. Indeed, the Toltecs even seem to have established an empire of their own which ruled over large portions of central Mexico and conducted trade throughout Mesoamerica and the American southwest. This empire drove the rise of the Toltec capital city, Tula, to a position of extreme regional power and prominence during the height of the Toltec era of Mesoamerican history. The city, which features palace complexes, large pyramids and several amazingly intricate statues placed in public terraces, would have almost certainly served as an inspiration for the Aztec in creating the city of Tenochtitlan, especially given the fact that there is known to have been a Toltec presence in the Valley of Mexico prior to the ascent of the Aztec Empire.

This Toltec influence is heavily evidenced in the fact that the word “Toltec” itself comes from the word the Aztec used to describe not only their predecessors as the dominant power in Mexico but also any wise teacher or sage. This has led some scholars to the conclusion that the word did not describe any one particular tribe to the Aztecs, but instead was applied to any advanced and civilized group of peoples who had created large urban settlements for themselves. While this theory has gained some traction in the mainstream historical community, the archaeological evidence for a large empire centered at Tula would seem to bear out the conclusion that the Toltec were a real tribe that exerted power over Mexico prior to the establishment of Aztec dominance.

The Toltec, however, were not the only great Mesoamerican power whose lingering legacy would have been encountered by the Aztec. Prior to the establishment of the Toltec Empire, Mexico appears to have been dominated by yet another great civilization, this one reaching its zenith during the Classical Period of Mesoamerican history. This particular civilization is extremely enigmatic, but left a massive reminder of its existence and power only about 30 miles away from the site that would become Tenochtitlan. This reminder is the massive and mysterious city known as Teotihuacan.

Teotihuacan is, without a doubt, one of the most intriguing archaeological sites in the Americas. The site is a truly massive city, containing many pyramids and other large public areas. It was, at its height, almost certainly the largest city in the New World in terms of its population, which some estimates suggest may have been in excess of 150,000 permanent citizens. Archaeological findings at the site have also shown that the people who founded and built Teotihuacan had achieved a very high level of civilization, as the art and crafted goods found there are among the best quality of any from their era. However, for all of this grandeur, Teotihuacan remains a historical mystery. The people who created it are completely unknown, and no satisfactory explanation has ever been found for what appears to have been the sudden decline of the city after large parts of it were systematically burned in the middle of the 6th century CE. Several theories, including an uprising due to the food shortages associated with a climactic shift known to have occurred around the same time, have been put forward. However, since no written records have ever been found at Teotihuacan, these hypotheses remain informed speculation, while the site itself and the people who constructed and ruled it remain enigmatic.

Though the Toltec and the people of Teotihuacan were far from the only great civilizations to have existed in Mexico up to that point, they were the two that the Aztec would have been the most familiar with when entering the Valley of Mexico. The Aztec peoples would have certainly had direct contact with the Toltecs, and the nearby site of Teotihuacan would have served as an inspiration for the great city they were about to construct (although, in truth, the Aztec did not differentiate between the two, as they believed Teotihuacan to have been an early Toltec city). In other parts of Mexico, the remaining kingdoms of the ancient Maya civilization, which had by this time passed its height, were still in existence. Throughout the entirety of Mesoamerica, the influence of the ancient Olmec civilization, the earliest of the known advanced civilizations of Central America which had flourished in the 1st millennium BCE, had spread to create many similarities between the various great civilizations that had followed it. Such were the political and cultural conditions into which the Aztec would have entered upon the end of their migration into the Valley of Mexico.

By Duncan Ryan in "The Aztec  - The Last Great Civilization of Mesopotamia", Kindle Edition, June, 26th, 2016, excerpts chapter one. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.