Aztlan

(noun)

The place of origin of the pre-Columbian Mexican civilization that became a symbol for various Mexican nationalist and indigenous movements in the U.S.; the name was first taken up by a group of Chicano independence activists led by Oscar Zeta Acosta during the Chicano movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

Related Terms

(noun)

It is the legendary ancestral home of the Nahua peoples, one of the main cultural groups in Mesoamerica and, by extension, is the mythical homeland of the Uto-Aztecan people.

Related Terms

Examples of Aztlan in the following topics:

  • Codices of the Aztecs

    • It tells the story of the legendary Aztec journey from Aztlán to the Valley of Mexico.
    • The Aubin Codex is a pictorial history of the Aztecs from their departure from Aztlán through the Spanish conquest to the early Spanish colonial period, ending in 1607.
    • The first page of this Aztec codex depicts the departure from Aztlán.

  • Latino Rights

    • By their account, Mexican-Americans were a conquered people who needed to reclaim their birthright and cultural heritage as part of a new nation, which later became known as Aztlán.
    • At a historic meeting at the University of California, Santa Barbara in April of 1969, the diverse student organizations came together under the new name Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MECHA).

  • Enduring Cultures

    • They were also a desert people, one of seven groups who formerly called themselves "Azteca", in memory of Aztlán, but they changed their name after years of migrating.