Mexica

(noun)

Called Aztecs in occidental historiography (although this term is not limited to the Mexica), they were an indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico, known today as the rulers of the Aztec Empire. A Nahua people who founded their two cities Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco on raised islets in Lake Texcoco around 1200 CE.

Related Terms

Examples of Mexica in the following topics:

  • The Aztec in the Colonial Period

    • The indigenous of Central Mexico had practices rendering labor and tribute products to their polity's elites and those elites to the Mexica overlords in Tenochtitlan, so the Spanish system of encomienda was built on pre-existing patterns.The Spanish conquerors in Mexico during the early colonial era lived off the labor of the indigenous.
    • There are still 1.5 million people who speak the Aztec language of Nahuatl, and part of the Mexica migration story appears on the Mexican flag.

  • Meso-American Culture

    • The Mexicas, or Aztecs, were one of the most powerful and advanced civilizations of the ancient world.
    • This group were the Mexica who, over the course of the next 300 years, became the dominant ethnic group of Meso-America, ruling from Tenochtitlan, their island capital.

  • Conclusion: Pre-Colonial Development of North America

    • The Mexicas, or Aztecs, were one of the most powerful and advanced civilizations of the ancient world.
    • The Mexica migrated to present-day central Mexico and created a triple alliance with other dominant tribes in the area.
    • Because of the Empire’s high rate of literacy, political and technological accomplishments, and economic unity, elements of Mexica and Nahua culture spread throughout Meso-America and remain culturally significant today.

  • Sculpture of the Aztecs

    • The stone is 11.75 feet in diameter and 3.22 feet thick, and it weighs about 24 tons; on its surface are intricate carvings and sculpted motifs that refer to central components of the Mexica cosmogony.

  • The Aztec People

    • They called themselves Mexica.
    • The Republic of Mexico and its capital, Mexico City, derive their names from the word "Mexica".

  • Aztec Religion

    • Veneration of Huitzilopochtli, the personification of the sun and of war, was central to the religious, social and political practices of the Mexica people.
    • Huitzilopochtli attained this central position after the founding of Tenochtitlan and the formation of the Mexica city-state society in the 14th century.

  • Enduring Cultures

    • Into this new political game of contenders to the Toltec throne stepped outsiders: the Mexica.

  • European Empires in North America

    • This campaign was led by Hernán Cortés and featured the Tlaxcala and other indigenous peoples allied against the Mexica/Aztec Empire.