Mexican archæology : $b an introduction to the archæology of the Mexican and Mayan civilizations of pre-Spanish AmericaJoyce, Thomas Athol
History
Mexican archæology : $b an introduction to the archæology of the Mexican and Mayan civilizations of pre-Spanish America
Joyce, Thomas Athol
Mayas -- Antiquities; Mexico -- Antiquities
also the rudest, and were of little account. Even their prowess as
fighters was counterbalanced by the comparative smallness of their
numbers, and for years they lived under the protection of various
rulers who employed their services in the wars which had already begun
to break out between city and city. In the reign of Nopaltzin, Xolotl’s
successor, they are said to have been settled at Chapultepec, but,
being oppressed by the chief of Xaltocan, they removed to securer,
though less comfortable, quarters on the group of islands called
Acocolco at the south end of the lake. Here they remained for half a
century, until they were transferred to Colhuacan by the ruler of that
city. By this time their numbers had increased, while their fighting
qualities had not deteriorated, and after giving proof of the latter
fact by defeating the Xochimilca, with whom the Colhua were at war,
they felt their position sufficiently strong to insist on leaving
Colhuacan for Mexicaltzingo. Here however they did not reside for
long, but moved north first to Iztacalco and finally to Tenochtitlan.
Even yet they were not strong enough to stand entirely by themselves,
probably partly because they were not yet under a single chief who
could lay claim to kinship with the ruling houses of other cities, and
they were now under the protection of Azcapotzalco, to the ruler of
which they paid tribute. Not long after their settlement, dissensions
broke out among themselves, and certain clans removed to the small
island of Tlaltelolco adjoining Tenochtitlan on the north. The split
however was not final, and the two sections remained in close alliance,
though under separate administration. The question of the dates of
these various events is by no means easy to determine. Tenochtitlan,
according to the Mendoza codex, which gives a continuous chronicle from
this point, was founded in the year _2. calli_ (two house), or 1325,
and this date may, I believe, be taken as reasonably exact. We are
told that the Aztec were subject to Colhuacan for about twenty-five
years, and that they spent half a century before that on the islands
of Acocolco. If we allow about twenty years spent at Chapultepec and
in the migration from Colhuacan to Tenochtitlan, we get 1230 as the
approximate date of their arrival at the former city. At this time,
according to legend, Nopaltzin, the successor of Xolotl, was ruling at
Tenayocan, and the commencement of his reign cannot be put much earlier
than 1225, since we are told that Tlotzin, his successor (called
Huetzin by Ixtlilxochitl), died in the year in which Tenochtitlan was
founded. Xolotl, the founder of the “Chichimec” power, seems to have
reigned long, and indeed the Mexican rulers as a whole seem to have
been singularly long-lived. But in any case Xolotl cannot have led his
followers into the Mexican valley much before the second half of the
twelfth century. If the annals of Quauhtitlan are correct in assigning
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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