Mexica

The Mexica (Nahuatl: Mēxihcah; singular Mēxihcātl) are a Nahuatl-speaking people of the Valley of Mexico. They were the rulers of the Triple Alliance, often called the Aztec Empire. In 1325, they founded Tenochtitlan, a settlement on an island in Lake Texcoco. Some people in Tenochtitlan later formed a separate settlement called Tlatelolco.

In 1521, their empire ended when Spanish conquistadors and some other local groups, especially the Tlaxcaltecs, worked together to defeat them. Today, many people in Mexico are descendants of the Mexica and other groups known as the Aztecs. Since 1810, people often use the name "Aztec" to talk about the Mexica, but sometimes they make a difference between the two groups.

Names

The Mexica are the people who gave their name to the place we now call Mexico City. They were also known as the Culhua-Mexica because they had a close relationship with the Culhua, who were descendants of the respected Toltecs. The Mexica who lived in Tenochtitlan were called the "Tenochca", a name that comes from their city, Tenochtitlan, and its first leader, Tenoch.

The word Aztec was created by Alexander von Humboldt. He mixed the name of their legendary home, Aztlán, with the word for "people". Today, "Aztec" usually means the Mexica people of Tenochtitlan, but sometimes it is used to talk about all the Nahuatl-speaking peoples living in the Valley of Mexico and nearby areas.

History

After the decline of the Toltecs, various Nahua-speaking nomadic peoples entered the Valley of Mexico. The Mexica were the last group to arrive. According to legend, they were searching for a sign from their god, Huitzilopochtli. They were to find "an eagle with a snake in its beak, perched on a prickly pear cactus," and build their city there. They finally came to Lake Texcoco, where they saw the eagle and cactus on an island in the lake. There, they built their settlement, Tenochtitlan, in 1325.

A smaller group of Mexica later built another city nearby called Tlatelolco. After Tenochtitlan grew, the Mexica became powerful leaders in the area until they were defeated by Spanish invaders in 1519.

Language

The Mexica spoke Nahuatl, just like many nearby groups. As the Aztec Empire grew, Nahuatl became a common language in many places. By the 1500s, people started writing Nahuatl using the letters from the Spanish alphabet. Even today, more than 1.6 million Mexica and other Nahua people still speak Nahuatl, and some of them don’t speak Spanish at all.