THE TAJIN TOTONAC PART 1 KELLY AND PALERM 



265 



are relatively full; some have manifest lacunae; 

 some are biased. By pooling all, we feel that a 

 reasonably reliable record results. 



There are expectable differences in dates, since 

 the events took place decades before the Spanish 

 Conquest. Furthermore, even these may dimin- 

 ish appreciably, once Kirchhoff publishes his 

 recent findings concerning calendar reckonings 

 among the different pueblos in the vicinity of the 

 Valley of Mexico. Conquests and wars for which 

 the sources give dates, appear in tabular form, and 

 when Kirchhoff 's scheme is available, the indicated 

 corrections can be made quite easily. 



The great era of Mexican expansion began in 

 the times of Moctezuma I and terminated with 

 the arrival of the Spaniards during the reign of 

 his namesake, the younger Moctezuma. In the 

 course of this relatively short time span, from 1440 

 to 1520, the Mexica and their allies overran much 

 of Mexico and even extended their conquests as 

 far south as modern Guatemala. 



We are not sure that the data warrant the use of 

 "conquest" in our sense of the word; in many 

 cases, raid for booty would be more accurate. A 

 pueblo was defeated ; tribute was exacted and pre- 

 sumably was to be continued indefinitely. But 

 the frequency with which the same town was sub- 

 dued again and again certainly indicates little 

 integration and consolidation of gains. 



Nevertheless, at least in later times, there is evi- 

 dence of an extraordinarily efficient organization 

 in many conquered areas. Mexican mayordomos 

 were installed ; there were garrisons at key points ; 

 and in some of the devastated districts, colonists 

 from the Valley of Mexico were imported (Tezo- 

 zomoc, pp. 349-350). Moreover, the professional 

 traveling merchants functioned as effective spies, 

 and not infrequently their arrival in a "foreign" 

 zone was the harbinger of conquest. 



EARLY CONQUESTS 



The Mexicans who, as new settlers, wandered 

 into the Valley of Mexico did not fare well at first, 

 and it was a good many years before they were 

 sufficiently established to embark on any program 

 of expansion. 



At the start, they were subject to Culhuacan, 

 but eventually they moved from the lands of that 

 pueblo and settled the site of Tenochtitlan, in the 

 lake. There they lived in relative isolation, no 



longer subject to Culhuacan, but now tributary to 

 the great Tepanecan center of Azcapotzalco (Tor- 

 quemada 1 : 89, 97) . 



During the second half of the fourteenth cen- 

 tury (the dates vary considerably in different 

 sources), they selected as their leader, one Acama- 

 pichtli. Following his death, Huitzilihuitl be- 

 came ruler and he, in turn, was followed by 

 Chimalpopoca. 



Several military victories are claimed for the 

 Mexicans under these early leaders — but the Te- 

 nochca still were tributaries of Azcapotzalco, and 

 the campaigns presumably are to be regarded as 

 Tepanecan enterprises, in which the Mexicans, as 

 vassals, participated. The majority of these early 

 conquests were centered in the environs of the 

 Valley of Mexico. But upon occasion, Azcapo- 

 tzalco campaigns took the warriors of Tenochtitlan 

 far from home base. Under Acamapichtli, they 

 reached Cuautinchan, in modern Puebla (map 10, 

 No. I). 30 Under Huitzilihuitl, they journeyed to 

 Tulancingo, in modern Hidalgo, and again, to 

 Cuautinchan (map 11, Nos. 8, 14). During the 

 era of Chimalpopoca, the Mexican warriors headed 

 once more for Tulancingo, and apparently reached 

 Orizaba (map 12, Nos. 7, 10, respectively). The 

 conquest of these three pueblos is discussed in the 

 notes to maps 10 to 12. 



ITZCOATL (1427-40) 31 



Tepanecan rule became oppressive and led to the 

 death of Chimalpopoca, concerning which there 

 are various versions. He was succeeded by Itz- 

 coatl, under whose rule the heretofore obscure 

 Tenochtitlan emerged as a local power. 



Mexico was rid of the Tepanecan yoke, as was 

 Texcoco, and in 1431 (Codice Chimalpopoca, p. 

 48 ; Codice en Cruz, pp. 29-30) the legitimate Tex- 

 cocan ruler, Netzahualcoyotl, was restored to 

 power. Not only was Azcapotzalco destroyed, but 

 other local Tepanecan pueblos were liquidated. 

 Prudently, the ruler of Tepanecan Tacuba either 

 had not participated in the conflict, or had offered 



30 Maps 10 to 18, showing Mexican conquests, will be found at 

 the end of this appendix. 



31 Dates assigned the reign of IUcoatl vary. Different sources 

 start it in 1424, 1426, 1427, and 1428; we have followed the 

 Coleccion de Mendoza (5 : 44-45), which gives 1427. One source 

 terminates his rule in 1430, but most agree that it ended in 

 1440. However, Duran (1 : 123) mentions a version which would 

 have Itzcoatl live until 1445. 



