The Domain of the Aztecs and their 



Relation to the Prehistoric 



Cultures of Mexico 1 



By Alfred M. Tozzer 



N popular conception the term "Aztec" has been employed 

 to embrace all the semicivilized peoples of Mexico, includ- 

 ing, in many cases, those as far north as the Pueblo area 

 in New Mexico and Arizona. According to this idea the 

 Aztecs are to Mexico and even to Central America what 

 the Incas are to South America. In point of fact the term 'Aztec", 

 as will be pointed out, should be used in a much more limited sense. 

 The legendary history of Mexico is a mass of conflicting stories. 

 The Toltecs were supposed to have been the earliest of the semi- 

 civilized people to enter Mexico. They found the country occupied 

 by a rude hunting people called Chichimecs. Tula was founded by 

 the Toltecs, according to tradition, in 752 a.d. and was destroyed 

 in 1064. 



The Toltecs, aided by their culture-hero Quetzalcoatl, were sup- 

 posed to have brought in a knowledge of the arts and the hiero- 

 glyphic writing. They spoke the Nahuatl language, according to 

 several early authorities. 



The Aztecs, joining with eight related tribes, are supposed to have 

 left their mythical home in Aztlan in the twelfth century (1168 or 

 1 195). After numerous wanderings they arrived in the Valley of 

 Mexico early in the fourteenth century. From this time onward 

 the history is fairly definite and reliable. For a long time the Aztecs 

 were relatively unimportant, they had no influence and no strength; 

 for many years they were subject to the Colhuacans. There were 

 several thriving communities in the Valley at this time, the Tepanecs 

 at Atzcapotzalco, Colhuacan, Tezcoco, and several others. The 

 Aztecs settled at Tenochtitlan, the present site of Mexico City, in 

 1325 or 1327. The first king reigned from 1376 to 1396. It was during 

 the reign of the second king (1396-1417) that the wars began which 

 gradually succeeded in gaining for the Aztecs first place among the 

 peoples of Mexico. By skilful political moves, first with one ally 



1 Presented at the Pan American Scientific Congress, Washington, December 1915. 



[464] 



