TOZZER— DOMAIN OF THE AZTECS 



and then with another, ascendancy was rapid. Wars were waged not 

 only with the other Nahua-speaking peoples of the Valley of Mexico 

 but with the Totonacs and Huaxtecs to the east and northeast, with 

 the Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and some of the Maya peoples as far south as 

 Guatemala. Clavigero (1817, vol. 3, 373-379) states that the Aztec 

 dominion extended from 18 to 21 on the Atlantic and from 14 to 19 

 on the Pacific, a territory twice the size of Calfornia. These are the 

 extreme limits reached by them and those allied with them. Within 

 this area certain tribes were never conquered, as the Tlaxcalans, the 

 Tarascans, and the Chiapanecs. Many of the conquered peoples, 

 as the Mixtecs and Zapotecs, soon regained their independence. 



Aztec place-names are found over all of Central America except 

 Yucatan, British Honduras, the Peten and Alta Vera Paz districts 

 of Guatemala, and the Mosquito coast. Some have concluded from 

 this that the Aztec dominion covered this entire area. Colonies of 

 Nahua-speaking peoples were founded in Central America as far 

 south as the Isthmus. Aztec traders traveled north and south with 

 much freedom. Voluntary and involuntary exiles were no doubt 

 common. But there is no reason to suppose that the Aztec domain 

 or the Aztec influence extended for any length of time south of the 

 present boundaries of Mexico. Sapper (1905) has shown that migra- 

 tions cannot be traced accurately by place-names. He also suggests 

 that the Spaniards themselves, who were more or less familiar with 

 the names of the Aztec settlements, introduced similar names in 

 their migrations from place to place. 



Let us return a moment and review the situation. Mexico first of 

 all was occupied by a rude hunting people. The Toltecs, a Nahua- 

 speaking people, were the first of the semicivilized peoples to arrive, 

 followed several centuries later by the Aztecs and allied peoples 

 whose civilization was blotted out by the Spaniards. 



If we turn to the archeology of this region we shall find much data 

 which will help us. Excavations carried on in the Valley of Mexico 

 under the auspices of the International School of Archaeology has 

 shown successive strata of occupancy, each stratum characterized 

 by a distinct culture. This investigation has been one of the main 

 problems of the International School in Mexico since 191 1. 1 The im- 

 portance of this stratigraphical work cannot be overestimated. For 

 the first time we are able to coordinate the cultures of Mexico and we 

 are beginning to see some light thrown on the complex problems of 

 Middle American archeology. 



1 For a review of this subject see Summary of the Work of the International School of American 

 Archaeology and Ethnology in Mexico, American Anthropologist, N. s., vol. 17, 384-395, 1915. 



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