Anahuac, 2.5 kilometres (1.5 mi) above sea level between 19° and 20° north latitude and 98°45’ to 99°20’ west longitude, is the ancient core of

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

. Anahuac is a

Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...

name which means "close to water." It can be broken down like this: ''A(tl)'' + ''nahuac''. ''Atl'' means "water" and ''nahuac'', which is a relational word that can be affixed to a noun, means "close to." Anahuac is sometimes used interchangeably with "

Valley of Mexico The Valley of Mexico ( es, Valle de México) is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with present-day Mexico City and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico wa ...

", but Anahuac properly designates the south-central part of the valley, where well-developed

prehispanic In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, t ...

culture traits had created distinctive landscapes now hidden by the

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley of ...

. In the sense of modern geomorphological terminology, "Valley of Mexico" is misnamed. It is a closed basin of internal drainage, not a valley, in the technical sense.

Boundaries

According to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition, Anáhuac (''sic'') is "limited by the traditional and vaguely defined boundaries of an ancient American empire or confederation of that name previous to the

Spanish conquest The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its predec ...

." One of the possible etymologies proposed for the name "

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to ...

" is that it is derived from any of the following Nahuatl words: ''nic-anahuac'', which meant "Anahuac reached this far", or "the

Nahuas The Nahuas () are a group of the indigenous people of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. They comprise the largest indigenous group in Mexico and second largest in El Salvador. The Mexica (Aztecs) were of Nahua ethnicity, ...

came this far", or "those who come from Anahuac came this far"; ''nican-nahua'', which meant "here are the Nahuas"; or ''nic-atl-nahuac'', which meant "here by the water" or "surrounded by water". The first two explanations would have a bearing on the above issue of the borders.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * {{refend Geography of Mesoamerica History of Mesoamerica