Culhuacan ( ) was one of the

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 Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

-speaking

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

city-states of the

Valley of Mexico The Valley of Mexico (; ), sometimes also called Basin of Mexico, is a highlands plateau in central Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations including Teotihuacan, ...

. According to tradition, Culhuacan was founded by the

Toltecs The Toltec culture () was a Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula (Mesoamerican site), Tula, Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoam ...

under

Mixcoatl Mixcoatl (, from mixtli "cloud" and cōātl "serpent"), or Camaxtle or Camaxtli, was the god of the hunt and identified with the Milky Way, the stars, and the heavens in several Mesoamerican cultures. He was the patron deity of the Otomi peopl ...

and was the first Toltec city. The Nahuatl speakers agreed that Culhuacán was the first city to give its rulers the title of "speaker" (''

tlatoani ''Tlahtoāni'' ( , "ruler, sovereign"; plural ' ) is a historical title used by the dynastic rulers of (singular ''āltepētl'', often translated into English as "city-state"), autonomous political entities formed by many pre-Columbian Nahuatl- ...

''). In the sixteenth century following the

Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was a pivotal event in the history of the Americas, marked by the collision of the Aztec Triple Alliance and the Spanish Empire. Taking place between 1519 and 1521, this event saw the Spanish conquistad ...

, Culhuacan was incorporated into colonial

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

and called a ''pueblo'', but in local-level documentation in Nahuatl, residents continued to use the designation

altepetl The ( , plural ''altepeme'' or ''altepemeh'') was the local, ethnically-based political entity, usually translated into English as "city-state", of pre-Columbian Nahuatl-speaking societiesSmith 1997 p. 37 in the Americas. The ''altepetl'' was ...

for their settlement.

History

Culhuacan was perhaps the first of the

chinampa Chinampa ( ) is a technique used in Agriculture in Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican agriculture which relies on small, rectangle, rectangular areas of fertility (soil), fertile arable land to grow agriculture, crops on the shallow lake beds in the Va ...

towns founded on the shores of

Lake Xochimilco Lake Xochimilco (; , ) is an ancient endorheic lake, located in the present-day Borough of Xochimilco in southern Mexico City. It is the last remaining habitat of the axolotl. The lake is within the Valley of Mexico hydrological basin, in ...

, with chinampas dating to 1100 C.E. From written records there is evidence that Culhuacan survived the fall of Tollan and maintained its prestige until the mid-14th century. According to the ''Crónica Mexicayotl'', transcribed in 1609, in 1299, Culhuacan's ''tlatoani'', Coxcoxtli, helped the Tepanecs of

Azcapotzalco Azcapotzalco ( ; ; from ''wikt:azcapotzalli, āzcapōtzalli'' “anthill” + ''wikt:-co, -co'' “place”; literally, “In the place of the anthills”) is a Boroughs of Mexico City, borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. Azcap ...

, the Xochimilca and other cities expel the

Mexica The Mexica (Nahuatl: ; singular ) are a Nahuatl-speaking people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers of the Triple Alliance, more commonly referred to as the Aztec Empire. The Mexica established Tenochtitlan, a settlement on an island ...

from Chapultepec. Coxcoxtli then gave the Mexica permission to settle in the barren land of Tizaapan, southwest of Chapultepec, and they became vassals of Culhuacan. The Mexica subsequently assimilated into Culhuacan's culture and their warriors provided mercenaries for its wars. The

Tenochtitlan , also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear, but the date 13 March 1325 was chosen in 1925 to celebrate the 600th annivers ...

''tlatoani''

Acamapichtli Acamapichtli ( , meaning "Handful of reeds") was the first '' Tlatoani'', or king, of the Aztecs (or Mexica) of Tenochtitlan, and founder of the Aztec imperial dynasty. Chronicles differ as to the dates of his reign: according to the Codex Chim ...

was a grandson of Coxcoxtli. Nevertheless, in 1377

subdued Culhuacán in large part with Aztec troops. In 1428, the Mexica tlatoani

Itzcóatl Itzcoatl ( , "Obsidian Serpent", ) (c. 1380–1440) was the fourth king of Tenochtitlan, and the founder of the Aztec Empire, ruling from 1427 to 1440. Under Itzcoatl the Mexica of Tenochtitlan threw off the domination of the Tepanecs and establ ...

helped to overthrow Azcapotzalco's hegemony, and accepted the title "Ruler of the Culhua".

Tlahtohqueh Cōlhuahcān (Colhuacan's rulers)

* Huehue Topiltzin Nauhyotzin 717–763 * Nonohualcatl I 763–845 * Yohuallatonac 845–904 * Quetzalacxoyatzin 904–953 * Chalchiuhtlatonac 953–985 * Totepeuh 985–1026 * Nauhyotzin II 1026–1072 * Cuauhtexpetlatzin 1072–1129 * Nonohualcatl II 1130–1150 * Achitomecatl 1151–1171 * Cuauhtlatonac 1172–1185 (''Chichimeca's dynasty'') * Mallatzin 1186–1200 * ''Cuauhtlahtolloc'' ( caudillaje) 1200–1235 * Chalchiuhtlatonac II 1235–1245 * Cuauhtlix 1245–1252 * Yohuallatonac Telpochtli 1252–1259 * Tziuhtecatl 1260–1269 * Xihuitltemoc 1269–1281 * Coxcoxtli 1281–1307 * ''Cuauhtlahtolloc'' ( caudillaje) 1307–1323 * Huehue Acamapichtli 1323–1336 * Achitomecatl Teomecatl II 1336–1347 * Nauhyotl Teuctli Tlamacazqui (Nauhyotzin III) 1347–1413 * Acoltzin 1413–1429 * Itzcoatl 1429–1440 (Tepaneca ruler under Maxtla) * Xilomantzin 1440–1473 * Tlatolcatzin 1473–1482 * Tezozomoctli 1482–1521

References

* Brenner, Anita. ''The Influence of Technique on the Decorative Style in the Domestic Pottery of Culhuacan, Mexico. Publicación de la Escuela Internacional de Arqueología y Etnología Americana 1931. *Cline, S.L. "Land Tenure and Land Inheritance in late Sixteenth-Century Culhuacan," in ''Explorations in Ethnohistory'', H.R. Harvey and Hanns J. Prem, eds. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press 1984. *Cline, S.L. "A Legal Process at the Local Level: Estate Division in Sixteenth-Century Mexico," in ''Five Centuries of Law and Politics in Central Mexico'', Ronald Spores and Ross Hassig, editors. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Publications in Anthropology 1984, 30:39–53. *Cline, S.L. ''Colonial Culhuacan, 1580–1600: A Social History of an Aztec Town''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press 1986. *Gallegos, Gonzalo. "Relación Geográfica de Culhuacan," ''Revista Mexicana de Estudios Históricos 1(6)1927: 171–73. *Gorbea Trueba, José. "Primer libro de bautismos del ex-convento de Culhuacán, D.F." Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Boletín 6:3. n.d. * León-Portilla, Miguel. "El libro de testamentos indígenas de Culhuacán," ''Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl, 1976, 12:11–31. * León-Portilla, Miguel and Sarah Cline, editors. ''Los Testamentos de Culhuacán: Vida y Muerte entre los Nahuas del México Central, siglo XVI. Transcripciones del náhuatl, traducciones al español e inglés''. Edited with the collaboration of Juan Carlos Torres López. México: Universidad Iberoamericana digital, open access publication El Libro de Testamentos de Culhuacan
accessed 2 March 2023 *Pohl, John M. D. 1991. ''Aztec, Mixtec and Zapotec Armies''. Osprey. *Prem, Hanns J. "Los reyes de Tollan y Colhuacan" ''Estudios de cultura náhuatl'' volume 30, (1999) pp.23–70 * *Séjourné, Laurette. ''Culhuacan''. Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 1970. *

External links

*
Culhuacán, Mexico
is the ''Relación Geográfica'' map from 1580. {{DEFAULTSORT:Culhuacan (altepetl) Altepetl Mesoamerican cultures Valley of Mexico Places in Aztec mythology Iztapalapa

History

Tlahtohqueh Cōlhuahcān (Colhuacan's rulers)

See also

References

Further reading

External links