Culhuacan ( nci-IPA, Cōlhuàcān, koːlˈwaʔkaːn) was one of the Nahuatl-speaking

pre-Columbian 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, ...

city-states of the

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 w ...

. 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 ( nah, Mixcōhuātl}, 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 ...

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 ''Tlatoani'' ( , "one who speaks, ruler"; plural ' or tlatoque) is the Classical Nahuatl term for the ruler of an , a pre-Hispanic state. It is the noun form of the verb "tlahtoa" meaning "speak, command, rule". As a result, it has been variousl ...

'').

History

Culhuacan was perhaps the first of the chinampa towns founded on the shores of

Lake Xochimilco Lake Xochimilco (; nah, Xōchimīlco, ) is an ancient endorheic lake, located in the present-day Borough of Xochimilco in southern Mexico City. The lake is within the Valley of Mexico hydrological basin, in central Mexico. History Geolo ...

, with chinampas dating to 1100 C.E.Richard Blanton, "Prehispanic Adaptation in the Ixtapalapa Region, Mexico" ''Science'' 1972; 175(4028):1317-26 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 Coxcoxtli () was a king of city-state Colhuacan (altepetl), Culhuacán. He had two children — a son called Huehue Acamapichtli and a daughter Atotoztli I, who married Opochtli Iztahuatzin and bore him Acamapichtli, the first ruler of Tenochtitla ...

, helped the

Tepanec The Tepanecs or Tepaneca are a Mesoamerican people who arrived in the Valley of Mexico in the late 12th or early 13th centuries.The dates vary by source, including 1152 CE in Anales de Tlatelolco, 1210 from Chimalpahin, and 1226 from Ixtlilxochi ...

s of

Azcapotzalco Azcapotzalco ( nci, Āzcapōtzalco , , from '' āzcapōtzalli'' “anthill” + '' -co'' “place”; literally, “In the place of the anthills”) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. Azcapotzalco is in the northwestern p ...

, the Xochimilca and other cities expel the Mexica from

Chapultepec Chapultepec, more commonly called the "Bosque de Chapultepec" (Chapultepec Forest) in Mexico City, is one of the largest city parks in Mexico, measuring in total just over 686 hectares (1,695 acres). Centered on a rock formation called Chapultep ...

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 , ; es, Tenochtitlan also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, ; es, México-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. The date 13 March 1325 was ...

''tlatoani''

Acamapichtli Acamapichtli ( nci-IPA, Ācamāpichtli, aːkamaːˈpit͡ʃt͡ɬi, 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 th ...

was a grandson of Coxcoxtli. Nevertheless, in 1377

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

Itzcóatl Itzcoatl ( nci-IPA, Itzcōhuātl, it͡sˈkoːwaːt͡ɬ, "Obsidian Serpent", ) (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 ...

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

Tlahtohqueh Cōlhuahcān (Colhuacan's rules)

* 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. *Cline, S.L. and Miguel Léon-Portilla. ''The Testaments of Culhuacan''. UCLA Latin American Center Publications. Nahuatl Studies Series, no. 1. 1984. *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. *Léon-Portilla, Miguel. "El libro de testamentos indígenas de Culhuacán," ''Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl, 1976, 12:11-31. *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 Locations in Aztec mythology Iztapalapa

History

Tlahtohqueh Cōlhuahcān (Colhuacan's rules)

See also

References

Further reading

External links