Huitzilatzin (or Huitzillatzin) (died in the year Seven Reed/1499Chimalpahin (1997): pp. 214–215) was the first ''

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 various ...

'' (ruler) of the

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, th ...

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 co ...

'' (ethnic state) of

Huitzilopochco Huitzilopochco (sometimes called Churubusco, and other variants) was a small pre-Columbian Nahua ''altepetl'' (city-state) in the Valley of Mexico. Huitzilopochco was one of the '' Nauhtecuhtli'' ("Four Lords"), along with Culhuacan, Itztapalapa ...

(now

Churubusco Churubusco is a neighbourhood of Mexico City. Under the current territorial division of the Mexican Federal District, it is a part of the borough ''(delegación)'' of Coyoacán. It is centred on the former Franciscan monastery ''(ex convento de C ...

) in 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 wa ...

.Chimalpahin (1997): pp. 146–147. Huitzilatzin was the second son of

Huehue Zaca Huehue Zaca or Çaca (), also Zacatzin (''Çacatzin'', ), was a 15th-century Aztec noble, prince and a warrior who served as '' tlacateccatl'' ("captain general") under the ruler Moctezuma I, his brother. The name of Zaca is probably derived from ...

, who held the title of ''

tlacateccatl In the Aztec military, tlacateccatl () was a title roughly equivalent to general. The tlacateccatl was in charge of the ''tlacatecco'', a military quarter in the center of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan. In wartime he was second-in-command to t ...

'' (general) and who was a son of

Huitzilihuitl Huitzilihuitl or Huitzilihuitzin (Nahuatl language; English: ''Hummingbird Feather'') (1370s – ''ca.'' 1417) was the second ''Tlatoani'' or king of Tenochtitlan. According to the Codex Chimalpahin, he reigned from 1390 to 1415, according to t ...

, the second

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...

ruler of

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 ...

. According to the ''

Crónica mexicáyotl Crónica may refer to: * ''Crónica'' (newspaper), a Buenos Aires newspaper * Crónica Electrónica or Crónica, an independent media label based in Porto, Portugal * Crónica TV, an Argentine news cable channel *Crônica, a Portuguese-language for ...

'', Huitzilatzin was "quite sickly" (

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 smaller ...

''"çan cocoxcatzintli"''). He was installed as ruler of Huitzilopochco by the Aztec ruler

Axayacatl Axayacatl (; nci, āxāyacatl ; es, Axayácatl ; meaning "face of water"; –1481) was the sixth of the of Tenochtitlan and Emperor of the Aztec Triple Alliance. Biography Early life and background Axayacatl was a son of the princess Atot ...

. Like other towns in the region, it is not recorded exactly when Huitzilopochco came under Aztec control. It is likely that Tenochtitlan inherited them from the defeated Tepanec empire of

Azcapotzalco Azcapotzalco ( nci, Āzcapōtzalco , , 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'') i ...

. The inhabitants of Huitzilopochco are said to have been

cannibals Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, bo ...

prior to the imposition of Aztec government.Isaac (2005): pp. 5–6. Huitzilatzin had two children in Huitzilopochco: a son,

Macuilxochitzin Macuilxochitzin (born c. 1435), also referred to in some texts as Macuilxochitl, was a poet (''cuicanitl'') during the peak years of the Aztec civilization. She was the daughter of Tlacaélael, a counselor to the Aztec kings and the niece of the ...

,Chimalpahin (1997): pp. 148–149. who succeeded him as ''tlatoani''; and a daughter, whose name is not known but who married Quauhpopocatzin, the ruler of

Coyoacán Coyoacán ( , ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. The former village is now the borough's "historic center". The name comes from Nahuatl and most likely means "place of coyotes", when the Aztecs named a pre-Hispanic vil ...

. Huitzilatzin was killed in the year Seven Reed (1499), as he was held responsible for flooding that had occurred in Tenochtitlan due to an aqueduct which tapped springs near Huitzilopochco.

Notes

References

* * * {{s-end 15th-century births 1499 deaths Tlatoque