''Cuāuhtlahtoāni'' or ''Cuäuhtlahtoh'' is a titular office of governorship and political administration, used within certain city-states and provinces among the

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 ...

s of

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 ...

central Mexico in the Late Postclassic period. The office of ''cuauhtlatoani'' (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 smaller ...

word meaning approximately, "the one who speaks like eagle") carried the connotation of "military ruler" or "appointed administrator". During the rise of the

Aztec Empire The Aztec Empire or the Triple Alliance ( nci, Ēxcān Tlahtōlōyān, Help:IPA/Nahuatl, �jéːʃkaːn̥ t͡ɬaʔtoːˈlóːjaːn̥ was an alliance of three Nahua peoples, Nahua altepetl, city-states: , , and . These three city-states ruled ...

the title was given by the ruling

Mexica The Mexica (Nahuatl: , ;''Nahuatl Dictionary.'' (1990). Wired Humanities Project. University of Oregon. Retrieved August 29, 2012, frolink/ref> singular ) were a Nahuatl-speaking indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico who were the rulers of ...

- Tenochca to the governors they imposed on conquered city-states in central provinces. A

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 ...

("the one who speaks") was an independent ruler of an Aztec/Mexica polity (

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 ...

). Cuauhtlatoani were appointed by a Tlatoani to rule conquered areas or areas whose independence was lost such as the city Tlatelolco following the 1473 CE defeat of its last Tlatoani,

Moquihuix Moquihuix (or Moquihuixtli) (died 1473) was the fourth '' tlatoani'' (ruler) of Tlatelolco. He died in 1473 in the Battle of Tlatelolco, a military conflict fought between Tlatelolco and Tenochtitlan. Moquihuix was married to Chalchiuhnenetz ...

, by Tenochtitlan. Tlatelolco was governed by Cuauhtlatoque until the death of

Itzquauhtzin Itzquauhtzin ( 9 Reed (1475)Chimalpahin (1997): pp. 140–141. – 2 Flint (1520)Chimalpahin (1997): pp. 158–159.) was a king (''tlatoani'') of Nahua ''altepetl'' Tlatelolco. He was mentioned in ''Chimalpahin Codex''. Biography Itzquauhtzin ...

in 1520 CE. The title is also used in some histories compiled in the early post-conquest era, when referring to the (semi-legendary) leaders of the Mexica (the later Aztecs) during their migrations from the north into 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 ...

, before their founding 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 ...

and the subsequent expansion into empire. The early 17th-century

Nahua 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, a ...

historian Chimalpahin wrote of a succession of ''cuauhtlatoani'' office holders during this pre-foundational period:Pp. 80-112. *

Cuauhtlequetzqui Cuauhtlequetzqui or Cuauhtliquetzqui is an Aztec name meaning ''rising eagle'' and used by several historical people. The most important of the people with this name was born between 1250 and 1260, his father also was called Cuauhtlequetzqui, a ...

(1116-1153) *Acacihtli (1153-1167) *Citlalitzin (1167-1182) *Tzimpantzin (1182-1184) *Tlazohtzin (1184-1188) *Iztacmixcoatzin or Iztacmixcohuatl (1188-1233) * Tozcuecuextli (1233-1272)

Notes

References

* * * * Aztec History of the Aztecs {{mesoamerica-stub