Techotlalatzin

Techotlalatzin from Codex Xolotl

Techotlalatzin (or Techotlala, removing the Classical Nahuatl honorific -tzin) was the ruler (tlatoani) of the pre-Columbian Mesoamerican city-state of Texcoco from 1357^[1] or 1377^[2] until his death in 1409. Techotlalatzin was the first ruler of the Acolhua who actively adopted the prevailing culture of the Valley of Mexico, including the Nahuatl language.^[3]

The son of Quinatzin, Techotlalatzin was able to build a small Acolhua-dominated domain on the eastern side of Lake Texcoco, although this domain was apparently under the influence or even loose control of the Tepanec empire of his contemporary, Tezozomoc of Azcapotzalco.

Techotlalatzin was succeeded by his son, Ixtlilxochitl I, who challenged the power of Tezozomoc and lost.

Early sources for Techotlalatzin include Fray Juan de Torquemada, Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl, Juan Bautista de Pomar, and Codex Xolotl, although these sources at times present conflicting information (in fact, they are often internally inconsistent).

Notes

1. Offner (1979, p.231).
2. Davies (1980, p.61).
3. Davies (1980, p.129); Smith (1984, p.170). Smith himself further references Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl, Juan Bautista de Pomar, and Chimalpahin.

References

• Davies, Nigel (1980). The Toltec Heritage: From the Fall of Tula to the Rise of Tenochtitlan (Civilization of the American Indian Series, Vol. 153). Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-1505-X.
• Offner, Jerome A. (1979). "A Reassessment of the Extent and Structuring of the Empire of Techotlalatzin, Fourteenth Century Ruler of Texcoco". Ethnohistory (Duke University Press) 26 (3): 231–241. doi:10.2307/481560. JSTOR 481560.
• Smith, Michael E. (1984). "The Aztlan Migrations of Nahuatl Chronicles: Myth or History?" (PDF). Ethnohistory (Duke University Press) 31 (3): 153–186. doi:10.2307/482619. JSTOR 482619.

External links

•  "Techotlalatzin". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1889.