No one knows the true origins of the Aztec people. Legend claims that Huitzilopochtli, the patron god of the Aztecs, gave the people their original name—Mexica. (A patron god is one who is honored as the protector of a particular people, place, or thing.) Only the myths
_of the Aztecs remain to tell us
Where they came from and how they began.
The tale begins in Aztlan, the legendary first home of the Aztecs. The name means “place of the herons” in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs and other nearby peoples. The Aztec legends say that in Aztlan, seven tribes lived in seven caves. The tribes were the Acolhua, Tepanecs, Xochimilca, Tlalhuica, Tlaxcalans, Chalca, and Aztecs. Together, all these people were known as the Chichimec. They were hunter-gatherers and lived a simple existence. Hunter-gatherers are people who hunt game animals, fish, and gather wild fruit, roots, nuts, and berries to feed themselves. They spent most of their time searching for food.
At some point, the first six tribes left the caves. But the land where they settled became extremely dry and suffered from a long drought (a prolonged period with no rain). As food became more difficult to find, the tribes had no choice but to leave. Eventually, they settled in the Valley of Mexico. This was not a joint venture, however. The six individual tribes traveled in search of six separate homes. Each tribe established its own culture.
The Aztecs did not leave with the others. They stayed behind waiting for a message from their gods, who would tell them when to leave. Some 300 years later, an eagle came to rest near the Aztecs’ cave and cried out, “Let us go.” The people took this as a sign that it was finally time for them to leave. Other Aztec legends say that it was the god Huitzilopochtli who told the people to leave.
The Aztecs left Aztlan in about 1100. They became nomads— wandering people with no permanent home—and had very little luck in finding a good place to settle. For a time, they found a temporary home at Tula, the city of the Toltecs. At that point, the Toltec civilization was declining. As the last of the Toltecs followed their king-priest, Huemac, in leaving their capital, the Aztecs moved on, as well.
Having left one great but ruined city, the Aztecs arrived in another great city that had also been abandoned. This was Teotihuacan, known as the home of the gods (although it had been built by the Olmecs). The Aztecs were impressed by the two great pyramids and the temple to the god Quetzalcoatl. They studied the paintings on the walls that told them the story of the people who had once lived in Teotihuacan.
World History
