Nahua

The general name scholars have given to those indigenous people of central Mexico who spoke Nahuatl as their primary language, including such specific groups as the Toltecs, Tlaxcalan, and Aztecs.

Nahua had lived in central Mexico at least since the end of the classic period, roughly A. D. 600 to 800. They formed one of the largest ethnic groups in Mesoamerica, with several million members. The Nahua retained a strong ethnic identity, regarding themselves as the most “civilized” people of Mexico. The first group of Nahua who rose to political prominence was the Toltecs. Under the Toltecs Nahuatl became the lingua franca of Mesoamerica, with soldiers, politicians, and merchants using it from the American Southwest to Guatemala. After the Toltec kingdom disintegrated after 1150, little political unity existed among the Nahua. Over the next 200 years several Nahua kingdoms emerged and faded. Although they were not politically unified, these petty states did maintain a basic cultural uniformity that survived the political upheavals of the time. By 1450 two large Nahua states arose to dominate Mexico again—the Aztecs and the Tlaxcalan. Although culturally similar, these two states were bitter political rivals.

The basic political organization of the Nahua was the altepetl, which usually centered in a large town and its hinterland. For organizational purposes, the altepetl usually had four, eight, or 16 components (called calpulli). Instead of direct, universal taxation, one calpulli supported the administrative and religious costs of the altepetl as a whole for one year, before another calpulli took its turn. Scholars refer to this as a form of rotating, cellular organization that was particular to the Nahua. The altepetl was the basis for everything in Nahua society. Each altepetl had its own patron god, organized its own armies, and administered justice through its own courts. If through conquest, marriage, or some other mechanism a series of altepetls merged, they would often keep their judicial, administrative, and religious apparatus distinct. Thus the Aztec “Empire” was not a unified state like the Roman Empire, but instead a series of Nahua altepetls that all paid tribute to the city of Tenochtitlan. This loose confederate system ultimately doomed the Aztecs, who had no real control over their territories and no efficient way to marshal their territories’ resources. Once the Spaniards arrived, many of the altepetls were only too happy to break with the Aztecs and throw their support behind the invaders.

The Nahua are one of the best understood cultures of the New World. Because they were the dominant culture at the time of the Spaniards’ arrival, most of the early descriptions of Native culture focus on the Nahua. Further, the Spaniards concentrated their settlements in Nahua areas, and the newcomers came into closer contact with them than with any other ethnic group in Mexico. Missionaries, historians, and early natural scientists used Nahua informants for their works, preserving many aspects of Nahua culture, politics, and religion in works such as the Florentine Codex. No other group in ancient Mesoamerica is so well documented. Additionally, many Nahua communities kept copious records in both Spanish and Nahuatl. These have proven to be a gold mine for colonial historians, who have been able to use the wills, court cases, and memoranda to reconstruct Nahua life under Spanish rule. It is clear from these records that the Nahua sense of ethnic identity survived well into the colonial period. Contrary to popular opinion, the Nahua did not abandon their culture while embracing the Spaniards’, but continued to follow their own traditions. Notably, the altepetl system survived as the way to pay taxes, support religious ceremonies, and divide administrative costs.

Although various Nahua political states rose, fell, and fought among themselves, there always remained a clear Nahua identity that served to unify them. This Nahua identity survived the Spanish conquest and slowly adapted to the new regime. Today there are between 1 and 2 million Nahua living in Mexico who continue to speak Nahuatl and maintain their ethnic identity.

Further reading: Michael Coe, Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs, 4th ed. (London: Thames & Hudson, 1994); Charles Gibson, The Aztecs under Spanish Rule (Stanford:, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1964); James Lockhart, The Nahuas after the Conquest (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1992).

—Scott Chamberlain