"The 1989 film ""Retorno a Aztlán"" by Juan Mora Catlett is a work of historical fiction set during the rule of Motecuzoma I, filmed in Nahuatl and with the alternative Nahuatl title ""Necuepaliztli in Aztlan"". In Mexican exploitation B movies of the 1970s, a recurring figure was the ""Aztec mummy"" as well as Aztec ghosts and sorcerers. Aztecs The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec peoples included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large"
"Nahuatl word, probably derived from the word ""nāhuatlahtōlli"" (""clear language""). The language was formerly called ""Aztec"" because it was spoken by the Central Mexican peoples known as Aztecs . During the period of the Aztec empire centered in Mexico-Tenochtitlan the language came to be identified with the politically dominant ""mēxihcah"" ethnic group, and consequently the Nahuatl language was often described as ""mēxihcacopa"" (literally ""in the manner of Mexicas"") or ""mēxihcatlahtolli"" ""Mexica language"". Now, the term ""Aztec"" is rarely used for modern Nahuan languages, but linguists' traditional name of ""Aztecan"" for the branch of Uto-Aztecan that comprises Nahuatl, Pipil, and Pochutec"
"three indigenous languages are spoken in parts of the region today: Nahuatl (a Uto-Aztecan language), spoken especially in Veracruz, but also in San Luis Potosí; Pame (an Oto-Manguean language). spoken in the hilly borderlands of San Luis Potosí and Querétaro; and Huastec (Wastek) (a Maya language), spoken in San Luis Potosí and northernmost Veracruz, and formerly in Tamaulipas. Some would include the Totonac-speaking area, in north-central Veracruz, as part of the Huasteca. The Huastec region was known to the Aztecs (ancestors of today's Nahuatl speakers, who arrived in the Huasteca around 1450) for its fertile abundance, and includes the northernmost"
"History of the Aztecs The Aztecs were a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican people of central Mexico in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. They called themselves Mexicah (pronounced [meˈʃikaʔ]). The capital of the Aztec Empire was Tenochtitlan. During the empire, the city was built on a raised island in Lake Angels. Modern-day Mexico City was constructed on the ruins of Tenochtitlan. The Spanish colonisation of the Americas reached the mainland during the reign of Hueyi Tlatoani Moctezuma II (Montezuma II). In 1521, Hernán Cortés, along with an allied army of other Native Americans, conquered the Aztecs through germ warfare (germ theory not"
"Classical Nahuatl Classical Nahuatl (also known simply as Aztec or Nahuatl) is any of the variants of Nahuatl, spoken in the Valley of Mexico and central Mexico as a ""lingua franca"" at the time of the 16th-century Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. During the subsequent centuries, it was largely displaced by Spanish and evolved into some of the modern Nahuan languages in use today (other modern dialects descend more directly from other 16th-century variants). Although classified as an extinct language, Classical Nahuatl has survived through a multitude of written sources transcribed by Nahua peoples and Spaniards in the Latin"
"the Toluca Valley was the home to speakers of at least four languages: Otomi, Matlatzinca, Mazahua, and Nahuatl. Thus speakers of any of these languages could be called “Matlatzinca” if they resided in the Toluca Valley. When the Aztec native historical sources or the Spanish chroniclers refer to “the Matlatzinca” it is often not clear where they mean speakers of the Matlatzinca language, the peoples of the Toluca Valley, or even the inhabitants of Calixtlahuaca. The Matlatzinca language is part of the Oto-Pamean subgroup of the Oto-Manguean language family, which also includes Otomi, Mazahua, Pame and Chichimeca Jonaz. Linguistically the"
"would eventually break the alliance, but not until decades later. History of the Aztecs The Aztecs were a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican people of central Mexico in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. They called themselves Mexicah (pronounced [meˈʃikaʔ]). The capital of the Aztec Empire was Tenochtitlan. During the empire, the city was built on a raised island in Lake Angels. Modern-day Mexico City was constructed on the ruins of Tenochtitlan. The Spanish colonisation of the Americas reached the mainland during the reign of Hueyi Tlatoani Moctezuma II (Montezuma II). In 1521, Hernán Cortés, along with an allied army of other Native"
"700 A.D.) and the much debated Toltec people who flourished around the 10th and 12th centuries A.D., and ending with the last great indigenous civilization before the Spanish Conquest, the Aztecs (13 March 1325 to 13 August 1521). The Nahuatl language was a common tongue in the region of modern Central Mexico during the Aztec Empire, but after the arrival of Europeans the common language of the region became Spanish. After the conquest of the Aztec empire, the Spanish re-administered the land and expanded their own empire beyond the former boundaries of the Aztec, adding more territory to the Mexican"
"which included Nahuatl speakers as well as speakers of Otomi and the language today called Matlatzinca. Most Aztec cities had a similar layout with a central plaza with a major pyramid with two staircases and a double temple oriented towards the west. Aztec religion was organized around the practice of calendar rituals dedicated to a pantheon of different deities. Similar to other Mesoamerican religious systems, it has generally been understood as a polytheist agriculturalist religion with elements of animism. Central in the religious practice was the offering of sacrifices to the deities, as a way of thanking or paying for"
"before being documented. Uto-Aztecan languages Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a family of indigenous languages of the Americas, consisting of over 30 languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found almost entirely in the Western United States and Mexico. The name of the language family was created to show that it includes both the Ute language of Utah and the Nahuan languages (also known as Aztecan) of Mexico. The Uto-Aztecan language family is one of the largest linguistic families in the Americas in terms of number of speakers, number of languages, and geographic extension. The northernmost Uto-Aztecan language is Shoshoni, which is spoken as"
"contact with the rest of Mesoamerica. Probably as a result of their isolationist policy the Purépecha language is the only language of Mesoamerica to not show any of the traits associated with the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area. In Guerrero the Tlapanecs of Yopitzinco speaking the Oto-Manguean Tlapanec language remained independent of the Aztec empire as did some of the Oaxacan cultures such as the Mixtecs of Tututepec and the Zapotec of Zaachila. In the late postclassic around 1400 CE Zapotecs of Zaachila moved into the Isthmus of Tehuantepec creating a wedge of Zapotec speaking settlements between the former neighbors the Mixe"
"is part of the Otomanguean family of languages, a family found in Mesoamerican that includes Zapotec, another indigenous language found in Oaxaca. Mixtec speakers arrived in Oaxaca, notably the Alta region, during the early Formative period, 1500-750 BCE. Agriculture formed the base for Mixtec civilization and agricultural villages have been dated to 1350 BCE. Today Mixtec speakers are still found in Oaxaca and the neighboring regions of Puebla and Guerrero, though migration is spreading Mixtec speakers across Mexico and through the United States. The early Classic period, 200 BCE – 300 CE, found the Mixtec civilization becoming more complex, with"
"for about 1,000 years, being abandoned only after the Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire. Calixtlahuaca is in the north of the valley, just north of present-day Toluca which dates from the Toltec period. By the late 15th century, it was a powerful city state that controlled much of the Toluca Valley and was the main target of Aztec conquest. In the Post Classic period (900-1519 CE) the valley was a complex linguistic mosaic with speakers of at least four languages, Matlatzinca, Mazahua, Otomi and Nahuatl . Aztec mythology mentions Matzalinco in stories related to their migration to the Valley"
"Uto-Aztecan languages Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a family of indigenous languages of the Americas, consisting of over 30 languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found almost entirely in the Western United States and Mexico. The name of the language family was created to show that it includes both the Ute language of Utah and the Nahuan languages (also known as Aztecan) of Mexico. The Uto-Aztecan language family is one of the largest linguistic families in the Americas in terms of number of speakers, number of languages, and geographic extension. The northernmost Uto-Aztecan language is Shoshoni, which is spoken as far north as"
"Cazcan language Cazcan, or Caxcan (Kaskán), was the language of the Caxcan, one of the Chichimeca peoples of Mexico. It is known only from a few word lists recorded in the 16th and 17th centuries. The language was definitely part of the Uto-Aztecan family, probably related to Huichol or possibly Southern Tepehuan. There appear to have been dialectical differences between the major Caxcan valleys, and it is likely that several other languages were spoken in Caxcan territory. Some spoke Nahuatl as well. Among the few words attested are ""cazcan"" ""there isn't any"" (the response to the first Spanish demand for"
"Aztec writing Aztec or Nahuatl writing is pre-Columbian writing system that combines ideographic writing with Nahuatl specific phonetic logograms and syllabic signs which was used in central Mexico by the Nahua people. The majority of the Aztec codices were burned either by Aztec ""tlatoani"" (emperors) for ideological reasons, or by Spanish clergy following the conquest of Mesoamerica. Remaining Aztec codices such as Codex Mendoza, Codex Borbonicus, and Codex Osuna were written on deer hide and plant fiber. The Aztec writing system is adopted from writing systems used in Central Mexico, such as Zapotec writing. Mixtec writing is also thought to"
"Spain. Like many of the peoples around them, the Mexica spoke Nahuatl which, with the expansion of the Aztec Empire, became the lingua franca in other areas, dominating the Tarascan language, Purépecha. The form of Nahuatl used in the 16th century, when it began to be written in the Latin alphabet introduced by the Spanish, became known as Classical Nahuatl. Nahuatl is still spoken today by over 1.5 million people, mostly in Mexico. Mexica The Mexica (Nahuatl: ""Mēxihcah"", (singular ""Mēxihcatl"" ) or Mexicas were a Nahuatl-speaking indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico, known today as the rulers of the"
"ruins now consist of earthen mounds, its importance lies in the information which has been gathered from its steles and other sculpted stone works. Izapa is considered to be where the Mesoamerican ceremonial 260-day calendar was developed. Before the Aztecs, the area was a restless tribute region of Tehuantepec, with the dominant ethnicity being Mame. Tapachultec language was an old language in the area that became extinct in 1930s. In 1486, Aztec emperor Ahuitzotl conquered it; the area was then required to send cotton clothing, bird feathers, jaguar skins, and cacao as tributes. However, rebellions against the Aztecs continued with"
"were recorded. Various theories have been put forth concerning the relationship of their language, including that they spoke a Uto-Aztecan, Tanoan, or Athabaskan (Apache) language. The scant facts about their language indicate that they spoke the same language as the Jano and Jocome peoples who lived to their west, most likely a Uto-Aztecan language related to the Cahitan languages of northwestern Mexico. The first account of the Mansos is from the expedition of Spanish explorer Antonio de Espejo in January 1583. Traveling up the Rio Grande in search of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, Espejo encountered a people he"
"food), ""yecotl"" ""quemedor"", ""aguano"" ""war chief"". Cazcan language Cazcan, or Caxcan (Kaskán), was the language of the Caxcan, one of the Chichimeca peoples of Mexico. It is known only from a few word lists recorded in the 16th and 17th centuries. The language was definitely part of the Uto-Aztecan family, probably related to Huichol or possibly Southern Tepehuan. There appear to have been dialectical differences between the major Caxcan valleys, and it is likely that several other languages were spoken in Caxcan territory. Some spoke Nahuatl as well. Among the few words attested are ""cazcan"" ""there isn't any"" (the response"
"though it is still used for the Aztec Empire. They have also been called ' (singular), ' (plural) or in Spanish ""Mexicans"", after the Mexica, the Nahua tribe which founded and predominated in the Aztec empire. At the turn of the 16th century, Nahua populations occupied territories ranging across modern-day Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua as far south as Panama. These were gradually assimilated into mestizo society in most places. The last of the southern Nahua populations are the Pipil of El Salvador. Nahuatl was a ""lingua franca"" for trade and rule during the apogee of the Aztec empire."
"foods. This is in contrast to typical agricultural cultures in which people received the majority of nutrition from cultivated crops. Little of their language, or languages, was recorded; scholars have not agreed on the language of the La Junta people. The most common guess is that they spoke Uto-Aztecan, but Kiowa–Tanoan and Athapaskan (Apache) have also been suggested. As the La Junta people lived at a crossroads in the desert, they may have been different ethnic groups who spoke multiple languages. For instance, the nomadic Jumano were frequent visitors and trading partners; they may also have been part-time residents of"
"to those from the Nahuatl language. In 1486 the Aztecs established a fort on the hill of Huaxyácac (now called El Fortín), overlooking the present city of Oaxaca. This was the major Aztec military base charged with the enforcement of tribute collection and control of trade routes. However, Aztec rule in Oaxaca would last only a little more than thirty years. Very soon after the fall of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), Spaniards arrived in Oaxaca. Moctezuma II had informed Hernán Cortés that the area had gold. In addition, when Zapotec leaders heard about the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, they"
"to retain and freely continue their own religious traditions, so long as they added the imperial god to their local pantheons. The word ""Aztec"" in modern usage would not have been used by the people themselves. It has variously been used to refer to the Triple Alliance empire, the Nahuatl-speaking people of central Mexico prior to the Spanish conquest, or specifically the Mexica ethnicity of the Nahuatl-speaking peoples. The name comes from a Nahuatl word meaning ""people from Aztlan,"" reflecting the mythical place of origin for Nahua peoples. For the purpose of this article, ""Aztec"" refers only to those cities"
"to the Aztec Empire but retained a large degree of local self-government. The Huastecs were conquered by the Spanish between 1519 and the 1530s. After the Spanish Conquest, many Huastecs were sold as slaves in the Caribbean by the Spanish. The first grammatical and lexical description of the Huastec language accessible to Europeans was by Fray Andrés de Olmos, who also wrote the first such grammars of Nahuatl and Totonac. Studies of language change, especially glottochronology (that is, words changing in form or being replaced by borrowed synonyms), have given linguists the tools to estimate the point in time when"
"use them greatly altered the Native Americans' culture, including changing the way in which they hunted large game. Horses became such a valuable, central element of Native lives that they were counted as a measure of wealth. The Na-Dené, Algic, and Uto-Aztecan families are the largest in terms of number of languages. Uto-Aztecan has the most speakers (1.95 million) if the languages in Mexico are considered (mostly due to 1.5 million speakers of Nahuatl); Na-Dené comes in second with approximately 200,000 speakers (nearly 180,000 of these are speakers of Navajo), and Algic in third with about 180,000 speakers (mainly Cree"
"Huastec language The Wasteko (Huasteco) language is a Mayan language of Mexico, spoken by the Huastecos living in rural areas of San Luis Potosí and northern Veracruz. Though relatively isolated from them, it is related to the Mayan languages spoken further south and east in Mexico and Central America. According to the 2005 population census, there are about 200,000 speakers of Huasteco in Mexico (some 120,000 in San Luis Potosí and some 80,000 in Veracruz). The language and its speakers are also called Teenek, and this name has gained currency in Mexican national and international usage in recent years. The"
"vanish much more quickly (""Hill & Hill, 1980, 321""). Contact in earnest between the two languages began along with the beginning of the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 1519. Prior to that, Nahuatl existed as the dominant language of much of central, southern, and western Mexico, the language of the dominant Aztec culture and Mexica ethnic group. Though the Spanish tried to eradicate much of Mexica culture after their defeat of the Mexica Aztec in their capital of Tenochtitlan in 1521, Aztec culture and the Nahuatl language were spread among a variety of ethnic groups in Mexico, some of whom,"
"Chihuahua, Nayarit, Durango, Zacatecas, Jalisco, Michoacán, Guerrero, San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz, Morelos, Estado de México, and Ciudad de México. Classical Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, and its modern relatives are part of the Uto-Aztecan family. The Pipil language, an offshoot of Nahuatl, spread to Central America by a wave of migration from Mexico, and formerly had many speakers there. Now it has gone extinct in Guatemala and Honduras, and it is nearly extinct in western El Salvador, all areas dominated by use of Spanish. Uto-Aztecan has been accepted by linguists as a language family since the early"
"Pochutec language Pochutec is an extinct Uto-Aztecan language of the Nahuan (or Aztecan) branch which was spoken in and around the town of Pochutla on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, Mexico. In 1917 it was documented in a monograph by Franz Boas, who considered the language nearly extinct. In the 1970s another investigator found two speakers around Pochutla who still remembered a few of the words recorded by Boas. In the early 20th century, scholars disagreed as to the origin of the language within the Nahuan family. Most thought Pochutec was distinct from Nahuatl, and this was proven in 1978,"
"and the appreciation of the beauty of life. The Aztecs distinguished between at least two social registers of language: the language of commoners (""macehuallahtolli"") and the language of the nobility (""tecpillahtolli""). The latter was marked by the use of a distinct rhetorical style. Since literacy was confined mainly to these higher social classes, most of the existing prose and poetical documents were written in this style. An important feature of this high rhetorical style of formal oratory was the use of parallelism, whereby the orator structured their speech in couplets consisting of two parallel phrases. For example: Another kind of"
"about the branch of the Uto-Aztecan languages (also sometimes called the yuto-nahuan languages) that includes the Nahuatl language and its closest relatives Pochutec and Pipil. To the Aztecs themselves the word ""aztec"" was not an endonym for any particular ethnic group. Rather, it was an umbrella term used to refer to several ethnic groups, not all of them Nahuatl-speaking, that claimed heritage from the mythic place of origin, Aztlan. Alexander von Humboldt originated the modern usage of ""Aztec"" in 1810, as a collective term applied to all the people linked by trade, custom, religion, and language to the Mexica state"
"civilization. This period also saw a surge in religious activity within the state leadership of the society. Later, during the “Militaristic stage” of Monte Alban IV to V from around 900 to 1521 A.D., a rise in military influence, common among Mesoamerican societies, led states to become mired in warfare and ""cults of war"". The Zapotecan language group is composed of over 60 variants of Zapotecan, as well as the closely related Chatino language. The major variant is Isthmus Zapotec, which is spoken on the Pacific coastal plain of Southern Oaxaca's Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Though the Zapotecs are now largely"