Culhuacan ( ) was one of the Nahuatl-speaking pre-Columbian city-states of the Valley of Mexico. According to tradition, Culhuacan was founded by the Toltecs under Mixcoatl and was the first Toltec city. The Nahuatl speakers agreed that Culhuacán was the first city to give its rulers the title of "speaker" (tlatoani). In the sixteenth century following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Culhuacan was incorporated into colonial New Spain and called a pueblo, but in local-level documentation in Nahuatl, residents continued to use the designation altepetl for their settlement.
History
Traditionally the Culhua were said to have originated in a place called Tecolhuacan, beyond Tollan, but migrated to Tollan and participated in the Toltec culture, where they worshipped Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca. Later, their patron deities were Cinteotl and Cihuacoatl.
Culhuacan was perhaps the first of the chinampa towns founded on the shores of Lake Xochimilco, with chinampas dating to 1100 C.E. From written records there is evidence that Culhuacan survived the fall of Tollan and maintained its prestige until the mid-14th century. The Culhua subjugated a number of towns including Ocuilan, Malinalco, Xochimilco and Cuitlahuac, possibly allied with the Tepanec of Azcapotzalco and the Acolhua of Coatlinchan. According to the Crónica Mexicayotl, transcribed in 1609, in 1299, Culhuacan's tlatoani, Coxcoxtli, helped the Tepanecs of Azcapotzalco, the Xochimilca and other cities expel the Mexica from Chapultepec. Coxcoxtli then gave the Mexica permission to settle in the barren land of Tizaapan, southwest of Chapultepec, and they became vassals of Culhuacan. The Mexica subsequently assimilated into Culhuacan's culture and their warriors provided mercenaries for its wars.
The Mexica tlatoani Acamapichtli was a grandson of Coxcoxtli. Nevertheless, in 1377 Azcapotzalco subdued Culhuacán in large part with Aztec troops, causing many of the Culhua to seek refuge in Acolhuacan, Azcapotzalco, and Cuauhtitlan. In 1428, the Mexica tlatoani Itzcóatl helped to overthrow Azcapotzalco's hegemony, and accepted the title "Ruler of the Culhua".
Tlahtohqueh CÃ
ÂlhuahcÃÂn (Colhuacan's rulers)
- Huehue Topiltzin Nauhyotzin 717âÂÂ763
- Nonohualcatl I 763âÂÂ845
- Yohuallatonac 845âÂÂ904
- Quetzalacxoyatzin 904âÂÂ953
- Chalchiuhtlatonac 953âÂÂ985
- Totepeuh 985âÂÂ1026
- Nauhyotzin II 1026âÂÂ1072
- Cuauhtexpetlatzin 1072âÂÂ1129
- Nonohualcatl II 1130âÂÂ1150
- Achitomecatl 1151âÂÂ1171
- Cuauhtlatonac 1172âÂÂ1185
(Chichimeca dynasty)
- Mallatzin 1186âÂÂ1200
- Cuauhtlahtolloc (caudillaje) 1200âÂÂ1235
- Chalchiuhtlatonac II 1235âÂÂ1245
- Cuauhtlix 1245âÂÂ1252
- Yohuallatonac Telpochtli 1252âÂÂ1259
- Tziuhtecatl 1260âÂÂ1269
- Xihuitltemoc 1269âÂÂ1281
- Coxcoxtli 1281âÂÂ1307
- Cuauhtlahtolloc (caudillaje) 1307âÂÂ1323
- Huehue Acamapichtli 1323âÂÂ1336
- Achitomecatl Teomecatl II 1336âÂÂ1347
- Nauhyotl Teuctli Tlamacazqui (Nauhyotzin III) 1347âÂÂ1413
- Acoltzin 1413âÂÂ1429
- Itzcoatl 1429âÂÂ1440 (Tepaneca ruler under Maxtla)
- Xilomantzin 1440âÂÂ1473
- Tlatolcatzin 1473âÂÂ1482
- Tezozomoctli 1482âÂÂ1521
See also
References
Further reading
- Brenner, Anita. The Influence of Technique on the Decorative Style in the Domestic Pottery of Culhuacan, Mexico. Publicación de la Escuela Internacional de ArqueologÃÂa y EtnologÃÂa Americana 1931.
- Cline, S.L. "Land Tenure and Land Inheritance in late Sixteenth-Century Culhuacan," in Explorations in Ethnohistory, H.R. Harvey and Hanns J. Prem, eds. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press 1984.
- Cline, S.L. "A Legal Process at the Local Level: Estate Division in Sixteenth-Century Mexico," in Five Centuries of Law and Politics in Central Mexico, Ronald Spores and Ross Hassig, editors. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Publications in Anthropology 1984, 30:39âÂÂ53.
- Cline, S.L. Colonial Culhuacan, 1580âÂÂ1600: A Social History of an Aztec Town. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press 1986.
- Gallegos, Gonzalo. "Relación Geográfica de Culhuacan," Revista Mexicana de Estudios Históricos 1(6)1927: 171âÂÂ73.
- Gorbea Trueba, José. "Primer libro de bautismos del ex-convento de Culhuacán, D.F." Instituto Nacional de AntropologÃÂa e Historia, BoletÃÂn 6:3. n.d.
- León-Portilla, Miguel. "El libro de testamentos indÃÂgenas de Culhuacán," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl, 1976, 12:11âÂÂ31.
- León-Portilla, Miguel and Sarah Cline, editors. Los Testamentos de Culhuacán: Vida y Muerte entre los Nahuas del México Central, siglo XVI. Transcripciones del náhuatl, traducciones al español e inglés. Edited with the collaboration of Juan Carlos Torres López. México: Universidad Iberoamericana digital, open access publication
- Pohl, John M. D. 1991. Aztec, Mixtec and Zapotec Armies. Osprey.
- Prem, Hanns J. "Los reyes de Tollan y Colhuacan" Estudios de cultura náhuatl volume 30, (1999) pp.23âÂÂ70
- Séjourné, Laurette. Culhuacan. Mexico: Instituto Nacional de AntropologÃÂa e Historia, 1970.
External links