Azteca

Azteca is the term used for the Mexica people and their empire in central Mexico from the 14th through the early 16th century. The core region was the Valley of Mexico, and the Mexica founded the city of Tenochtitlan around 1325 on islands in Lake Texcoco. In 1428 they formed the Triple Alliance with Texcoco and Tlacopan, which became the basis for an expansive empire.

The empire was governed as a rotating system of tribute and conquest by a noble class under a supreme ruler. Society included calpulli (clans), professional soldiers, and pochteca merchants. The economy rested on intensive agriculture, especially chinampas (floating fields), as well as market exchange and tribute from conquered territories.

Culture and religion were central: monumental temples such as the Templo Mayor dominated the capital, and Nahuatl was the lingua franca for administration and scholarship; writing used pictographic codices. The Mexica worshipped a pantheon led by Huitzilopochtli and Quetzalcoatl, and practiced rituals including human sacrifice linked to cosmology and tribute obligations. The calendar system combined a 365-day xiuhpohualli with a 260-day tonalpohualli.

The empire fell after the Spanish arrived in 1519; Cortés allied with indigenous rivals and smallpox devastated populations. Tenochtitlan fell in 1521, marking the end of the empire and the beginning of colonial New Spain. In modern times, "Azteca" remains a widely used label for the historical civilization and is part of the name of contemporary Mexico-based media and cultural identities; many descendants identify as Nahua or Mexica.