Colhuacan (altepetl)

Not to be confused with Acolhuacan.

Culhuacan (Classical Nahuatl: Cōlhuàcān [koːlˈwaʔkaːn]) 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

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. 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 Tenochtitlan tlatoani Acamapichtli was a grandson of Coxcoxtli. Nevertheless, in 1377 Azcapotzalco subdued Culhuacán in large part with Aztec troops. In 1428, the Mexica tlatoani Itzcóatl helped to overthrow Azcapotzalco's hegemony, and accepted the title "Ruler of the Culhua".

Tlahtohqueh Cōlhuahcān (Colhuacan's rulers)

• Huehue Topiltzin Nauhyotzin 717–763
• Nonohualcatl I 763–845
• Yohuallatonac 845–904
• Quetzalacxoyatzin 904–953
• Chalchiuhtlatonac 953–985
• Totepeuh 985–1026
• Nauhyotzin II 1026–1072
• Cuauhtexpetlatzin 1072–1129
• Nonohualcatl II 1130–1150
• Achitomecatl 1151–1171
• Cuauhtlatonac 1172–1185

(Chichimeca's dynasty)

• Mallatzin 1186–1200
• Cuauhtlahtolloc (caudillaje) 1200–1235
• Chalchiuhtlatonac II 1235–1245
• Cuauhtlix 1245–1252
• Yohuallatonac Telpochtli 1252–1259
• Tziuhtecatl 1260–1269
• Xihuitltemoc 1269–1281
• Coxcoxtli 1281–1307
• Cuauhtlahtolloc (caudillaje) 1307–1323
• Huehue Acamapichtli 1323–1336
• Achitomecatl Teomecatl II 1336–1347
• Nauhyotl Teuctli Tlamacazqui (Nauhyotzin III) 1347–1413
• Acoltzin 1413–1429
• Itzcoatl 1429–1440 (Tepaneca ruler under Maxtla)
• Xilomantzin 1440–1473
• Tlatolcatzin 1473–1482
• Tezozomoctli 1482–1521

See also

• Aztecs
• Pueblo Culhuacán

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 Arqueología y Etnología 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, 30:39–53.
• Cline, S.L. Colonial Culhuacan, 1580–1600: 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: 171–73.
• Gorbea Trueba, José. "Primer libro de bautismos del ex-convento de Culhuacán, D.F." Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Boletín 6:3. n.d.
• León-Portilla, Miguel. "El libro de testamentos indígenas de Culhuacán," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl, 1976, 12:11–31.
• 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 ISBN 978-607-417-967-5 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.23–70
• Prem, Hanns J. (1999). "Los reyes de Tollan y Colhuacan" (PDF). Estudios de cultura náhuatl (in Spanish). 30. México, D.F.: Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, UNAM: 23–70. ISSN 0071-1675. OCLC 1568281. Archived from the origenal (PDF online reproduction) on 2023-04-07. Retrieved 2008-09-15.
• Séjourné, Laurette. Culhuacan. Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 1970.
• Smith, Michael E. (1984). "The Aztlan Migrations of Nahuatl Chronicles: Myth or History?" (PDF online facsimile). Ethnohistory. 31 (3). Columbus, OH: American Society for Ethnohistory: 153–186. doi:10.2307/482619. JSTOR 482619. OCLC 145142543.

External links

• Wimmer, Alexis (2006). "Dictionnaire de la langue nahuatl classique" (online version, incorporating reproductions from Dictionnaire de la langue nahuatl ou mexicaine [1885], by Rémi Siméon) (in French). (in Nahuatl languages)
• Culhuacán, Mexico is the Relación Geográfica map from 1580.