Pacific Lutheran University

How the did Mexicas, a mixed band of nomadic foragers and agriculturists who wandered the rugged terrain northwest of the Basin of Mexico for 200 years, manage to establish the largest and most powerful empire that Mesoamerica has ever known in a short period of time?  What was responsible for the meteoric ascendancy of Tenochtitlan, their magnificent capital city?  How did they, without the benefit of metal weaponry and draft animals, extend their boundaries to nearly impossible expanses?

What enabled them to strike terror into the hearts of their neighbors, and to force provinces into submission purely by intimidation?  How did they morph themselves from the despised status of chichimec, the hated barbarian outsiders, serving as vassals and mercenaries to the Tepanecs, into the most formidable  power in the  Valley of Mexico?

This website offers:

• A description and an explanation of how the Aztecs were able to accomplish so much in such a brief time. There is a main report "Mexica Institutional Reforms," which tells the story of the society-wide changes in the political economic, and social systems which were started in 1428, and which enabled the Mexica to succeed at empire building.

• A page of maps, illustrating the growth of the empire over time.

• Four essays, describing various aspects of the Mexica culture and their relationship to the 1428 reforms.