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Aztec

Circa 1150 CE, the Mexica people migrated from Aztlán, in the south, to Mexico (later named for them). They founded Tenochtitlan in lake Texcoco and became the Aztec triple alliance. Tenochtitlan was modeled on, and only a days walk from Teotihuacan.

Chichimec ancestors

Nahuatl speakers, including the Aztec and Tlaxcalans, claimed the Chichimec as holy ancestors.

The Chichimec were an ascetic desert and forest folk who rejected corn, clothes, and religion.

Note: Rousseau's description of the State of Nature is remarkably similar to Aztec descriptions of the Chichimec.

See, Enlightenment books were often about Americans.

Tenochtitlan v. Tlaxcala

Circa 1560 CE, when Cortés arrived, Tenochtitlan and Tlaxcala were two rival cities. Tenochtitlan was the Sparta to Tlaxcala's Athens. Like Athens, Tlaxcala was a relatively unique democracy amidst oligarchies.

Tlaxcala's democracy is evidenced by (a) Cortés, Motolinía, and other Spanish reports (b) the urban plan. Tlaxcala featured grand plazas (for public debate) and universally high quality housing. There was no palace or ball court.

According to the reports of Motolinía, at Cholula and other Aztec cities leadership, the Teuctli, rotated between elites. Aztec leaders, like Moctezuma, who were merely speakers for a confederation of noble families. But at Tlaxcala, the Teuctli were elected. The Tlaxcalans also recognized that elections aren't democracy.

Tlaxcala agreed to help Cortés defeat the Aztec

At first, Tlaxcala resisted Cortés. They lost every battle with the Spanish, but the Spanish force was small, so they were winning by attrition.

With Cortés camped outside Tlaxcala's gates, the Ayuntamiento (city council) debated whether it might be better to ally with Cortés. Some, like Maxîxcatzin, argued that with Cortés, they could finally defeat their rivals, the Teotihuacans. Xicotencatl the elder, 100 years old and blind, gave an impassioned speech in opposition:

They are no gods, they are insatiable, they act in the way of those who would be cruel masters, why would we, who have no kings, spill our blood to make ourselves slaves...

The Ayuntamiento was divided. Temilotecutl offered a creative synthesis: Xicotencatl the Younger would ambush Cortés after inviting him in. If the ambush failed, they'd denounce Xicotencatl the Younger as a rouge, and ally with Cortés. The ambush failed.

Without the Tlaxcalans, Cortés and his 1000 Spaniards could never have captured the 250,000 Aztecs of Tenochtitlan.

The Aztec were vulnerable to colonization

The Aztec (and Inca) empires were ideal subjects for colonization because they had:

  1. Identifiable kings and capitals that could be captured.
  2. People accustomed to obedience, and the infrastructure of social control.
  3. Resentful subjects & neighbors willing to ally with Europeans.

Contrast with: Maya who still resist European control.