{"id":2449,"date":"2018-08-21T06:42:44","date_gmt":"2018-08-21T06:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/?p=2449"},"modified":"2026-02-25T08:16:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T08:16:30","slug":"how-did-the-aztec-control-other-mesoamerican-city-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/how-did-the-aztec-control-other-mesoamerican-city-states\/","title":{"rendered":"How Did the Aztec Control Other Mesoamerican City-States?: A Detailed Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Following the\u00a0Aztec\u2019s\u00a0founding and construction of\u00a0Tenochtitlan<\/a>\u00a0in the Valley of Mexico in 1325, they quickly established their authority across the other societies in the valley.\u00a0 At the time the Valley of Mexico was populated by many different powerful civilizations, including: Chalco, Tepanec, Tlacopan, Texcoco, Culhuacan, and Chichimec. Several of these civilizations were also on the shores of Lake Texcoco, including the Culhuacan which were on the south shore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

AZTEC WARFARE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the ways in which the Aztec expanded in strength and wealth at the time was by acting as mercenaries and warriors<\/a> for other societies in the region.\u00a0 For example, in the decades after the founding of Tenochtitlan they worked as warriors for the Tepanec people.\u00a0 The Tepanec used the Aztec to help with their battles and campaigns in the region against other rival societies.\u00a0 For their help the Aztec received portions of the wealth that the Tepanec gathered from the societies that they defeated.\u00a0 As a result, the city of Tenochtitlan grew in importance and wealth throughout the 14th and 15th centuries.\u00a0 In general though, the Aztec were subjects of the more powerful Tepanec and Aztec leaders were only allowed to remain in power by paying tribute to the Tepanec.\u00a0 Also, during this time period, Aztec rulers increased the power of their society by forming strong alliances with other societies around Lake Texcoco.\u00a0 However, the relationship between the Aztecs and the Tepanec soon became strained and a conflict emerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Aztec
Aztec warfare as represented in the Codex Tovar.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

AZTEC TRIPLE ALLIANCE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Itzcoatl<\/a>\u00a0became the leader of the Aztec in 1427 and became the fourth tlatoani<\/a> of the Aztec people.\u00a0 He reigned over the Aztec Empire from 1427 until 1440, and is best remembered as the leader who saw the Aztecs become the most powerful Mesoamerican society in the Valley of Mexico.\u00a0 For example, as leader he famously formed an alliance with two other societies in the area in order to overthrow their mutual rivals.\u00a0 The Aztecs, Texcoco and Tlacopan joined forces in 1428 to create the Triple Alliance<\/a>.\u00a0 Together they fought against the Tepanec and challenged them for superiority in the Valley of Mexico.\u00a0 Over time the three were able to overpower all other societies in the Valley of Mexico.\u00a0 As well, the Aztec became the strongest of the Triple Alliance and Tenochtitlan became the center of power in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Aztec
Texcoco, Tenochtitlan and Tlacop\u00e1n of the Triple Alliance. (Osuna Codex)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

EXPANSION OF THE AZTEC EMPIRE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

All of the Aztec rulers at this time pushed forward with expanding the Aztec Empire<\/a> across Mexico and strengthening the power of Tenochtitlan.\u00a0 In fact, the city grew in size and importance during this time as the Aztec culture came to dominate the region.\u00a0 For example, by the early 16th century, Tenochtitlan is estimated to have been three to five square miles (eight to thirteen square kilometers), and have a population of between 200,000 and 300,000 people.\u00a0 This means that it was one of the largest cities in the world at the time and larger than any in Europe.\u00a0 As well, the Aztec Empire had spread far from the Valley of Mexico during this time and, at its height, the empire consisted of land across most of central Mexico including the coastlines in both the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean.\u00a0 This vast expansion meant that the Aztec had conquered and suppressed many different groups of Mesoamerican peoples.\u00a0 The Aztec controlled these different societies by forcing them to provide tributes for payment and\u00a0ritual sacrifice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Map
Map of the Aztec Empire and Aztec Triple Alliance by History Crunch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

For example, conquered city-states, which are referred to as \u2018altepetl\u2019, were allowed to maintain their current rulers and religion so long as they met several requirements, including: support the Aztec Empire and tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, pay tribute to Tenochtitlan, and include the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli<\/a> in their own religious beliefs<\/a> and practices.\u00a0 Any altepetl that did not follow these conditions were often severely punished by the powerful Aztec military which would attack the city and destroy temples and public buildings.\u00a0 While this allowed the Aztecs to become the most powerful society in all of Mesoamerica<\/a>, it also caused them to create many enemies from the surrounding city-states that they controlled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time of the arrival of Spanish conquistadors to the Aztec territory in 1519, the Aztecs were the most powerful society in all of Mesoamerica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"How
Artistic representation of Aztec warriors. Aztec warriors and warfare played a crucial role in the expansion of the Aztec Empire.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Aztec controlled many of the other city-states in the Valley of Mexico through several different methods, including: military control, political intimidation and alliances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,80],"tags":[77,15,79],"class_list":["post-2449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aztec-empire","category-mesoamerica","tag-aztec-empire","tag-history","tag-mesoamerica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5743,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449\/revisions\/5743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}