The Toltec culture was a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology, reaching prominence from 950 to 1150 CE. The later Aztec culture considered the Toltec to be their intellectual and cultural predecessors and described Toltec culture emanating from Tōllān as the epitome of civilization. In the Nahuatl language the word Tōltēkatl (singular) or Tōltēkah (plural) came to take on the meaning "artisan". The Aztec oral and pictographic tradition also described the history of the Toltec Empire, giving lists of rulers and their exploits.
911 (CMXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar.
Tula de Allende is a town and one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo in central-eastern Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 305.8 km2 (118.07 sq mi), and as of 2010, the municipality had a total population of 103,919. The municipality includes numerous smaller outlying towns, the largest of which are El Llano, San Marcos, and San Miguel Vindho. It is a regional economic center and one of Mexico's fastest growing cities. However, it is best known as the home of the Tula archeological site, noted for its Atlantean figures. Its built-up area made up of Atotonilco de Tula, Atitalaquia, Tlaxcoapan municipalities was home to 188,659 inhabitants at the 2010 census.
Tollan, Tolan, or Tolán is a name used for the capital cities of two empires of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica; first for Teotihuacan, and later for the Toltec capital, Tula, both in Mexico. The name has also been applied to the Postclassic Mexican settlement Cholula.
Acamapichtli was the first Tlatoani, or king, of the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan, and founder of the Aztec imperial dynasty. Chronicles differ as to the dates of his reign: according to the Codex Chimalpahin, he reigned from 1367 to 1387; according to the Codex Aubin, he reigned from 1376 to 1395; and according to the Codex Chimalpopoca, he reigned from 1350 to 1403.
Tlacopan, also called Tacuba, was a Tepanec / Mexica altepetl on the western shore of Lake Texcoco. The site is today the neighborhood of Tacuba, in Mexico City.
Don Diego de Alvarado Huanitzin was a 16th-century Nahua noble. A grandson of Axayacatl, Nephew of tlatoani Moctezuma II. He was initially the tlatoani (ruler) of Ecatepec before becoming tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, as well as its first governor under the colonial Spanish system of government.
Toltecayotl is a Nahuatl word derived from "tōltēcatl" which as used by the Nahuas to refer to the members of the Toltec civilization that preceded them in the basin of Mexico, as well as a generalized meaning of "artisan".
The Tepanecs or Tepaneca are a Mesoamerican people who arrived in the Valley of Mexico in the late 12th or early 13th centuries. The Tepanec were a sister culture of the Aztecs as well as the Acolhua and others—these tribes spoke the Nahuatl language and shared the same general pantheon, with local and tribal variations.
Tultitlán de Mariano Escobedo is the fourth largest town in and municipal seat of the municipality of Tultitlán located in the northeastern part of the State of México in Mexico. It lies adjacent to the northern tip of the Federal District and is part of the Greater Mexico City urban area. Both the city and the municipality are interchangeably known as San Antonio Tultitlán or simply Tultitlán, a name which comes from Náhuatl meaning "among the tule plants". "de Mariano Escobedo" was added to the city's name in 1902 in honor of the general who fought in the Mexican–American War and for the liberals during the period of La Reforma with Benito Juárez.
Acacitli was a Mexica chief and one of the "founding fathers" of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire.
Pulque, occasionally known as octli or agave wine, is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented sap of the maguey (agave) plant. It is traditional in central Mexico, where it has been produced for millennia. It has the color of milk, a rather viscous consistency and a sour yeast-like taste.
Aguamiel is the sap of the Mexican maguey plant which is believed to have therapeutic qualities. According to Native American histories, the process of obtaining aguamiel from maguey was first discovered during the reign of Tecpancaltzin by a Toltec noble named Papantzin, whose daughter Xochitl was sent to the king with an offering of aguamiel. The sap is found in abundance among the agave plants which grow among the ruins of the Teotihuacan civilization. Also called honeywater it has been used in Mexico as a medicine. In its fermented state it has been enjoyed as a beverage for centuries. The particularly viscous beer made from Aguamiel is known as pulque in Mexico. It was available commercially beginning in 1910 and its sale was emphasized only in California prior to late 1928.
Xóchitl is the Hispanicized version of "xōchitl", the Nahuatl word for flower is a given name that is somewhat common in Mexico and among Chicanos for girls. The name has been a common Nahuatl name among Nahuas for hundreds of years. It was recorded on an early-16th century census of the Aztec people in the villages of Huitzillan and Quauchichinollan, where it was found to be the tenth most common name among boys. In a 1590 census, the boys name Xōchipepe was recorded, as well as the girls' names of Ēlōxōchitl (magnolia), Miyāoaxōchitl, and Xīlōxōch (calliandra), which all draw from Xochitl.
Chichen Itza and Tula have numerous architectural similarities in a number of their constructions. This Toltec-Maya connection is widely considered powerful, unprecedented, and unique in Mesoamerica. Unlike most Maya sites, some of Chichen Itza's buildings have the traits of the Toltecs, a historically powerful indigenous group from modern-day Mexico. The explanation of these similarities is a point of controversy among the scholars of the Toltec and Maya fields. Certain historical records caused many early scholars of the region to assume that a Toltec invasion from Tula, Hidalgo, usually placed in the ninth or tenth centuries, was responsible for a new wave of Mexican-style Maya buildings after the rest of the buildings in Chichen Itza were built. Other historical accounts imply a migration from Tula to Chichen Itza. An account of the Tula records a ruler of the Toltecs travelling east, which, paired with another account of Chichen that records a ruler from the west coming and teaching the Maya of that city many things, supported a direct influence of the Toltecs on the Maya around 900–1000 A.D. However, recent radiocarbon dating suggests that Chichen Itza's ‘mexicanized’ and pure Maya constructions were built at the same time, and that both were built prior to any recorded Toltec invasion, and prior to the banishing of the semi-historical ruler. The precise connection between these two nations is unknown, and fiercely contested among scholars of Toltecs and Maya, but it is not disputed that no other counterparts to these two cities are found in the 800 mile distance between them. Established contradicting theories and a lack of information cause the precise relationship between Chichen Itza and Tula, Hidalgo to be fervently contested.
Xochitl was a Toltec empress consort and wife of Tecpancaltzin Iztaccaltzin. Her existence beyond legend is questionable, and accounts of her life are mainly based on the writings of indigenous historian Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl.
Tula is a Mesoamerican archeological site, which was an important regional center which reached its height as the capital of the Toltec Empire between the fall of Teotihuacan and the rise of Tenochtitlan. It has not been well studied in comparison to these other two sites, and disputes remain as to its political system, area of influence and its relations with contemporary Mesoamerican cities, especially with Chichen Itza. The site is located in the city of Tula de Allende in the Tula Valley, in what is now the southwest of the Mexican state of Hidalgo, northwest of Mexico City. The archeological site consists of a museum, remains of an earlier settlement called Tula Chico as well as the main ceremonial site called Tula Grande. The main attraction is the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl, which is topped by four 4-metre-high (13 ft) basalt columns carved in the shape of Toltec warriors. Tula fell around 1150, but it had significant influence in the following Aztec Empire, with its history written about heavily in myth. The feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl is linked to this city, whose worship was widespread from central Mexico to Central America at the time the Spanish arrived.
The Mezquital Valley is a series of small valleys and flat areas located in Central Mexico, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Mexico City, located in the western part of the state of Hidalgo. It is part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, with altitudes between 1,700 metres (5,600 ft) and 2,100 metres (6,900 ft) above sea level. It is one of Mexico's main semi-arid/area regions, whose native vegetation is dominated by cactus species, mesquite trees, and maguey with pine and oak trees in the highest elevations. It is considered to be part of the northern extension of Mesoamerica, with one major archeological site, Tula, which was the main city of the Toltecs, an important influence for the later Aztecs. However, from the Aztec period to the 20th century, it was sparsely populated and very poor, with one main indigenous ethnicity, the Otomis. In the 20th century, irrigation works were created to take advantage of the water in the Tula River, along with wastewater drained from the Valley of Mexico for agriculture. Today, the valley produces various grains and produce, including one-quarter of all green chili peppers grown in Mexico.
The Toltec Empire, Toltec Kingdom or Altepetl Tollan was a political entity in pre-Hispanic Mexico. It existed through the classic and post-classic periods of Mesoamerican chronology, but gained most of its power in the post-classic. During this time its sphere of influence reached as far away as the Yucatan Peninsula.
Xiuhtlaltzin was the seventh Tlatoani, or ruler of the Toltec Empire. She succeeded her husband, Mitl as the empire's first and only queen regnant. Her reign lasted four years.
