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{{Short description|Legendary ancestral home of the Aztec}}
{{Primarysources|date=May 2007}}
{{Otheruses2|Aztlán}} {{other uses|Aztlán (disambiguation)}}
] ]
'''Aztlán''' (from {{langx|nah|Astatlan}} or romanized ''Aztlán'', {{IPA-nah|ˈast͡ɬãːn̥|-|Astlan.ogg}}) is the ancestral home of the ] peoples. The word "Aztec" was derived from the Nahuatl a''ztecah'', meaning "people from Aztlán." Aztlán is mentioned in several ethnohistorical sources dating from the colonial period, and while each cites varying lists of the different tribal groups who participated in the migration from Aztlán to central ], the ] who later founded ] are mentioned in all of the accounts.


Historians have speculated about the possible location of Aztlán and tend to place it either in northwestern Mexico or the ],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yancuic Mexico. {{!}} Nahuatl Dictionary |url=https://nahuatl.uoregon.edu/content/yancuic-mexico |access-date=2022-06-21 |website=nahuatl.uoregon.edu}}</ref> although whether Aztlán represents a real location or a mythological one is a matter of debate.
'''Aztlán''' ({{IPA|/as.ˈtlan/}}, from ] ''Aztlan'' {{IPA|/ˈas.tɬaːn/}}) is the ]ary ancestral home of the ] peoples, one of the main cultural groups in ]. "Azteca" is the Nahuatl word for "people from Aztlan."


==The legend== ==History==
Nahuatl legends relate that seven tribes lived in ], or "the place of the seven caves." Each cave represented a different Nahua group: the Xochimilca, Tlahuica, ], Tlaxcalan, ]a, Chalca, and Mexica. Because of a common linguistic origin, those groups also are called "Nahuatlaca" (Nahua people). These tribes subsequently left the caves and settled in Aztlán. Nahuatl histories relate that seven tribes lived in ], or "the Place of the Seven Caves". Each cave represented a different Nahua group: the ], ], ], ], ]a, ], and ]. Along with these people, the Olmec-Xicalanca and Xaltocamecas are also said to come from Aztlán. Because of their common linguistic origin, those groups are termed collectively "''Nahualteca''" (Nahua people). These tribes subsequently left the caves and settled "near" Aztlán.


The various descriptions of Aztlán are contradictory. While some legends describe Aztlán as a paradise, the ] says that the Aztecs were subject to a tyrant elite called the Azteca Chicomoztoca. Guided by their priest, the Aztec fled, and on the road, their god ] forbade them to call themselves Azteca, telling them that they should be known as ''Mexica''. Ironically, the scholars of the 19th century would name them Aztec. The various descriptions of Aztlán apparently contradict each other. While some legends describe Aztlán as a paradise, the ] says that the Aztecs were subject to a tyrannical elite named the Azteca Chicomoztoca. Guided by their priest, the Aztec tribe fled. On the road, their god ] forbade them to call themselves ''Azteca'', telling them that they should be known as ''Mexica''. Scholars of the 19th century—in particular ] and ]—translated the word ''Azteca'', as is shown in the Aubin Codex, to ''Aztec''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Prescott |first=William H. |url=http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Aztecs.html |title=History Of The Conquest Of Mexico, and a Preliminary View of the Aztec Civilization |volume=1 |location=Philadelphia |publisher=J. B. Lippicott |date=1892 |pages=3–133 |type=Transcription |via=Sam Houston State University |access-date=2016-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018175529/http://www.shsu.edu/%7Ehis_ncp/Aztecs.html|archive-date=2014-10-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archaeology.about.com/od/mameterms/a/Mexica.htm|title=Should We Call the Aztec Empire the Mexica Empire?|access-date=2016-01-24|archive-date=2016-12-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161211003823/http://archaeology.about.com/od/mameterms/a/Mexica.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>


The role of the homeland of Aztlán is slightly less important to Aztec legendary histories than the ] to ] itself. According to the legend, the southward migration began around ] ]. Each of the seven groups is credited with founding a different major ] in Central Mexico. The city-states reputed to have an Aztec foundation were: The southward migration is estimated to have begun on May 24, 1064 CE,<ref name="auto">Anales de Tlatelolco, Rafael Tena INAH-CONACULTA 2004 p 55</ref> based on the dates of the ] ] from May to July 1054. Each of the seven groups is credited with founding a different major ] in Central Mexico.
:*],
:*] (in the modern-day ] of ]),
:*],
:*],
:*] (the modern-day city of ], ]),
:*] (now ], a '']'' of the ]), and
:*] (whose language was ] and not of the ]).


A 2004 translation of the '']'' gives the only known date related to the exit from Aztlán; day-sign "4 Cuauhtli" (Four Eagle) of the year "1 ]" (Knife) or 1064–1065,<ref name="auto"/> and correlated to January 4, 1065.
These city-states formed during the ] period of Mesoamerica (]-] CE).


Cristobal del Castillo mentions in his book "''Fragmentos de la Obra General Sobre Historia de los Mexicanos''", that the lake around the Aztlán island was called ''Metztliapan'' or "Lake of the Moon."<ref>Fragmentos de la Obra General Sobre Historia de los Mexicanos, Cristobal del Castillo pages 58–83</ref> Another version<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mercatante|first=Anthony|url=https://occult-world.com/aztlan/|title=Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend |edition=Third |year=2009}}</ref> reads:
According to Aztec legends, the Mexica were the last tribe to emigrate and took 302 years to reach their destination. When they arrived at the ] Valley, the present-day ], all available land had been taken, and they were forced to ] on the edge of ].
<blockquote>
One day a man heard a bird calling to him, saying, "Go now, go now." When the man told the chief about the bird, the chief was relieved. He had known his people must find a new land, their own land, but had waited for a sign. So the people gathered and began a long march. They followed an idol of Huitzilopochtli that the priests carried. As they went, Huitzilopochtli spoke through the priests and prepared the people for the greatness of their empire to come. He explained that they should travel until they came to a large lake; there, they should look for another sign—an eagle in a cactus.


The journey took 200 years, and the people settled for a while in the Toltec capital of Tollan. Some people stayed in Tollan and some moved on. From time to time, Huitzilopochtli changed himself into a white eagle to inspire the people, and they traveled until they came to Lake Texcoco and saw a great eagle sitting on a cactus, holding a serpent. There they built Tenochtitlán, the city that became the capital and center of the Aztec empire.
After the ], the story of Aztlán gained importance and was reported by Fray ] in ] and others to be a kind of ]-like paradise, free of disease and death, which existed somewhere in the far north. These stories helped fuel Spanish expeditions to what is now the ].
</blockquote>


==Places identified as Aztlán== ==Places postulated as Aztlán==
]. Aztlán is also depicted as some island in ] and ].<ref>{{cite book|last=Rajagopalan|first=Angela Herren|title=Portraying the Aztec Past: The Codices Boturini, Azcatitlan, and Aubin|year=2019|publisher=]|isbn=9781477316078|page=27}}</ref>]]
While Aztlán has many trappings of myth, similar to ], ], ] and ], archaeologists have nonetheless attempted to identify the geographic place of origin for the Mexica.


Friar ] ({{circa|1537}}–1588), who chronicled the history of the Aztecs, wrote of Aztec emperor ]'s attempt to recover the history of the Mexica by congregating warriors and wise men on an expedition to locate Aztlán. According to Durán, the expedition was successful in finding a place that offered characteristics unique to Aztlán. However, his accounts were written soon after the conquest of Tenochtitlan and before an accurate mapping of the American continent was made; therefore, he was unable to provide a precise location.<ref>{{cite book|first=Manuel|last=Aguilar-Moreno|title=Handbook to Life in the Aztec World|year=2006|page=29|isbn=0-8160-5673-0|publisher=Infobase Publishing}}</ref>
]The name of ] (a ] site) was proposed by N. F. Hyer in 1837 because he thought it might have been Aztlán, following a suggested etymology of "Aztatlan" by ].


During the 1960s, Mexican intellectuals began to seriously speculate about the possibility that ] in ] was the mythical city of Aztlán. One of the first to consider Aztlán being associated with the island was historian ] towards the end of the 19th century. Historical investigators after his death tested his proposition and considered it valid, among them Wigberto Jiménez Moreno. This hypothesis is still debated.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://geographical.co.uk/places/cities/item/698-an-aztec-island|title=Island of the Aztecs - Geographical|last=Hart|first=Tom|access-date=7 March 2017|language=en-gb|archive-date=7 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307205106/http://geographical.co.uk/places/cities/item/698-an-aztec-island|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In the mid-19th century, fringe theorist ], in his famous book '']'', sought to establish a connection between Aztlán and the fabled "lost continent" of ] of Greek mythology; Donnelly's views, however, have never been recognised as credible by mainstream scholarship.


Some scholars argue it is nearly or completely impossible to find the true location of Aztlán, due to all the conflicting accounts and narratives.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Anaya |first=Rudolfo |title=Aztlán: Essays on the Chicano Homeland |last2=Lomeli |first2=Francisco A. |last3=Lamadrid |first3=Enrique R. |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |year=2017 |edition=Revised and Expanded |location=Albuquerque |pages=31–103, 151–152, 329}}</ref>
In ], Mexican anthropologist Alfredo Chavero claimed that Aztlán was located on the Pacific coast in the state of ]. While this was disputed by contemporary scholars, it achieved some popular acceptance. In the early ], ] ] ] suggested that ], also in Nayarit, was the true location of Aztlán, but this was denounced by Mexican historians as a political move (Jáuregui 2004). Even so, the state of Nayarit incorporated the symbol of Aztlán in its coat of arms with the legend "Nayarit, cradle of Mexicans."

] presumes Aztlán to be somewhere in the modern-day states of ], ], and ] (Matos Moctezuma 1988, p.38).

It has also been proposed that ] was originally the site of Aztlán. Part of the migration legend also describes a stay at Culhuacán ('leaning hill' or 'curved hill'). Proponents of the Lake Powell theory equate this Culhuacán with the ancient home of the ] at ], ].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

There is currently no consensus among scholars as to whether Aztlan is a mythical location only or whether the myth also has an actual historical component, nor where such an historical location might have been (Smith, 1996:39)

==Primary sources==
The primary sources for Aztlán are the ], the ], and the ]. Aztlán is also mentioned in the '']'' (by ], a Tlaxcalan ] from the ]), as well as '']''.
It should be noted that all the documents mentioned above were written (in Spanish) after the ].


==Etymology== ==Etymology==
The meaning of the name ''Aztlan'' is uncertain. One suggested meaning is "place of ]s" — the explanation given in the '']'' — but this is not possible under Nahuatl ]: "place of egrets" would be ''Aztatlan''.(Andrews 2003, p. 496 and Launey 1986, p. 26). Another proposed derivation is "place of whiteness" (Andrews 2003, p. 496). ] conjectures the translation "At the Place in the Vicinity of Tools", sharing the ''āz-'' element of words such as ''teponāztli'' "drum" (from ''tepontli'' "log").(Andrews 2003, pp. 496, 616). The meaning of the name ''Aztlan'' is uncertain. One suggested meaning is "place of Herons" or "place of ]s"—the explanation given in the '']''—but this is not possible under Nahuatl ]: "place of egrets" is ''Aztatlan''.{{sfn|Andrews|2003|p=496}} Other proposed derivations include "place of whiteness"{{sfn|Andrews|2003|p=496}} and "at the place in the vicinity of tools", sharing the ''āz-'' element of words such as ''teponāztli'', "drum" (from ''tepontli'', "log").{{sfn|Andrews|2003|p=496}}{{sfn|Andrews|2003|p=616}}


==Used as symbolism by Chicano movement==
''Aztlán'' {{IPA|}} is the ] spelling and pronunciation of Nahuatl ''Aztlan'' {{IPA|}}. The spelling ''Aztlán'' and its matching last-syllable stress cannot be Nahuatl, which always stresses words on the second-to-last syllable. The accent mark on the second ''a'' added in Spanish marks stress shift (from ] to ]), typical of several Nahuatl words when ] into Mexican Spanish.
{{Main|Chicano Movement}}{{Chicano and Mexican American topics sidebar|state=collapsed}}
]
The concept of Aztlán as the place of origin of the pre-Columbian Mexican civilization has become a symbol for various Mexican ethno-nationalist movements.


In 1969 the notion of Aztlán was introduced by the poet ] (Alberto Baltazar Urista Heredia) at the National ] held in Denver, Colorado by the Crusade for Justice. There he read a poem, which has come to be known as the preamble to El Plan de Aztlán or as "El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán" due to its poetic aesthetic. For some Chicanos, Aztlán refers to the ] as a result of the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848. Aztlán became a symbol for activists who allege that they have a legal and primordial right to the land. Some promoters of the Chicanos propose that a new ethnocentric government overthrow and replace the respective United States governments in the Southwest region, a ].<ref name="ProfessorPredict">{{Cite web |year=2000 |title=Professor Predicts 'Hispanic Homeland' |url=http://www.aztlan.net/homeland.htm |website=Associated Press |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107032413/http://www.aztlan.net/homeland.htm |archive-date=2012-11-07 |via=Aztlan.net}}</ref>
==Use by the Chicano Movement ==
{{main|Chicano movement}}
], used by ]s in San Diego and Denver during the Chicano Movement.]]
The concept of Aztlán as the place of origin of the pre-Columbian Mexican civilization has become a symbol for various Mexican nationalist and indigenous movements.


''Aztlán'' is also the name of the Chicano studies journal published by the ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aztlán |url=http://www.chicano.ucla.edu/publications/aztl%C3%A1n-journal-chicano-studies-0 |publisher=chicano.ucla.edu}}</ref>
The name Aztlán was first taken up by a group of Chicano-separatists led by ] during the Chicano movement of the 1960s and 1970s. They used the name "Aztlán" to refer to the southwestern United States which was ceded to the United States at the end of the Mexican-American War. Combined with the claim of some historical linguists and anthropologists that the original homeland of the Aztecan peoples was located in the southwestern United states, Aztlán in this sense became a symbol of mestizo activists who believe they have a legal and primordial right to the land.


Aztlán has been used for Chicanos to associate with their heritage and past. The myth has become a sort of shared memory that has united many people in the diasporic community. Like the Aztecs, Mexican-Americans migrated out of their homeland to seek a better life or more opportunities. Some Chicanos feel that they are repeating what their ancestors did or at least they feel a symbolic association with the myth. Many Chicanos simply consider Aztlán as a spiritual guiding force rather than a tangible location.<ref name=":1" />
Groups who have used the name "Aztlán" in this manner include ], ] (''Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán'', "Chicano Student Movement of Aztlán"), and ] (NOA).


===Movements that use or formerly used the concept of ''Aztlán''===
Many in the Chicano Movement attribute poet ] for popularizing the term ''Aztlán'' in a poem presented during the Chicano Youth Liberation Conference in Denver, Colorado, March 1969.{{Fact|date=October 2007}}<!-- Please tell us who "many" is. -->
*]
*] (''Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán'', "Chicano Student Movement of Aztlán")
*]
*]
*], which calls for ] for the Chicano nation in Aztlán up to and including the right to secession.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) |date= 2001-05-06 |title=Unity Statement |url=https://frso.org/main-documents/unity-statement/ |access-date= 2020-10-17}}</ref>


==In fiction== ==In popular culture==
"Aztlán" has been used as the name of speculative fictional future-states that emerge in the southwest US or Mexico after the central US government suffers collapse or major setback; examples appear in such works as the novels '']'', '']'', and '']'', as well as the role-playing game '']''.


===In literature===
In ]'s ] story "The Forest of Time", ] is part of a nation-state called ''Nuevo Aztlán''.
"Aztlán" has been used as the name of speculative fictional future states that emerge in the southwestern United States or Mexico after their governments suffer a collapse or major setback; examples appear in such works as the novels ''Heart of Aztlán'' (1976), by ]; '']'' (1984), by ] and ]; '']'' (1984), by ]; '']'' (2002), by ]; and '']'' (2006), by ]; as well as the role-playing game '']'', in which the Mexican government was usurped by the ''Aztechnology'' Corporation (1989). In ]' novel '']'' (1980), the protagonist resides in Aztlán for a while, later facilitating contact between Aztlán and the Aztec Triple Alliance just before ]' arrival.


"]" is an article written by ] that appeared in the April 29, 1971 issue of '']''. The article is about the death of civil rights activist ] in ] during a ] protest.
Aztlan is also used in ], by ], as the name of the former Mexico, with the country of "Opium" separating it from the United States.


==See also==
] refers to Aztlan as the "mythic ancestral home of the Mexican people" in his latest novel "]":
{{portal|Latin America|Mythology}}
* ]
{{clear}}


==References==
<blockquote>"'Hallucinatory country and cruel, not hard to understand that ]s might have found it congenial enough to want to settle, but this is much older--Thirteenth Century anyway. There were perhaps tens of thousands of people back then, living all through that region, prosperous and creative, when suddenly, within one generation--overnight as these things go--they fled, in every appearance of panic terror, went up to the steepest cliffsides they could find and built as securely as they knew how defenses against...well, something.'" (277)</blockquote>
{{Reflist}}


==Bibliography==
In ]' novel '']'', his hero, Mixtli (Dark Cloud), finds Aztlan at one point in his explorations, and stays for a while. Later, he helps facilitate contact between Aztlan and the Aztec Triple Alliance, just before ]' arrival.
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Andrews|first=J. Richard |year=2003 |title=Introduction to Classical Nahuatl |edition=revised |location=Norman |publisher=] |isbn=0-8061-3452-6 |oclc=50090230}}
* {{cite book |last=Smith |first=Michael E. |year=1997 |title=The Aztecs |edition=first |publisher=] |location=Malden, MA |isbn=978-0-631-23015-1 |oclc=48579073 }}
{{Refend}}


== See also == ==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Clavigero|first=Francesco Saverio |author-link=Francisco Javier Clavijero |year=1807 |orig-year=1787 |title=The history of Mexico. Collected from Spanish and Mexican historians, from manuscripts, and ancient paintings of the Indians. Illustrated by charts, and other copper plates. To which are added, critical dissertations on the land, the animals, and inhabitants of Mexico, 2 vols. |edition=2nd|others=Translated from the original Italian, by Charles Cullen, Esq. |location=London |publisher=J. Johnson |oclc=54014738}}
*]
* {{cite journal|last=Jáuregui|first=Jesús |year=2004 |title=Mexcaltitán-Aztlán: un nuevo mito |url=http://www.arqueomex.com/S2N3nAZTLAN67.html |journal=] |location=México, D.F. |publisher=Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Editorial Raíces |volume=12 |issue=67 |pages=56–61 |issn=0188-8218 |oclc=29789840 |language=es |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060103021137/http://www.arqueomex.com/S2N3nAZTLAN67.html |archive-date=2006-01-03 }}
* {{Cite The Long Emergency}}
* {{cite book |last=Lint-Sagarena |first=Roberto |editor-last=Carrasco |editor-first=David L.|entry=Aztlán |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures :The Civilizations of Mexico and Central America vol.1|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195108156.001.0001/acref-9780195108156 |publisher=] |location=New York|date=2001 |pages=72–73 |isbn=978-0-19-514255-6 |oclc=872326807}}
* {{cite book |last=Matos Moctezuma|first=Eduardo |author-link=Eduardo Matos Moctezuma |year=1988 |title=The Great Temple of the Aztecs: Treasures of Tenochtitlan |series=New Aspects of Antiquity series |others=] (trans.)|location=New York|publisher=Thames & Hudson |isbn=0-500-39024-X |oclc=17968786}}
* {{cite book |last=Miller|first=Mary |author-link=Mary Miller (art historian) |author2=Karl Taube |author2-link=Karl Taube |year=1993 |title=The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London |isbn=0-500-05068-6 |oclc=27667317 |url=https://archive.org/details/godssymbolsofa00mill }}
* {{cite book |last=Prescott|first=William H. |author-link=William H. Prescott |year=1843 |title=History of the Conquest of Mexico, with a Preliminary View of Ancient Mexican Civilization, and the Life of the Conqueror, Hernando Cortes |url=http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/PreConq.html |format=online reproduction, Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library |location=New York |publisher=Harper and Brothers |oclc=2458166}}
* {{cite book | last=Pynchon|first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Pynchon |year=2006 |title=] |location=New York |publisher=Penguin Press |isbn=1-59420-120-X |oclc=71173932}}
* {{cite journal |last=Smith|first=Michael E. |author-link=Michael E. Smith (archaeologist) |year=1984 |title=The Aztlán Migrations of Nahuatl Chronicles: Myth or History? |url=http://www.public.asu.edu/~mesmith9/1-CompleteSet/MES-84-Aztlan.pdf |format=] online facsimile |journal=] |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=153–186 |location=Columbus, OH |publisher=American Society for Ethnohistory|issn=0014-1801 |oclc=145142543 |doi=10.2307/482619 |jstor=482619}}
* {{cite book |last=Smith|first=Michael E. |author-link=Michael E. Smith (archaeologist) |year=2003 |title=The Aztecs |edition=2nd |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA |isbn=0-631-23015-7 |oclc=48579073}}
* {{cite conference|author=Vollemaere, Antoon Leon |year=2000 |title=Chimalma, first lady of the Aztecan migration in 1064 |url=http://www2.nau.edu/~gender-p/Papers/Vollemarapdf.pdf |format=] online publication |conference=Sixth Gender and Archaeology Conference, October 6–7, 2000 |book-title=Gender and Archaeology Across the Millennia: Long Vistas and Multiple Viewpoints |edition=online collection of papers presented |publisher=Northern Arizona University, Department of Anthropology and Women's Studies |location=Flagstaff |access-date=2007-12-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414025315/http://www2.nau.edu/~gender-p/Papers/Vollemarapdf.pdf |archive-date=2008-04-14 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Wilcox|first=David R. |author2=Don D. Fowler |author2-link=Don D. Fowler | date=Spring 2002 |title=The beginnings of anthropological archaeology in the North American Southwest: from Thomas Jefferson to the Pecos Conference |url=http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-1819827/The-beginnings-of-anthropological-archaeology.html |format=unpaginated online reproduction by ]/] |journal=] |location=Tucson |publisher=University of Arizona Press, on behalf of The Southwest Center, U. of Arizona |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=121–234 |issn=0894-8410 |oclc=79456398}}


==References== ==External links==
*
<div class="references-small"><references/></div>
* {{cite book |author={{aut|Smith, Michael E.}} |year=1996 |title=The Aztecs|publisher=Blackwell Publishers |location=Oxford, UK|isbn=1-55786-496-9}}
* {{cite journal|author={{aut|Smith, Michael E.}} |year=1984 |title=The Aztlan Migrations of the Nahuatl Chronicles: Myth or History?|journal=Ethnohistory |vol=31:153-186|url=http://www.public.asu.edu/~mesmith9/1-CompleteSet/MES-84-Aztlan.pdf}}
* {{cite book |author={{aut|Andrews, J. Richard}} |year=2003 |title=Introduction to Classical Nahuatl, Revised Edition |location=Norman |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=2002026705}} {{en icon}}
* {{cite journal |author={{aut|Jáuregui, Jesús}} |year=2004 |title=Mexcaltitán-Aztlán: un nuevo mito |url=http://www.arqueomex.com/S2N3nAZTLAN67.html|journal=] |format=abstract |volume=XII |issue=67 |accessdate=}} {{es icon}}
* {{cite paper |author={{aut|Launey, Michel}} |date=1986 |title=Catégories et opérations dans la grammaire Nahuatl |url=http://celia.cnrs.fr/FichExt/Etudes/Launey/tm.htm}} {{fr icon}}
* {{cite book |author={{aut|Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo}} |authorlink=Eduardo Matos Moctezuma |year=1988 |title=The Great Temple of the Aztecs: Treasures of Tenochtitlan (New Aspects of Antiquity) |others=] (trans.)|location=New York |publisher=Thames and Hudson |isbn=0-500-39024-X}} {{en icon}}

<code><includeonly><includeonly></includeonly></includeonly></code>==External links==
* Laputan Logic, December 3, 2004
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Latest revision as of 02:43, 20 December 2024

Legendary ancestral home of the Aztec For other uses, see Aztlán (disambiguation).
Map of the migration from Aztlán to Chapultepec

Aztlán (from Nahuatl languages: Astatlan or romanized Aztlán, Nahuatl pronunciation: [ˈast͡ɬãːn̥] ) is the ancestral home of the Aztec peoples. The word "Aztec" was derived from the Nahuatl aztecah, meaning "people from Aztlán." Aztlán is mentioned in several ethnohistorical sources dating from the colonial period, and while each cites varying lists of the different tribal groups who participated in the migration from Aztlán to central Mexico, the Mexica who later founded Mexico-Tenochtitlan are mentioned in all of the accounts.

Historians have speculated about the possible location of Aztlán and tend to place it either in northwestern Mexico or the Southwestern United States, although whether Aztlán represents a real location or a mythological one is a matter of debate.

History

Nahuatl histories relate that seven tribes lived in Chicomoztoc, or "the Place of the Seven Caves". Each cave represented a different Nahua group: the Xochimilca, Tlahuica, Acolhua, Tlaxcalteca, Tepaneca, Chalca, and Mexica. Along with these people, the Olmec-Xicalanca and Xaltocamecas are also said to come from Aztlán. Because of their common linguistic origin, those groups are termed collectively "Nahualteca" (Nahua people). These tribes subsequently left the caves and settled "near" Aztlán.

The various descriptions of Aztlán apparently contradict each other. While some legends describe Aztlán as a paradise, the Codex Aubin says that the Aztecs were subject to a tyrannical elite named the Azteca Chicomoztoca. Guided by their priest, the Aztec tribe fled. On the road, their god Huitzilopochtli forbade them to call themselves Azteca, telling them that they should be known as Mexica. Scholars of the 19th century—in particular Alexander von Humboldt and William H. Prescott—translated the word Azteca, as is shown in the Aubin Codex, to Aztec.

The southward migration is estimated to have begun on May 24, 1064 CE, based on the dates of the supernova Crab Nebula from May to July 1054. Each of the seven groups is credited with founding a different major city-state in Central Mexico.

A 2004 translation of the Anales de Tlatelolco gives the only known date related to the exit from Aztlán; day-sign "4 Cuauhtli" (Four Eagle) of the year "1 Tecpatl" (Knife) or 1064–1065, and correlated to January 4, 1065.

Cristobal del Castillo mentions in his book "Fragmentos de la Obra General Sobre Historia de los Mexicanos", that the lake around the Aztlán island was called Metztliapan or "Lake of the Moon." Another version reads:

One day a man heard a bird calling to him, saying, "Go now, go now." When the man told the chief about the bird, the chief was relieved. He had known his people must find a new land, their own land, but had waited for a sign. So the people gathered and began a long march. They followed an idol of Huitzilopochtli that the priests carried. As they went, Huitzilopochtli spoke through the priests and prepared the people for the greatness of their empire to come. He explained that they should travel until they came to a large lake; there, they should look for another sign—an eagle in a cactus.

The journey took 200 years, and the people settled for a while in the Toltec capital of Tollan. Some people stayed in Tollan and some moved on. From time to time, Huitzilopochtli changed himself into a white eagle to inspire the people, and they traveled until they came to Lake Texcoco and saw a great eagle sitting on a cactus, holding a serpent. There they built Tenochtitlán, the city that became the capital and center of the Aztec empire.

Places postulated as Aztlán

Depiction of the departure from Aztlán from an island in the 16th-century Codex Boturini. Aztlán is also depicted as some island in the Aubin and Azcatitlan codices.

Friar Diego Durán (c. 1537–1588), who chronicled the history of the Aztecs, wrote of Aztec emperor Moctezuma I's attempt to recover the history of the Mexica by congregating warriors and wise men on an expedition to locate Aztlán. According to Durán, the expedition was successful in finding a place that offered characteristics unique to Aztlán. However, his accounts were written soon after the conquest of Tenochtitlan and before an accurate mapping of the American continent was made; therefore, he was unable to provide a precise location.

During the 1960s, Mexican intellectuals began to seriously speculate about the possibility that Mexcaltitán de Uribe in Nayarit was the mythical city of Aztlán. One of the first to consider Aztlán being associated with the island was historian Alfredo Chavero towards the end of the 19th century. Historical investigators after his death tested his proposition and considered it valid, among them Wigberto Jiménez Moreno. This hypothesis is still debated.

Some scholars argue it is nearly or completely impossible to find the true location of Aztlán, due to all the conflicting accounts and narratives.

Etymology

The meaning of the name Aztlan is uncertain. One suggested meaning is "place of Herons" or "place of egrets"—the explanation given in the Crónica Mexicáyotl—but this is not possible under Nahuatl morphology: "place of egrets" is Aztatlan. Other proposed derivations include "place of whiteness" and "at the place in the vicinity of tools", sharing the āz- element of words such as teponāztli, "drum" (from tepontli, "log").

Used as symbolism by Chicano movement

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Territories considered for "Aztlán" by the Chicano movement.

The concept of Aztlán as the place of origin of the pre-Columbian Mexican civilization has become a symbol for various Mexican ethno-nationalist movements.

In 1969 the notion of Aztlán was introduced by the poet Alurista (Alberto Baltazar Urista Heredia) at the National Chicano Youth Liberation Conference held in Denver, Colorado by the Crusade for Justice. There he read a poem, which has come to be known as the preamble to El Plan de Aztlán or as "El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán" due to its poetic aesthetic. For some Chicanos, Aztlán refers to the Mexican territories conquered by the United States as a result of the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848. Aztlán became a symbol for activists who allege that they have a legal and primordial right to the land. Some promoters of the Chicanos propose that a new ethnocentric government overthrow and replace the respective United States governments in the Southwest region, a República del Norte.

Aztlán is also the name of the Chicano studies journal published by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center.

Aztlán has been used for Chicanos to associate with their heritage and past. The myth has become a sort of shared memory that has united many people in the diasporic community. Like the Aztecs, Mexican-Americans migrated out of their homeland to seek a better life or more opportunities. Some Chicanos feel that they are repeating what their ancestors did or at least they feel a symbolic association with the myth. Many Chicanos simply consider Aztlán as a spiritual guiding force rather than a tangible location.

Movements that use or formerly used the concept of Aztlán

In popular culture

In literature

"Aztlán" has been used as the name of speculative fictional future states that emerge in the southwestern United States or Mexico after their governments suffer a collapse or major setback; examples appear in such works as the novels Heart of Aztlán (1976), by Rudolfo Anaya; Warday (1984), by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka; The Peace War (1984), by Vernor Vinge; The House of the Scorpion (2002), by Nancy Farmer; and World War Z (2006), by Max Brooks; as well as the role-playing game Shadowrun, in which the Mexican government was usurped by the Aztechnology Corporation (1989). In Gary Jennings' novel Aztec (1980), the protagonist resides in Aztlán for a while, later facilitating contact between Aztlán and the Aztec Triple Alliance just before Hernán Cortés' arrival.

"Strange Rumblings in Aztlan" is an article written by Hunter S. Thompson that appeared in the April 29, 1971 issue of Rolling Stone. The article is about the death of civil rights activist Ruben Salazar in East Los Angeles during a Vietnam War protest.

See also

References

  1. "Yancuic Mexico. | Nahuatl Dictionary". nahuatl.uoregon.edu. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  2. Prescott, William H. (1892). History Of The Conquest Of Mexico, and a Preliminary View of the Aztec Civilization (Transcription). Vol. 1. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippicott. pp. 3–133. Archived from the original on 2014-10-18. Retrieved 2016-01-24 – via Sam Houston State University.
  3. "Should We Call the Aztec Empire the Mexica Empire?". Archived from the original on 2016-12-11. Retrieved 2016-01-24.
  4. ^ Anales de Tlatelolco, Rafael Tena INAH-CONACULTA 2004 p 55
  5. Fragmentos de la Obra General Sobre Historia de los Mexicanos, Cristobal del Castillo pages 58–83
  6. Mercatante, Anthony (2009). Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend (Third ed.).
  7. Rajagopalan, Angela Herren (2019). Portraying the Aztec Past: The Codices Boturini, Azcatitlan, and Aubin. University of Texas Press. p. 27. ISBN 9781477316078.
  8. Aguilar-Moreno, Manuel (2006). Handbook to Life in the Aztec World. Infobase Publishing. p. 29. ISBN 0-8160-5673-0.
  9. Hart, Tom. "Island of the Aztecs - Geographical". Archived from the original on 7 March 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  10. ^ Anaya, Rudolfo; Lomeli, Francisco A.; Lamadrid, Enrique R. (2017). Aztlán: Essays on the Chicano Homeland (Revised and Expanded ed.). Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. pp. 31–103, 151–152, 329.
  11. ^ Andrews 2003, p. 496.
  12. Andrews 2003, p. 616.
  13. "Professor Predicts 'Hispanic Homeland'". Associated Press. 2000. Archived from the original on 2012-11-07 – via Aztlan.net.
  14. "Aztlán". chicano.ucla.edu.
  15. Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) (2001-05-06). "Unity Statement". Retrieved 2020-10-17.

Bibliography

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