HUITZILATZIN

'Huitzilatzin' or 'Huitzillatzin' (died in the year Seven Reed/1499^[1]) was the first ''tlatoani'' (ruler) of the pre-Columbian ''altepetl'' (ethnic state) of Huitzilopochco (now Churubusco) in the Valley of Mexico.^[2]
Huitzilatzin was the second son of Huehue Zaca, who held the title of ''tlacateccatl'' (general) and who was a son of Huitzilihuitl, the second Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan. According to the ''Crónica mexicáyotl'', Huitzilatzin was "quite sickly" (Nahuatl ''"çan cocoxcatzintli"'').
He was installed as ruler of Huitzilopochco by the Aztec ruler Axayacatl. Like other towns in the region, it is not recorded exactly when Huitzilopochco came under Aztec control. It is likely that Tenochtitlan inherited them from the defeated Tepanec empire of Azcapotzalco.^[3] The inhabitants of Huitzilopochco are said to have been cannibals prior to the imposition of Aztec government.^[4]
Huitzilatzin had two children in Huitzilopochco: a son, Macuilxochitzin,^[5] who succeeded him as ''tlatoani''; and a daughter, whose name is not known but who married Quauhpopocatzin, the ruler of Coyoacan.
Huitzilatzin was killed in the year Seven Reed (1499), as he was held responsible for flooding that had occurred in Tenochtitlan due to an aqueduct which tapped springs near Huitzilopochco.

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Notes

References

Notes

1. Chimalpahin (1997): pp. 214–215
2. Chimalpahin (1997): pp. 146–147.
3. Berdnan and Anawalt (1997): p. 35.
4. Isaac (2005): pp. 5–6.
5. Chimalpahin (1997): pp. 148–149.

References

★ The Essential Codex Mendoza, Berdan, Frances F., , , University of California Press, 1997,

★ Codex Chimalpahin: society and politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Texcoco, Culhuacan, and other Nahua altepetl in central Mexico: the Nahuatl and Spanish annals and accounts collected and recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, Chimalpahin Cuauhtlehuanitzin, Domingo Francisco de San Antón Muñón, , , University of Oklahoma Press, 1997,

★ Aztec Cannibalism: Nahua versus Spanish and mestizo accounts in the Valley of Mexico, Isaac, Barry L., , , Ancient Mesoamerica, 2005