Lectionary Calendar
Friday, April 19th, 2024
the Third Week after Easter
Attention!
For 10¢ a day you can enjoy StudyLight.org ads
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!

Bible Encyclopedias
Aztecs

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

Search for…
or
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z
Prev Entry
Azoximes
Next Entry
Azuaga
Resource Toolbox
Additional Links

(from the Nahuatl word aztlan, " place of the Heron," or "Heron" people), the native name of one of the tribes that occupied the tableland of Mexico on the arrival of the Spaniards in America. It has been very frequently employed as equivalent to the collective national title of Nahuatlecas or Mexicans. The Aztecs came, according to native tradition, from a country to which they gave the name of Aztlan, usually supposed to lie towards the north-west, but the satisfactory localization of it is one of the greatest difficulties in Mexican history. The date of the exodus from Aztlan is equally undetermined, being fixed by various authorities in the 11th and by others in the 12th century. One Mexican manuscript gives a date equivalent to A.D. 1164. They gradually in' reased their influence among other tribes, until, by union with the Toltecs, who occupied the tableland before them, they extended their empire to an area of from 18,000 to 20,000 square leagues. The researches of Humboldt gave the first clear insight into the early periods of their history. See Mexico; Nahuatlan Stock.

Bibliography Information
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Aztecs'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​bri/​a/aztecs.html. 1910.
adsFree icon
Ads FreeProfile