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| Colhuacan | |
|---|---|
| Name | Colhuacan |
| Settlement type | Altepetl |
| Established title | Founded |
| Established date | ca. 600–900 CE |
| Subdivision type | Region |
| Subdivision name | Valley of Mexico |
Colhuacan was a pre-Columbian altepetl and city-state in the Valley of Mexico, influential in the formation of Nahua polities and in the genealogies of later Texcoco (altepetl), Tenochtitlan, and Aztec Empire elites. As a signatory in oral and codex traditions, Colhuacan appears in the Codex Mendoza, Florentine Codex, and in the ethnohistorical narratives collected by Bernardino de Sahagún and Diego Durán. Archaeological and ethnohistoric sources link Colhuacan to broader interactions with Cholula, Teotihuacan, Tula (archaeological site), and the Maya civilization trading networks.
Colhuacan emerged amid postclassic transformations after the decline of Teotihuacan and contemporaneous with the rise of Tula, Chalco (altepetl), and Xochimilco (altepetl). Its foundation stories are woven into the migratory histories of the Mexica, the Toltec narratives in Anales de Tlatelolco, and the genealogical claims preserved in the Codex Xolotl. Colhuacan leaders negotiated alliances and conflicts with Culhuacan neighbors, competed with polities such as Tlacopan, Texcoco (altepetl), and Ixtapalapa, and were entangled in the formation of the Triple Alliance. Ethnohistoric accounts record interactions with figures and houses like the rulers of Tenochtitlan including Acamapichtli, Itzcoatl, and families connected to Moctezuma I and Nezahualcóyotl.
Colhuacan lay on the southern shores of a lacustrine system in the Valley of Mexico, near channels and causeways linking to Tenochtitlan, Texcoco (lake), Chalco (region), and Xochimilco (region). Settlement patterns show plazas and temple precincts comparable to civic-ceremonial cores in Teotihuacan and household compounds similar to sites in Cuicuilco. Urban morphology in Colhuacan reflects influences traceable to architectural vocabularies found at Tula (archaeological site), Cacaxtla, and highland plazas referenced in the Relaciones geográficas.
Colhuacan functioned as an altepetl with dynastic rulers akin to tlatoani recognized across Nahua polities such as Texcoco (altepetl) and Tenochtitlan. Political legitimacy drew on ancestral claims embedded in codices like the Codex Xolotl and the Lienzo de Tlaxcala-style pictorial traditions, and on marital and ritual ties with houses of Texcoco (altepetl), Cholula, and Culhuacan aristocracies. Diplomacy and warfare involved interactions with military actors from Tlaxcala (altepetl), mercantile networks linked to Puebla (city), and tributary arrangements recorded alongside the Tribute lists in the Codex Mendoza.
Economic life in Colhuacan integrated chinampa agriculture practiced in lacustrine zones, craft production similar to workshops documented in Tenochtitlan, and trade that connected markets like Tlatelolco (market) and caravan routes to Tula (archaeological site), Cholula. Household-level economies echoed patterns seen in Azcapotzalco and Tepanec polities. Social stratification included noble lineages recognizable to chroniclers such as Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl and Hernán Cortés-era informants, with societal roles paralleling institutions in Texcoco (altepetl) and ritual specialists comparable to those described in the Florentine Codex.
Colhuacan's religious landscape featured temples, calendrical rites, and priestly offices attested in sources compiled by Bernardino de Sahagún and Francisco López de Gómara, with rituals aligned with the Tonalpohualli and Xiuhpohualli cycles referenced across Nahua communities such as Tenochtitlan and Texcoco (altepetl). Iconography and ceremonial architecture show affinities with Toltec motifs from Tula (archaeological site) and with ceremonial practices reported for Cholula and Culhuacan. Festivities and patronage networks linked Colhuacan to regional cults involving deities noted in the Florentine Codex and in Codex Borgia-style iconography.
Archaeological reconnaissance and excavations around Colhuacan have invoked methods paralleling investigations at Teotihuacan, Tlatelolco (site), and Tula (archaeological site). Material culture recovered includes pottery types comparable to those from Azcapotzalco and lithic assemblages similar to finds at Cuicuilco. Ethnohistorical cross-referencing uses the Codex Mendoza, Codex Xolotl, and the annals transcribed by Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl to situate stratigraphic phases relative to regional sequences like those established for Texcoco (altepetl) and Tenochtitlan.
Colhuacan's historical memory persists in colonial-era chronicles by Bernardino de Sahagún, Diego Durán, and Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl and in pictorial records such as the Codex Mendoza and Codex Xolotl. Its aristocratic lineages contributed to the genealogies of later rulers in Tenochtitlan, Texcoco (altepetl), and allied houses recorded in the Anales de Tlatelolco. Modern scholarship on Colhuacan intersects with studies of Nahuatl-language sources, landscape archaeology in the Valley of Mexico, and comparative research on centers like Teotihuacan, Tula (archaeological site), and Cholula, influencing interpretations of Postclassic political formations and the emergence of the Aztec Empire.
Category:Former populated places in Mexico