The Mexica; one of the nomadic tribes that used political anarchy after fall of Toltecs to penetrate into the sedentary agricultural zone of Mesoamerican plateau; established empire after 1325 around shores of Lake Texcoco (p 211)
(Nahuatl) A pre-Hispanic empire that controlled much of central Mexico, with a capital in Tenochtitlan, up until the Spanish conquest The Aztecs called themselves the Culhua-Mexica "Huey Tlatoani" or "Great Speaker" was the title of their supreme ruler