Cuauhtemotzin biography definition

Cuauhtémoc (also known as Cuauhtemotzin or Guatimozin; c.

Cuauhtemotzin biography definition

1502 – February 28, 1525) was the last Aztec ruler (Tlatoani) of Tenochtitlán and the last "Aztec emperor." The name means "descending eagle," from Nahuatl cuauhtli (eagle) and temoc (descent); by extension it can be interpreted as "setting sun."

Most of what we know about pre-Spanish conquest Aztec history is derived from the Florentine Codex, which was compiled by Bernardino de Sahagún (1499-1590) in 12 volumes containing the fruit of his researches in Aztec religions and culture and his conversations with indigenous peoples (see Anderson 2002).

Previous Spanish editions were heavily censored. Given the extent of the cultural destruction that took place in the colonial period, what we know of such a ruler as the last emperor of the Aztecs helps a great deal in reconstructing an historiography that does not focus almost exclusively on the