Tenochtitlan
The capital of the Aztec empire was Tenochtitlan. The word 'Aztec' was popularized through the literature of such writers as, William Prescott and Alexander von Humboldt. The Aztec ancestors had migrated to a place which was called, Aztlan, which was in the northwest. There patron god, Huitzilopochtli, had commanded them to leave there in 12th century A.D. As legend had it, at the end of a long nomadic journey, the Aztecs came to a site where they, "encountered an eagle with a rattlesnake in its beak perched on a cactus growing from a stone." It was there that they decided to settle, in Tenochtitlan (Cotterell 1980).
The Aztecs were people who were had strong religious beliefs. They were cultured people who also had strong beliefs about their heritage. They carried their strength in the knowledge and worship of their pluralistic gods. Aztecs would often bring gifts to the capital Technotitlan to decorate and honor it. Some of these gifts were food, feathers, salt, arrows and luxuries from trade.
