By 1574, Spain controlled a large portion of the Aztec empire and had enslaved most of the indigenous population. Cortés then colonized the area and named it Nueva España (New Spain). In May 1521, Cortés and his followers attacked and conquered the Aztecs. This gesture proved disastrous because Cortés formed many allies on his way to the city. Believing that Cortés might be the serpent god Quetzalcoatl, Aztec King Moctezuma II invited the conquistador to Tenochtitlán. Spaniard Hernán Cortés arrived at Veracruz in 1519. Influenced by earlier Mexican civilizations, the Aztecs conducted extraordinary religious ceremonies that featured dances, processions and sacrifices. Each unit had its own governing council, schools, army, temple and land but paid tribute to the supreme leader of the empire. At their height, the Aztecs ruled 5 million people via a tightly-structured system of self-supporting units called calpulli. This triple alliance conquered smaller cultures to the east and west until the Aztec empire spanned Mexico from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf Coast. The Aztecs, the last of pre-Columbian Mexico’s great native civilizations, rose to prominence in the central valley of Mexico around 1427 by partnering with the Toltecs and Mayans. Because many Toltec architectural and ritualistic influences can be found at the Mayan site of Chichén Itzá in northern Yucatán, many researchers believe that Toltec exiles fled to Yucatán and created a new version of Tula there. One of their kings, Tezcatlipoca, is said to have ordered mass sacrifices of captured enemy warriors. Some have speculated that the Toltecs performed human sacrifices to appease the gods. Historians have determined that the Toltec people appeared in central Mexico near the 10th century and built the city of Tula, home to an estimated 30,000-40,000 people.
The Toltec civilization also influenced Mexico’s cultural history. Reminders of the colonial past are evident in the architecture of towns like Taxco and Querétaro.
In addition, many pre-Columbian ruins still exist throughout Mexico, including the ancient city of Teotihuacán and the Mayan pyramids at Chichén Itzá and Tulum. Many of Mexico’s rural areas are still inhabited by indigenous people whose lifestyles are quite similar to those of their ancestors. Despite the political and social changes that have occurred over the centuries, evidence of past cultures and events are apparent everywhere in Mexico. It is the third largest country in Latin America and has one of the largest populations-more than 100 million-making it the home of more Spanish speakers than any other nation in the world.
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