Itzcoatl Becomes Aztec Tlatoani

1427

The fourth ruler of Tenochtitlan, an illegitimate son of an earlier king, took the turquoise crown and immediately began rewriting history, literally. He ordered the old codices burned and new ones painted. The Mexica, he insisted, had always been a chosen people. The Aztec Empire effectively begins with him. His adviser Tlacaelel redesigned the state religion around mass human sacrifice and the cult of Huitzilopochtli, the sun god.