Moctezuma I Crowned in Tenochtitlan

1440

The son of Huitzilihuitl took the Aztec throne and turned his uncle Itzcoatl's opportunistic conquests into systematic empire. He conquered the Huastecs, engineered the great aqueduct from Chapultepec, and legislated sumptuary codes dictating what color cloaks commoners could wear. The Triple Alliance was becoming a state. His partnership with Tlacaelel transformed the Aztec state from a regional power into an empire extracting tribute from Gulf to Pacific.