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Aztecs migrate to Valley of Mexico around 1200 AD

MexicoGeneral
City/town/settlement, Pyramid complex500 BC - 1 AD
The Brutal & Bloody Rise of the Aztecs
Source: The Brutal & Bloody Rise of the Aztecs by Luke Caverns

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📄 Teotihuacan🌍 Show on the globe

Around 1200 AD, the Aztecs (Mexica) migrated into the Mexican Valley from the north. They discovered Teotihuacan lying abandoned—a city empty for roughly 600 years. Multiple tribes already in the valley repeatedly expelled them before they finally settled.

Key facts corrected:

- Teotihuacan fell around 550–650 AD, making it empty for approximately 550–650 years by 1200 AD, not 1,000 years

Key facts

  • The Aztecs arrived in the Mexican Valley around 1200 AD, approximately 400 years before Cortez
  • They came from the American Southwest (desert cliff dweller environments)
  • The Valley of Mexico was extremely fertile and wealthy, where maize was first grown
  • They found the abandoned city of Teotihuacan, which had been empty for 1,000 years
  • Multiple tribes already lived in the valley and repeatedly expelled the Aztecs

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