Aztec Nation

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in lakes: Tlaltetalco and Tenochtitlán. The traditional founding date of
Tenochtitlán is 1325; the quest for the sacred site on which to found Tenochtitlán is
relayed to us by an Aztec myth, ...[its] beginning is found in ancient times, when a
humble tribe was banished-- by the original Aztecs (Castillo 1908)-- from a mysterious
homeland it called Aztlán(place of the herons) or Chicomoztoc(place of the seven caves).
During the long exile the Mexicas wandered among hostile strangers while anxiously
searching for the divine sign, whose presence, prophesied by their god, would mark their
arrival in the promised land. The tale continues with the discovery of the omen and the
subsequent founding of Mexico-Tenochtitlán on the sacred site. (León-Portilla 1992)
By the fifteenth century Tenochtitlán had become the center of the Aztec world-- the
center of Aztec growth, conquest, and expansion. As early as the sixteenth century
Tenochtitlán dominated all other cities in the Central Valley and had reached the height
of its power and ...