page_title: Aztec Empire
section_title: Government
hierarchical_section_title: Aztec Empire / Government
caption_attribution_description: English: Templo Mayor, Mexico City, Mexico.
context_page_description: The Aztec Empire, or the Triple Alliance, was an alliance of three Nahua altepetl city-states: Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. These three city-states ruled the area in and around the Valley of Mexico from 1428 until the combined forces of the Spanish conquistadores and their native allies under Hernán Cortés defeated them in 1521.
  The Triple Alliance was formed from the victorious factions of a civil war fought between the city of Azcapotzalco and its former tributary provinces. Despite the initial conception of the empire as an alliance of three self-governed city-states, Tenochtitlan quickly became dominant militarily. By the time the Spanish arrived in 1519, the lands of the Alliance were effectively ruled from Tenochtitlan, while the other partners in the alliance had taken subsidiary roles.
  The alliance waged wars of conquest and expanded rapidly after its formation. At its height, the alliance controlled most of central Mexico as well as some more distant territories within Mesoamerica, such as the Xoconochco province, an Aztec exclave near the present-day Guatemalan border. Aztec rule has been described by scholars as "hegemonic" or "indirect".
context_section_description: The Aztec Empire was an example of an empire that ruled by indirect means.
  Like most European empires, it was ethnically very diverse, but unlike most European empires, it was more a system of tributes than a single unitary form of government. In the theoretical framework of imperial systems posited by American historian Alexander J. Motyl the Aztec empire was an informal type of empire in that the Alliance did not claim supreme authority over its tributary provinces; it merely expected tributes to be paid. The empire was also territorially discontinuous, i.e. not all of its dominated territories were connected by land. For example, the southern peripheral zones of Xoconochco were not in immediate contact with the central part of the empire. The hegemonic nature of the Aztec empire can be seen in the fact that generally local rulers were restored to their positions once their city-state was conquered and the Aztecs did not interfere in local affairs as long as the tribute payments were made.
  Although the form of government is often referred to as an empire, in fact most areas within the empire were organized as city-states (individually known as altepetl in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs). These were small polities ruled by a king or tlatoani (literally "speaker", plural tlatoque) from an aristocratic dynasty. The Early Aztec period was a time of growth and competition among altepeme. Even after the empire was formed in 1428 and began its program of expansion through conquest, the altepetl remained the dominant form of organization at the local level. The efficient role of the altepetl as a regional political unit was largely responsible for the success of the empire's hegemonic form of control.
  It should be remembered that the term "Aztec empire" is a modern one, not one used by the Aztec themselves. The Aztec realm was at its core composed of three Nahuatl-speaking city states in the densely populated Valley of Mexico. Over time, asymmetries of power elevated one of those city states, Tenochtitlan, above the other two. The "Triple Alliance" came to establish hegemony over much of central Mesoamerica, including areas of great linguistic and cultural diversity. Administration of the empire was performed through largely traditional, indirect means. However, over time something of a nascent bureaucracy may have been beginning to form insofar as the state organization became increasingly centralized.
caption: The Huēyi Teōcalli ruins in Mexico-Tenochtitlan remnants, present-day Historic center of Mexico City.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 60D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image Software": "Aperture 3.6", "Image DateTime": "2015:07:14 18:50:35", "Image ExifOffset": "180", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:07:14 18:50:35", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:07:14 18:50:35", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "53/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4679/1313", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF SubSecTime": "01", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "01", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "01", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5184", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3456", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "97379/17", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "331079/57", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": "1581028962", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "1581028962", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[18, 200, 0, 0]", "EXIF LensModel": "18-200mm", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "0000000000"}