It was near a hundred years after the founding of the city, and in the beginning of the fifteenth century, that the Tepanecs attacked the Tezcocan monarchy, as has been related in the previous part of this chapter. The Tezcocans and the Aztecs or Mexicans united to put down the power of the spoiler, and as a recompense for the important services of the allies, the supreme dominion of the territory of the royal house of Tezcoco was transferred to the Aztecs. The Tezcocan sovereigns thus became, in a measure, mediatized princes of the Mexican throne; and the two states, together with the neighboring small kingdom of Tlacopan, south of the lake of Chalco, formed an offensive and defensive league which was sustained with unwavering fidelity through all the wars and assaults which ensued during the succeeding century. The bold leaguers united in that spirit of plunder and conquest which characterizes a martial people, as soon as they are surrounded by the necessaries, comforts, and elegances of life in their own country, and whenever the increase of population begins to require a vent through which it may expand those energies that would destroy the state by rebellions or civil war, if pent up within the narrow limits of so small a realm as the valley of Mexico. Accordingly we find that the sway of this small tribe, which had but just nestled among the reeds, rocks and marshes of the lake, was quickly spread beyond the mountain barrier that hemmed in the valley. Like the Hollanders, they became great by the very wretchedness of their site, and the vigilant industry it enforced. The Aztec arms were triumphant throughout all the plains that swept downward towards the Atlantic, and, as we have seen, even maintained dominion on the shores of the Pacific, or penetrated, under the bloody Ahuitzotl, the remotest corners of Guatemala and Nicaragua.

Such was the extent of Aztec power at the beginning of the 16th century, at the period of the Spanish incursion.

Note.—The discrepancies in the dates assigned by several writers as to the periods of the emigration of various tribes and the reigns of their sovereigns, are carefully presented in the following table, given by Albert Gallatin, in his essay on the Mexican nations—1 vol. Ethnol. Soc. Transac. 162.

Column Headings:
A: Alva.
B: Sahagun.
C: Veytia.
D: Clavigero.
Toltecs.
ABCD
Arrived at Huehuetlalpallan387
Departed from do 596544
They found Tula498 713720
Monarchy begins510 667
Monarchy ends959 11161051
Chichimecas and Acolhuans or Tezcocans.
Xolotl, 1st King occupies the valley of Mexico963 1120about 1170
Napoltzin, 2d King ascends the throne1075 123213 cen
Huetzin Tlotzin 3rd King, so called erroneously, ascends the throne1107 126314 cen
Quinantzin, 4th King ascends the throne1141 129814 cen
Tlaltecatzin 1st King according to Sahagun ascends the throne 1246
Techotlalatzin 5th (2d, Sahagun) ascends the throne12531271135714 cen
Ixtlilxochitl 6th (3d, Sahagun) " " "1357133114091406
Netzahual-Coyotzin 7th (4th, Sahagun) ascends the throne1418139214181426
Netzahual-Pilzintli 8th (5th, Sahagun) ascends the throne14621463 1470
Netzahual-Pilzintli dies15151516 1516
Tepanecs, or Tecpanecs of Acapulco.
Acolhua arrives1011 1158
Acolhua 2d son of Acolhua 1st arrives 1239
Tezozomac son according to D'Alva, grandson according to Veytia of the 1st Acolhua arrives129913481343
Maxtlan, son of Tezozomac arrives1427 14271422
Mexicans or Aztecs.
Mexicans leave Aztlan 10641160
" arrive at Huelcolhuacan 1168
" " at Chicomotzoc 1168
" " at valley of Mexico1141 12271216
" " at Chapultepec {1248
{1276		1245

Column Headings:
A: Mendoza's Collection.
B: Codex Tellurianus.
C: Acosta.
D: Siguenza.
E: D'Alva.
F: Sahagun.
G: Veytia.
H: Clavigero.
Mexicans or Aztecs.
ABCDEFGH
Foundation of Mexico or Tenochtitlan1324 13251220 13251325
Acamapichtli, elected King13751399138413611141138413611352
Huitzilihuitl, accession13961406142414031353 14021389
Chimalpopoca14171414142714141357 14141409
Ytzcoatl14271426143714271427 14271423
Montezuma 1st14401440144914401440 1436
Acayacatl14691469148114681469 1464
Tizoc14821483148714811483 1477
Ahuitzol14861486149214861486 1482
Montezuma 2d15021502150315021503 1502
Duration of reigns of Mexican Kings.
Acamapichtli2174042150214137
Huitzilihuitl21831150211220
Chimalpopoca1012101370101314
Ytzcoatl131412131314 13
Montezuma 1st292932282930 28
Acayacatl13146131414 13
Tizoc435534 5
Ahuitzol16161116178 16
Montezuma 2d171716171719 17

The writers and documents cited in the preceding columns are esteemed the highest authority upon Mexican history and antiquities.

This is perhaps the best comparative table of Mexican Chronology,—up to the period of the conquest,—that has ever been compiled; and the great discrepancy between the dates assigned by various authorities, exhibits the guess work upon which the earlier Mexican history is founded.

In addition to the tribes or States enumerated in the preceding tables as constituting the nucleus of the Mexican empire under Montezuma, at the period of the Spanish conquest, it must be recollected that there were numerous other Indian States,—such as the Tlascalans, Cholulans, &c., whose origin is more obscure even than that of the Aztecs. Besides these, there were, on the territories now comprehended within the Mexican republic, the Tarascos who inhabited Michoacan, an independent sovereignty;—the barbarous Ottomies; the Olmecs; the Xicalancas; the Miztecas, and Zapotecas. The last named are supposed by Baron Humboldt to have been superior, in civilization, to the Mexicans, and probably preceded the Toltecs in the date of their emigration. Their architectural remains are found in Oaxaca. If we consider the comparatively small space in which the original tribes were gathered together in the valley of Mexico, which is not probably over two hundred and fifty miles in circumference, we cannot but be surprised that such remarkable results were achieved from such paltry beginnings and upon so narrow a theatre. The subjugation of so large a territory and such numerous tribes, by the Aztecs and Tezcocans is perhaps quite as wonderful an achievement, as the final subjugation of those victorious nations by the Spaniards. But in all our estimates of Spanish valor and generalship, in the splendid campaigns of Cortéz, we should never forget,—as we have remarked in the text,—the material assistance he received from his Indian allies—the Tlascalans.