Altepetl definition

Altepetl means ―the water(s), the mountain(s)‖ – a reference to its territorial land base (Lockhart 1992:14). Before describing the altepetl sociopolitical structure, it should be noted that many Mesoamerican scholars prefer not to use the Nahua term, instead labeling these units "city states" (Charlton and Nichols 1997; Smith 2008), since the central cluster was typically called a city by the Spanish. There are, of course, quibbles and questions about the applicability of that Old World political category to Mesoamerican cases (e.g. Yoffee REFS), but those terminological debates do not negate the importance of data and information gathered under the rubric "city state" (especially by Michael Smith, below). One man's altepetl is another man's city state. I will use the term atlepetl and sometimes atlepetl/city-state here, and it should be noted that the socio- political structure it described also characterized many non-Nahua areas of Mesoamerica (discussed below).
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Examples of Altepetl in a sentence

  • Cuauhtlehuanitzin, Chimalpahin & ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ de San ▇▇▇▇▇ Muñón 1997 Codex Chimalpahin: Society and politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlateloloco, Texcoco, Culhuacan, and other Nahua Altepetl in Central Mexico: the Nahuatl and Spanish annals and accounts.

  • In this way Nahuatl speaking Aztecs of one Altepetl would be solidary with speakers of other languages belonging to the same altepetl, but enemies of Nahuatl speakers belonging to other competing altepetl states.

  • Polygamy was not very common among the commoners and some sources describe it as being prohibited.[57] Altepetl and calpolli The main unit of Aztec political organization was the city state, in Nahuatl called the altepetl, meaning "water-mountain".

  • Altepetl were also the main source of ethnic identity for the inhabitants, even though Altepetl were frequently composed of groups speaking different languages.