Mexico-Tlatelolco was founded in 1337, thirteen years later than Mexico-Tenochtitlán. Its founders were dissident nobles from the rest of the Mexica who decided to found a city on the islets to th...
Mexico-Tlatelolco was founded in 1337, thirteen years later than Mexico-Tenochtitlán. Its founders were dissident nobles from the rest of the Mexica who decided to found a city on the islets to the north of Mexico-Tenochtitlán. The name of the city derives from tlāl-te-tl or tlāl-tel-li, a word that designates the earth mounds, alluding to the islets on which the population was founded. [The ending ol- has been derived from olol- 'rounded']. The subsistence of the Tlatelolcas was based, at first, on hunting and fishing, whose products they commercialized. They also exploited the tequesquite salt. They were vassals of Azcapotzalco, from whose lineage they received their first sovereign, Cuacuauhpitzáhuac, in 1352. When Cuacuauhpitzáhuac dies in 1409, he is succeeded by his son Tlacateotzin, who at first did not ally himself with Mexico-Tenochtitlán and Texcoco in the war against Azcapotzalco from which the Triple Alliance arose after the defeat of Maxtla
With the change of political powers, the Tlatelolcas joined the triple alliance, so they created their own government headed by Quauhtlatouatzin. In turn, they embellished their city with the construction of a major temple, which presided over a large square where the commercial activity of the city took place and for which it was famous. Quauhtlatouatzin died in 1467, being the last sovereign of the Tepanec lineage.
Mexico City-Tlatelolco was divided into nineteen neighborhoods.