View source for Altepetl

{{short description|14th century city-state in central America}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:{{lang|nci|Altepetl|nocat=y}}}}
[[File:Codex Osuna Triple Alliance.JPG|thumb|250px|Glyphs representing {{lang|nci|[[Texcoco (altepetl)|Texcoco]]|italic=no}}, {{lang|nci|[[Tenochtitlan]]|italic=no}}, and {{lang|nci|[[Tlacopan]]|italic=no}}, the three primary {{lang|nci|altepetl}} of the [[Aztec Empire]].]]
{{Aztecbox}}
The '''{{lang|nci|altepetl}}''' ({{langx|nci|āltepētl}} {{IPA|nci|aːɬ.ˈté.peːt͡ɬ||Altepetl.ogg}}, plural '''''altepeme'''''<ref name="Licate1981"/> or '''''altepemeh''''') was the local, [[ethnic group|ethnically]]-based political entity, usually translated into English as "[[city-state]]", of [[pre-Columbian era|pre-Columbian]] [[Nahuatl]]-speaking societies<ref name="Smith1997">Smith 1997 p. 37</ref> in the [[Americas]]. The ''altepetl'' was constituted of smaller units known as [[Calpulli|''calpolli'']] and was typically led by a single [[Dynasty|dynastic ruler]] known as a ''[[tlatoani]]'', although examples of shared rule between up to five rulers are known.<ref name="Seiferle2007"/> Each ''altepetl'' had its own jurisdiction, origin story, and served as the center of [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous]] identity.<ref name="Crewe2019"/> Residents referred to themselves by the name of their ''altepetl'' rather than, for instance, as "Mexicas".<ref name="Mundy2012"/> ''"Altepetl"'' was a polyvalent term rooting the social and political order in the creative powers of a ''sacred mountain'' that contained the ancestors, seeds and life-giving forces of the community.<ref name="Noguez2001"/> The word is a combination of the [[Classical Nahuatl|Nahuatl]] words {{wikt-lang|nci|ātl}} (meaning "water") and {{wikt-lang|nci|tepētl}} (meaning "mountain"). A characteristic [[Nahuas|Nahua]] mode was to imagine the totality of the people of a region or of the world as a collection of {{lang|nci|altepetl}} units and to speak of them on those terms.<ref name="Sousa1998"/>{{rp|36}} The concept is comparable to [[Maya civilization|Maya]] {{lang|yua|cah}} and [[Mixtec]] ''ñuu''. ''Altepeme'' formed a vast complex network which predated and outlasted larger empires, such as the [[Aztec Empire|Aztec]] and [[Tarascan state]].<ref name="Crewe2019"/>

Established ''altepeme'' were characterized by a central temple dedicated to a [[patron god]] particular to the identity of the ''altepetl'' and a central market. ''Altepeme'' were typically multiethnic and communal cohesion was often maintained through territorial exclusiveness.<ref name="Seiferle2007"/>

== Mesoamerican politics ==
Local rulers of ''altepeme'' generally retained their authority over taxation and land distribution while under the indirect rule of an empire in exchange for their submission, participation in military campaigns, and tribute payments. However, starting with [[Moctezuma I|Moctezuma Ilhuicamina I]] in the 1440s, Aztec imperialist efforts over the ''altepetl'' deepened by removing the powers of taxation from local rulers and replacing non-compliant rulers with military governors. These heightened pressures produced unstable conditions in [[Mesoamerica]] in which ''altepetl'' frequently rebelled by withholding tributes and pursuing [[secession]]. Cuauhnahuac, a major ''altepetl'' of the southern Aztec empire, rebelled on three occasions. The Aztecs responded with intense violence, which only fueled more violence in response.<ref name="Crewe2019"/>

At the time of [[Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire|Spanish invasion]] in 1519, the [[Aztec Empire]] alone consisted of approximately 450 ''altepeme''. The Spanish recognized and exploited the preexisting political divisions among the various ''altepeme'' and the Aztecs, inciting dissident city-states to rebel. No "super-altepetl" identity existed to unite against the Spanish. The [[Totonac]]s of [[Cempoala]] were among the first to ally with the Spanish, having only recently been brought under Aztec control after many years of resistance. The [[Tlaxcaltec]] of [[Tlaxcala]] initially resisted the Spanish but soon joined the conquest effort as a crucial ally against the Aztec Empire. After the fall of [[Tenochtitlan|Tenōchtitlan]] in 1521, the Spanish increasingly demanded that ''altepetl'' rulers publicly destroy their figures of deities (referred to as idols by the Spanish) and whitewash temple walls. While destroying idols had represented a transfer of sovereignty and tributes to the conquering power in Mesoamerican politics, with the invasion of the Spanish, Indigenous peoples soon realized "that in the Spanish context it implied a far more sweeping, cosmic transformation."<ref name="Crewe2019"/>

[[File:Destruction of Mexican Codices.jpg|thumb|An illustration of the destruction of Indigenous [[codices]] by [[Franciscans|Franciscan friars]] by [[Diego Muñoz Camargo]] (1585)]]
From the inception of contact between the ''altepetl'' and the Spanish conquistadors, submission to Christianity was non-negotiable. As described by historian Ryan Dominic Crewe, "the Spanish offered two clear options: accept Christianity and be saved in this world and in the next, or resist it and face damnation in both." Prior to the fall of Tenōchtitlan, the Spanish could not force compliance because of their heavy dependency on those whom they were admonishing. Conquistador [[Bernal Díaz del Castillo|Bernal Diaz del Castillo]] wrote that "more often than not hungry Spanish soldiers would read their protocol and then promptly settle into a meal prepared by those they had just admonished." After the fall of Tenōchtitlan, the balance of power shifted heavily in favor of the Spanish, who forced [[Christianization]] upon the various ''altepeme''.<ref name="Crewe2019"/>

As it became clear to each ''altepetl'' that the Spanish were in Mesoamerica to stay, they quickly learned to use conversion as a means of gaining political capital. By 1523, nobles in Tenōchtitlan had requested baptisms and provided them with properties for their monasteries and churches to assure themselves a place within the new colonial order. [[Matlatzinca people|Matlatzinca]] and [[Otomi]] peoples in the [[Toluca Valley|Valley of Toluca]] as well as [[Mixtec]]s in [[Oaxaca]] used baptisms as a means of reclaiming local authority after years of [[Mexica]] imperialism in the face of Spanish rule. Throughout the 1520s and 1530s, ''altepeme'' retained their autonomy through Christianization and local rulers now adopted new Spanish Christian names: "the names of local elite began to echo those of the men who were turning out to be their overlords rather than their liberators."<ref name="Crewe2019"/>

Spanish missionaries imposed forms of symbolic and physical violence in the ''altepetl'' in order to erect "a new universe of meaning" for Indigenous peoples. A coordinated assault was launched by missionaries and conquistadors on Indigenous priests and adherents on January 1, 1525, which resulted in the destruction of the main temples in Tenōchtitlan, [[Texcoco (altepetl)|Texcoco]], and Tlaxcala, including the Temple of [[Huītzilōpōchtli]], which housed the [[archive]]s of Texcoco. This wave of violence initiated by the Spanish missionaries emanated outward throughout what would soon become [[New Spain]]. A letter written by Christianized Indigenous nobles to the Spanish crown in 1560 records that "people of many ''altepetl'' were forced and tortured [or] were hanged or burned because they did not want to relinquish idolatry, and unwillingly received the gospel and faith."<ref name="Crewe20192">{{Cite book |first=Ryan Dominic |last=Crewe |title=The Mexican Mission: Indigenous Reconstruction and Mendicant Enterprise in New Spain, 1521–1600 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2019 |isbn=9781108492546 |pages=69}}</ref> It further stated that "it was the friars' 'good deed', they added, to 'teach us to despise, destroy, and burn the stones and wood that we worshiped as gods'."<ref name="Crewe20192" /> As described by historian Ryan Dominic Crewe, "Friars proudly reported the destruction using biblical scales: twenty thousand idols smashed by a single friar in a day, thousands of local deities delivered to the flames, or five hundred major temples dismantled in just five years.<ref name="Crewe20193">{{Cite book |first=Ryan Dominic |last=Crewe |title=The Mexican Mission: Indigenous Reconstruction and Mendicant Enterprise in New Spain, 1521–1600 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2019 |isbn=9781108492546 |pages=72}}</ref>

== Examples ==
{{div col|colwidth=23em}}
*[[Azcapotzalco (altepetl)|Azcapotzalco]]
*[[Cempoala]]
*[[Chalco (altépetl)|Chalco]]
*[[Cholula (Mesoamerican site)|Cholula]]
*[[Coixtlahuaca]]
*[[Colhuacan (altepetl)|Colhuacan]]
*[[Cuauhnahuac]]
*[[Huejotzingo|Huexotzingo]]
*[[Tenochtitlan|Tenōchtitlan]]
*[[Texcoco (altepetl)|Texcoco]]
*[[Tlatelolco (altepetl)|Tlatelolco]]
*[[Tlaxcala (Nahua state)|Tlaxcala]]
*[[Toluca]]
*[[Xochimilco (altepetl)|Xochimilco]]
*[[Yanhuitlán]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
<references>
<ref name="Crewe2019">{{Cite book |first=Ryan Dominic |last=Crewe |title=The Mexican Mission: Indigenous Reconstruction and Mendicant Enterprise in New Spain, 1521–1600 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2019 |isbn=9781108492546 |pages=56–70}}</ref>

<ref name="Licate1981">{{cite book |first=Jack Anthony |last=Licate |title=Creation of a Mexican Landscape: Territorial Organization and Settlement in the Eastern Puebla Basin, 1520–1605 <!--Not thesis, though based on his doctoral dissertation -->|publisher=University of Chicago |year=1981 |isbn=9780890651070 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DZcNAAAAYAAJ&q=altepeme}}</ref>

<ref name="Mundy2012">{{Cite book |first=Barbara E. |last=Mundy |title=Geography and Ethnography: Perceptions of the World in Pre-Modern Societies |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2012 |isbn=9781118589847 |page=245}}</ref>

<ref name="Noguez2001">{{Cite book |first=Xavier |last=Noguez |year=2001 |chapter=Altepetl |editor-first=David |editor-last=Carrasco |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures: The Civilizations of Mexico and Central America |volume=1 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=12–13 |isbn=0-19-510815-9 |oclc=44019111}}</ref>

<ref name="Seiferle2007">{{Cite book |first=Ann Clair |last=Seiferle-Valencia |title=Cave, City, and Eagle's Nest: An Interpretive Journey Through the Mapa de Cuauhtinchan No. 2, Volume 2 |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |year=2007 |isbn=9780826342836 |page=82}}</ref>

<ref name="Sousa1998">{{cite book |editor1-link=Lisa Sousa |editor1-first=Lisa |editor1-last=Sousa |editor2-link=Stafford Poole |editor2-first=Stafford |editor2-last=Poole |editor3-link=James Lockhart (historian) |editor3-first=James |editor3-last=Lockhart |year=1998 |title=The Story of Guadalupe: Luis Laso de la Vega's ''Huei tlamahuiçoltica'' of 1649 |series=UCLA Latin American studies, vol. 84; Nahuatl studies series, no. 5 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]], [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] Latin American Center Publications |isbn=0-8047-3482-8 |oclc=39455844 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/storyofguadalupe84lass}}</ref>
</references>

==Further reading==
{{Portal|Mesoamerica}}
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=García Martínez |first=Bernardo  |year=2001 |chapter=Community Kingdoms: Central Mexico (Nahua) |editor-first=David |editor-last=Carrasco |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures: The Civilizations of Mexico and Central America |volume=1 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=238–239 |isbn=0-19-510815-9 |oclc=44019111 }}
* {{cite book |last=Gibson |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Gibson (historian) |orig-year=1964 |year=1983 |title=The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule: A History of the Indians of the Valley of Mexico, 1519–1810 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=0-8047-0912-2 |oclc=9359010 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/aztecsunderspani0000gibs }}
* {{cite book |last=Lockhart |first=James |author-link=James Lockhart (historian) |orig-year=1992 |year=1996 |title=The Nahuas After the Conquest: A Social and Cultural History of the Indians of Central Mexico, Sixteenth through Eighteenth Centuries |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |isbn=0-8047-2317-6 |oclc=24283718 }}
* {{cite book |last=Noguez |first=Xavier |year=2001 |chapter=Altepetl |editor=David Carrasco |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures: The Civilizations of Mexico and Central America |volume=1 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=12–13 |isbn=0-19-510815-9 |oclc=44019111 }}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Sousa |editor1-first=Lisa |editor1-link=Lisa Sousa |editor2-last=Poole |editor2-first=Stafford |editor2-link=Stafford Poole |editor3-last=Lockhart |editor3-first=James |editor3-link=James Lockhart (historian) |year=1998 |title=The Story of Guadalupe: Luis Laso de la Vega's ''Huei tlamahuiçoltica'' of 1649 |series=UCLA Latin American studies, vol. 84; Nahuatl studies series, no. 5 |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]], [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] Latin American Center Publications |isbn=0-8047-3482-8 |oclc=39455844 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/storyofguadalupe84lass }}  
* {{cite book |last=Smith |first=Michael |title=The Aztecs |year=1997 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, Massachusetts |isbn=0-631-23015-7 }}
{{refend}}

[[Category:Altepetl]]
[[Category:Aztec society]]
[[Category:Valley of Mexico]]

[[nah:Āltepētl]]