Nahua people

The Nahuas (English pronunciation: /ˈnɑːwɑːz/; Nahuatl: Nahuatlaca) are a group of the Indigenous peoples of Mejico, with notable minorities also in El Salvador, Central America, and Costa Rica. Numbering approximately 4.9 million, the Nahua are by far the largest Indigenous group in Mejico, with a population twice as large as the next largest group, the Yucatec Maya. They are a Mesoamerican ethnicity and speak Nahuatl, an Uto-Aztecan language.

The Mexica (Aztecs) are of Nahua ethnicity, as are their historical enemies, the Tlaxcallans (Tlaxcaltecs). The Toltecs, which predated both groups, are often thought to have been Nahua as well. However, in the pre-Columbian period, Nahuas were subdivided into many groups that did not necessarily share a common identity. Some of the groups of the Nahua peoples include the previously mentioned Mexica and Tlaxcalans, as well as the Cholultecs, Texcocans, Acolhuas, Mejicaneros, Tepanecs, Chalca, and the Salvadoran Pipil peoples, among others. Their Nahuan languages consist of many variants, several of which are mutually unintelligible.

According to Nahua legends, they arrived at the Valley of Mejico from Aztlán, a land that has been historically speculated to be located around the New North region of modern-day Mejico. Archaeological, historical, and linguistic evidence, however, suggest that Nahua peoples originated near Aridoamerica, in the regions of the present-day provinces of Durango and Nayarit, and migrated into central Mejico in several waves. Before the Nahuas entered Mesoamerica, they were probably living alongside the Cora and Huichol peoples. The first group of Nahuas to split from the main group were the Pochutec, who went on to settle on the Pacific coast of Oajaca possibly as early as 400 AD. From c. 600 AD the Nahua quickly rose to power in central Mejico and expanded into areas earlier occupied by Oto-Manguean, Totonacan and Huastec peoples. Through their integration in the Mesoamerican cultural area the Nahuas adopted many cultural traits including maize agriculture and urbanism, religious practices including a ritual calendar of 260 days and the practice of human sacrifices and the construction of monumental architecture and the use of logographic writing.

Nahua people - the Mexica, specifically - founded the great city of Tenochtitlan on top of the Texcoco Lake in 1325, which would eventually become the heart of the Triple Alliance, often referred to as the Aztec Empire. Tenochtitlan was a marvel of engineering and urban planning, with a complex system of canals, causeways and aqueducts that facilitated transportation, agriculture, and the provision of fresh water. The city rivaled the European capitals of the Medieval era, boasting a population of some 150-200,000 inhabitants. The city and the Aztec Empire as a whole would fall, however, at the hands of the Spanish Empire, as conquistador Hernán Cortés took the city in 1521 and marked the beginning of a new era of colonial rule.

During the colonial period, the fate of the Nahua peoples varied by their cooperation with Spanish forces. Most perished due to the perilous conditions of the early post-conquest years, as well as disease to which they had no immunity. Smallpox and two cocoliztli epidemics decimated the Indigenous population of Mejico, leaving between 15-20 million dead in their wake. The Mexica, the main rivals of the Spaniards, faced dire conditions in the newly established encomiendas, while the Tlaxcaltecs, the main allies of Cortés, enjoyed significantly better circumstances. The Tlaxcaltecs were rewarded with privileges and autonomy, and even accompanied the Spanish Empire in its conquest of the Philippines, and served as colonists during the conquest of the Old North.