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Secondary sourceDocument16th century

Codex Mendoza, Folio 15v

Unknown author · 16th century

A painted page from a 16th-century Aztec manuscript recording Moctezuma II's rule and the towns he conquered.

This page records Moctezuma II's name glyph, seat of rule, and the towns conquered during his reign.

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A painted page from a colonial Mexican manuscript with a blue-green border column of glyphs on the left. Rows of hilltop place-sign glyphs with Nahuatl labels and small pictorial symbols such as a seated figure, a bird, a shield with arrows, and plants, arranged on pale paper with a footer of writing at the bottom.
Codex Mendoza, folio 15v, 16th century. Depicts the rule and conquests of Moctezuma II.

About this source

What it is

This is one page (folio 15v) of the Codex Mendoza, a pictorial manuscript made in the 16th century by unknown indigenous artists. It uses place-sign glyphs and short labels to record conquests during Moctezuma II's reign as tlatoani of Tenochtitlan.

Why it matters

The Codex Mendoza is one of the clearest surviving records made by the Mexica themselves (through colonial-era artists) of how imperial expansion was tracked and remembered. This page shows Moctezuma's seat of rule and a long list of conquered towns, revealing how central conquest and tribute were to his power.

Look closer

  • What do the hilltop glyphs represent, and why are there so many of them on one page?
  • Why might the Mexica have recorded conquests in picture form rather than only in writing?
  • What does this page not tell you about the people living in the conquered towns?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Montezuma II on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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