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The origins of the Aztecs are shrouded in mystery and legend, not unlike the ancient Romans’ belief that they were descended from the Trojans. According to the Aztec legends, they originated from a place they knew as <i>Aztlán</i>, somewhere north of the Rio Grande River, and began their southern migration in the early twelfth century AD. The Nahuatl speaking people assumed the name “Mexica” for their people during their migration, which is what the Spanish knew them as. The term “Aztec” did not become widely used until long after the collapse of their empire. <ref> Townsend, p. 58</ref>
The Aztecs arrived in the Central Valley of Mexico around the year 1300 and were immediately thought of as invaders and barbarians by the more civilized and refined inhabitants of the region. The inhabitants of the Valley violently dispersed the Aztecs, but the city of Culhuacan, seeing a potential use for the interlopers, agreed to cede them a small parcel of what was believed to have been worthless land. <ref> Townsend, p. 63</reref>
The industrious Aztecs built that worthless plot of land into one of the greatest cities of the Pre-Columbian world – Tenochtitlan – which according to Aztec legend took place after a priest had a vision of an eagle on a cactus at the location in 1325. <ref> Townsend, p. 65</ref>
