The Mexica (also known as Aztecs) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished from ca. 1300 to 1521. The Mexica formed part of a larger ethnic group, the Nahua, who spoke the Nahuatl language. In 1325 the Mexica founded the city-state of Tenochtitlan on small islands in Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico. They later became the dominant power of the Triple Alliance or Mexica Empire, a confederation of three city-states established in 1427. The empire went on to expand its hegemony far beyond the Valley of Mexico, conquering states as far south as Guatemala and spanning Mesoamerica from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The empire crumbled after a devastating epidemic in 1520, the capture of Tenochtitlan by the Spanish in 1521, and the surrender of the last emperor, Cuauhtémoc.

Tenochtitlan is the site of modern-day Mexico City. The Mexica capital was centered on a ritual precinct, where the Templo Mayor, a stepped pyramid with a double staircase, rose 50 meters (160 ft.) above the city. The pyramid was topped by twin shrines, one dedicated to the rain god Tlaloc, the other to the war god Huitzilopochtli.

Mexica artists worked in a variety of media: sculpture in stone, terracotta and jade, murals, painted books (codices), featherwork, beadwork, textiles of cotton and agave fiber, and mosaics. A combination of naturalistic elements and abstraction is characteristic of Mexica art. Pronunciation here. Web resources here and here.

Pectoral in the form of a double-headed serpent. Cedar wood, turquoise, shell, traces of gilding, resins. Mexica. Ca. 1450–1521. British Museum, London. Photo: Geni.