Mexico and Central America 1215 CE

What is happening in Mexico and Central America in 1215CE

After ruling the most extensive empire in Mesoamerica’s Pre-Columbian history, the Toltec empire has ceased, their capital, Tula, sacked (1156) by a people from the north, the Mexica. According to their foundation-legends, the Mexica, the forebears of the Aztec, were one of a number of peoples who came into Mesoamerica from the north in the 12^th and 13^th centuries. They have established themselves on a swampy island in Lake Texcoco, and serve as mercenary soldiers for the competing city-states of the area.

The period is a fruitful one for a band of mercenaries. Central Mexico is now the setting for internecine warfare between numerous city-states. Incoming barbarian peoples such as the Mexica complicate the situation, allying themselves now with one, now with another of the older states, and disrupting the more established urban societies of the region.

In the old Mayan homeland of the Yucatan Peninsula, Uxmal fell into decline after c. 1000, leaving Chichen Itza as the undisputed leader in the north. This was also a trading centre, with strong commercial links to the Gulf coast and central Mexico. Through Chichen Itze Mexican cultural influences spread through northern Yucatan.

Next map, Mexico and Central America in 1453