Before their defeat by the Spanish in 1521, the triple alliance ruled Mesoamerica through complex trade networks—and warfare. HISTORY MAGAZINE It’s complicated.

The Aztecs were big fans of obsidian, and often used the razor-sharp volcanic glass to slice through the chests of human sacrifices in order to extract the still-beating heart. Such was their love ...

How The Aztec Empire Was Built By Spies. Season 2 Episode 8 | 7m 43s Video has Closed Captions | CC. A network of traveling merchant-spies were essential to the expansion of the Aztec Empire.

In 1428, several of these city states joined together to form the Triple Alliance, which spread and became the Aztec empire. Xaltocan in central Mexico was among the city states that were assimilated.

Álvaro Enrigue's new novel, "You Dreamed of Empires," recounts the fateful meeting of Hernán Cortés and Moctezuma that doomed the Aztec civilizations.

The town was the seat of the Tepanec dominion until the Aztec Triple Alliance overthrew it, dividing it into two autonomous settlements - Mexicapan and Tepanecapan.

An artistic rendering of the retreat of Hernán Cortés from Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital, in 1520. The Spanish conquistador led an expedition to present-day Mexico, landing in 1519.