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days of the march (158 kilometers or 98 miles). But Xilotepec was also conquered,
26 as well as Tollantzinco, Hueipochtlan, Atotonilco (el Grande), Axocopan, Tollan, Itzcuincuitlapilco, Atotonilco (el Chico), Tecpatepec, Chapolicxitlan (Chapolycxitla), Chiconcoac (Chicoaque), Cuauhchinanco, Tlapacoyan. The Mazahuacan area also submitted to the Aztecs though probably with little or no armed struggle following the subjugation of Xilotepec.27 |
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Tozapan, Xolotlan, and Tlapacoyan were also conquered during this campaign, as well as, probably, Xiuhcoac and Tamachpan on the march route.28 These conquests would entail a total penetration of five to eight days (155 kilometers) to Tochpan, conquering towns en route and presumably taking supplies from them. Other towns listed as conquests are easily accessible from Tochpan and may have merely yielded to the inevitable. |
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As important as conquests were to the empire, the projection of the Aztec image of power was even more significant: news of Aztec successes had to be disseminated among friends and enemies alike. Accordingly, rulers from throughout the empireTetzcoco, Tlacopan, Xochimilco, Tlalhuican, Cohuixco, Matlatzinco, and Mazahuacanwere summoned to attend the feast of Tlacaxipehualiztli, dedicated to the god Xipe ToTec. They gave the Aztec king gifts, and captives were sacrificed.29 This ceremony had the dual purposes of requiring the summoned rulers to affirm their fealty by attending and of displaying the power of the empire. The Aztecs could demonstrate by having conquered their enemies and taken them captive and could then sacrifice them amid considerable ceremony in what had become the largest city in the New World. Attending rulers re- |
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