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The pochtecah's version of these events offers a tale of valiant and prolonged siege before the Aztecs eventually overcame insuperable obstacles and singlehandedly vanquished the enemy towns,
60 but the actual events are more mundane. Though militarily successful, Ahuitzotl's 1497 incursion into the Tecuantepec region was not sufficiently impressive to warrant local concern that the Aztecs could or would return at will. Moreover, during the three or four years following the initial conquests Aztec merchants trading in the rich coastal lands were in considerable danger. While Ahuitzotl undoubtedly knew of the situation, conditions elsewhere in the empire and the enormous physical and financial cost of mounting a further Tecuantepec campaign forestalled any immediate action in the region. But the situation finally deteriorated to the point that no viable alternative remained, and an army was dispatched under the tlacochcalcatl, Moteuczomah Xocoyotl. |
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The army was again raised in eight days and left Tenochtitlan, marching via Chalco, Cocotitlan, and Huaxyacac. It continued on to Mazatlan and set up camp at the pass to the city. The army attacked Mazatlan the next day and destroyed everything by noon, and the old people, women, and children fled into the mountains.61 The troops then conquered Ayotlan, Xolotlan, and Xoconochco62 (see maps 17 and 18) but declined to push farther south into the rich provinces of Cuauhtemallan (Guatemala), Atl-Popoca, Popoca-Tepetl, and Tlatla-Tepec. Also likely to have been subdued during this campaign were the towns of Mapachtepec, Acapetlahuacan, Huehuetlan, Huitztlan, Comitlan, Chillan, and Xaltepec.63 |
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Thereafter, Ahuitzotl died, either of wounds64 or of a strange withering disease.65 |
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