Land Rights from Aztec Tradition
As part of the annihilation of the Aztec civilization, after Cortés conquered Montezuma's empire, the Spaniards burned the Aztec archives. Surviving examples of Indian codices are rare. Although this manuscript claims to date from the early 1500s, it is part of the so-called "Techialoyan" land records created in the seventeenth century using old methods to substantiate native land claims with the Spanish regional authorities. These "titulos primodiales" were essentially municipal histories that documented in text and pictures local accounts of important events and territorial boundaries.
Don Andrés, Aztec notary
Techialoyan land records, with text in Nahuatl
Santa Maria Itztacapan, Mexico. Aztec, seventeenth century
Manuscript on amate (fig tree bark) paper
Jay I. Kislak Collection
Rare Book and Special Collections Division (7.2)
