Anahuac (Aztec)

Anahuac is an ancient name for a Mesoamerican, particularly Aztec, area or areas, usually identified as located within or even coterminous with the Valley of Mexico. It can also refer to the former lake basins around Mexico City, often including the Lerma and Pánuco river systems.

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica article

According to the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, Anahuac is "limited by the traditional and vaguely defined boundaries of an ancient Indian empire or confederation of that name previous to the Spanish conquest.

"The word is said to signify 'country by the waters' in Nahuatl, the old Aztec language; hence the theory that Anahuac was located on the sea coast. One of the theories relating to the location of Anahuac describes it as all the plateau region of Mexico, with an area equal to three-fourths of the republic, and extending between the eastern and western coast ranges from Rio Grande to the isthmus of Tehuantepec. A more exact and more commonly used description, however, limits it to the great plateau valley in which the city of Mexico is located, between 18°40' and 20°30'N latitude, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) long by 120 kilometers (75 miles) wide, with an average elevation of 2300 meters (7500 feet), and a mean temperature of 17°C (62°F). The accepted meaning of the name fits this region as well as any on the sea coast, as the lakes of this valley formerly covered one-tenth of its area. The existence of the name in southern Utah, United States, and on the gulf coast of Mexico, has given rise to theories of other locations and wider bounds for the old Indian empire."

References

: cite web |author=aut|Aguilar-Moreno, Manuel |year=2007a |title=Aztec Art |url=http://www.famsi.org/research/aguilar/Aztec_Art_Bib.pdf |format=PDF online edition |work=Aztec Art and Architecture |publisher=Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI) |accessdate=2008-06-28: cite web |author=aut|Aguilar-Moreno, Manuel |year=2007b |title=Aztec Architecture |url=http://www.famsi.org/research/aguilar/Aztec_Architecture_Bib.pdf |format=PDF online edition |work=Aztec Art and Architecture |publisher=Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI) |accessdate=2008-06-28 : cite book |author=aut|Bierhorst, John |year=1985 |title=A Nahuatl-English Dictionary and Concordance to the Cantares Mexicanos: With an Analytic Transcription and Grammatical Notes |location=Stanford, CA |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=0-8047-1183-6 |oclc=11185890 : cite book |author=aut|Clavigero, Francesco Saverio |authorlink=Francisco Javier Clavijero |origyear=1780–81 |year=1817 |title=The history of Mexico. Collected from Spanish and Mexican historians, from manuscripts, and ancient paintings of the Indians. Illustrated by charts, and other copper plates. To which are added, critical dissertations on the land, the animals, and inhabitants of Mexico. 2 vols. |others=Translated from the original Italian, by Charles Cullen, Esq. |location=London |publisher=G. G. J. and J. Robinson |oclc=2671015 : cite book |author=aut|Prescott, William H. |authorlink=William H. Prescott |year=1843 |title=History of the Conquest of Mexico, with a Preliminary View of Ancient Mexican Civilization, and the Life of the Conqueror, Hernando Cortes |url=http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/PreConq.html |format=online reproduction, Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library |location=New York |publisher=Harper and Brothers |oclc=2458166: cite book |author=aut|Tylor, Edward B. |authorlink=Edward Burnett Tylor |year=1861 |title=Anahuac: Or, Mexico and the Mexicans, Ancient and Modern |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/13115 |format=online reproduction at Project Gutenberg, EBook #13115 |location=London |publisher=Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts |oclc=24266605 : cite web |author=aut|Wimmer, Alexis |year=2006 |url=http://sites.estvideo.net/malinal/nahuatl.page.html |title=Dictionnaire de la langue nahuatl classique |format=online version, incorporating reproductions from "Dictionnaire de la langue nahuatl ou mexicaine" [1885] , by Rémi Siméon|accessdate=2008-06-28 fr icon nah icon