CODEX MENDOZA AZTEC MANUSCRIPT
THE FOUNDATION OF TENOCHTITLAN The foundation of Tenochtitlan (1325) and its history until 1375, when Tenochtli died, after a reign lasting 51 years. Each blue square represents one year, reading clockwise around the margin. The Aztecs [Mexica] had a curious way of counting time: each month had 20 days, named after things or animals (there were 18 months in a year, with five “unlucky days” left over). Each year was named after its first day, and the year, having 365 days, could only begin with four day- names: they were House, Rabbit, Reed and Flint Knife. The Aztec [Mexica] century consisted of 52 years, which were counted by combining these four symbols with blue dots from one to thirteen (4 x 13 = 52). Though they numbered the individual years within each “century”, the “centuries” themselves were not numbered, and are thus not as easily identifiable as ours. Every 52 years the Aztecs [Mexica] thought that the world was coming to an end; in order for life