Ahuitzotl

Perhaps the greatest known military leader of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, Ahuizotl began his reign by suppressing a Huastec rebellion, and then swiftly more than doubled the size of lands under Aztec dominance. He conquered the Mixtec, Zapotec, and other peoples from Pacific Coast of Mexico down to the western part of Guatemala. Ahuizotl also supervised a major rebuilding of Tenochtitlan on a grander scale including the expansion of the Great Pyramid or Templo Mayor in the year 8 Reed (1487). He presided over the introduction of the great-tailed grackle into the Valley of Mexico, the earliest documented case of human-mediated bird introduction in the Western Hemisphere. Ahuizotl died in the year 10 Rabbit (1502) and was succeeded by his nephew, Moctezuma II. Ahuizotl took his name from the animal ahuizotl, which the Aztecs considered to be a legendary creature in its own right rather than a mere mythical representation of the king. ==Legacy==

Ahuitzotl, along with his grandson Itzcoatl, is commemorated by one of the bronze statues that constitute the Monumento a los Indios Verdes, currently located in Gustavo A. Madero, Mexico City, and originally created for the 1889 Paris Exposition. ==In popular culture==

Under the name Teomitl, Ahuitzotl is a primary character in the Obsidian and Blood series by Aliette de Bodard, which are set in the last year of the reign of Axayacatl and the first years of the reign of Tizoc. In the historical fiction novel Aztec by Gary Jennings, Ahuitzotl is a prominent character. Set in the time just before the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors, it accounts his construction of the many expansions of Tenochtitlan, and wars of conquest, trade, and proclivities. == Citations ==

• Hassig, Ross (1988). Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. • Townsend, Richard F. (2000). The Aztecs (revised ed.). New York: Thames and Hudson. •