Mexicans are very proud of their history. Not just their Hispanic heritage, but the great civilisation that lived before the Spanish colonisation known as the Aztecs.

Mexicans consider themselves descendants of the Aztecs who were originally known as ‘Mexicas’. Their identification with this tribe is so strong that their coat of arms, which appears on their flag, notes and coins, represents the legend of the foundation of Mexico by the Aztec people.

Legend has it that their god Huitzilopoztli told the Aztecs (who were a nomadic tribe) to find an ‘eagle perched on a cactus devouring a snake’ and to build their city there.

After 200 years of searching the land they found the eagle in Mexico Valley where they settled in 1325.

The Aztecs were one of the most important civilisations in America before the colonisation. They created a huge empire, whose capital ‘Technotitlan’ is today México City.

They were great warriors and they conquered many other tribes who became subjects and taxpayers to the Aztec Emperor. The Aztecs were very religious. They believed in many gods and the power of the natural elements, especially the Sun.

They believed the Sun needed blood to rise every day, which in turn they offered through human sacrifice.

The Aztecs had a rich and complex culture. Their organised society developed a vast knowledge in the fields of agriculture, medicine, astronomy, architecture, art, writing and the working with gold and other precious metals.

All this knowledge was collected in written documents known as ‘codex’. However, with the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors, most of these books were destroyed and only four of them remain today.

The most important is the ‘Codex Mendoza’, which has been in England since the 17^th century. This codex was commissioned by the Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza after the Spanish Conquest in 1539, and it was created by an Aztec scribe in collaboration with Spanish priests.

It’s written in traditional Aztec pictograms with Spanish explanations.  It’s the most complete codex and contains the history of the Aztec emperors, the list of the people who paid tribute to them and a detailed description of daily Aztec life.

It was intended to be sent to Spain, but the ship in which it was carried was attacked by French pirates and the codex was subsequently sold to various English collectors before finally ending up in the Bodleian Library in Oxford University where it has been since 1659.

Fortunately, advancements in technology have made it possible for everyone to admire and read this essential document and understand the Aztecs and their lost civilisation.

In 2012, the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico created a digital version of this document, which anyone can access for free.

Now you can find out how the Aztecs lived. How many tortillas a 9-year-old boy should eat; or how a girl was punished if she behaved badly.

The Codex Mendoza app is available to download from the Apple App Store.

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