Hueyi Tlatoani

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Huēyi Tlàtoāni (Nahuatl "great speaker", also spelt Uei Tlatoani or Huey Tlahtoani; plural Huēyi Tlàtòquê) was the Nahuatl title used for the emperor of the Mexica (Aztec). They were rulers of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, and as such became the heads of the Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlān, Texcoco, and Tlacopan.

The title of tlàtoāni has often been translated as 'Aztec emperor'. The succession of tlàtòquê was not passed on by direct inheritance. The tlàtoāni was elected by a consensus of the Aztec élite. The tlatoani was the head of government and the army, and also the high priest of the Mexica.

Ténoch, the legendary founder of Tenochtitlān, was the first tlàtoāni of the city. He was followed by eleven tlàtòquê in succession, under whom the Mexicas built a powerful Mesoamerican state, only to be eventually overcome by the alliance of the rival kingdom the of Tlaxcala and their allies, the Spanish conquistadores of Hernán Cortés

[edit] List of tlàtóquê of Tenochtitlān

[edit] Puppets under Spanish rule