ABSTRACT
The Nahua historian Don Domingo de San Anton Munon Chimalpahin Quauhtle -huanitzin was born in Amecameca, Chalco, in 1579 to indigenous parents who, although nobly named, were of secondary status. At age fourteen, Chimalpahin traveled to Mexico City and began working as a steward, aide, or lay brother at the Church of San Antonio Abad in Xoloco. While there, he began writing Mexico’s indigenous history and became the premier practitioner of the genre of Nahuatl annals of his day. As well as composing the Annals from which the following excerpts are taken, Chimalpahin also produced a lengthy history of the Indian kingdoms of the Valley of Mexico from 670 to 1612. Chimalpahin’s writings present a portrait of the Nahua mentality and a view of history one century after Conquest in the heart of the Spanish Empire. Chimalpahin’s Annals, written in Nahuatl, chronicle Xoloco’s history in the period from 1589 to 1615.
