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The Aztecs were not content to remain in the Valley of Mexico, and within decades of forming the Triple Alliance their armies had conquered most of central and southern Mexico. The Aztecs never controlled any of the Maya lands, nor did they ever conquer the southern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz. Nevertheless, their empire covered a vast area compared to the size of many large European nations.

Unlike the European nations, however, the Triple Alliance did not actually rule most of the peoples it conquered. Instead the empire installed an official tax collector in the conquered city or center and expected prompt payment of tribute on a regular basis. Submitting to the Aztecs largely meant making hefty tribute payments and acknowledging their supreme authority in the area. In times of war, the defeated city might also have to send soldiers to fight for the empire.

In general, though, conquered cities and city-states continued to rule themselves. Although they did have to agree to recognize the Aztec war and sun god Huitzilopochtli as the supreme god, they continued to practice their traditional religions. If, however, a conquered people did not send their tribute payments, they would face an army of Aztec warriors in violent combat, and everyone knew the Aztecs excelled most in military matters.

At its height, the empire was a very loose coalition of different peoples with vast populations. The people of the empire, according to Michael D. Coe in Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs (1994) were "held in a mighty system whose main purpose was to provide tribute to the Valley of Mexico." In all there were probably about fifteen million people in this coalition. Many of them spoke Nahuatl and worshiped, for the most part, the same gods as their conquerors.

There were people of many different backgrounds and languages within the empire. For example, in 1379 the Aztec warriors conquered a non-Nahuatl speaking farming society in the area that is now the state of Morelos. The Aztecs named the people the Tlahuica (meaning in Nahuatl, "people who work the land"). The largest Tlahuica cities were Cuauhnahuac (now Cuernevaca) and Huaxtepec. After the Aztecs defeated them in battle, the Tlahuicans were required to pay an annual tribute. According to careful records left behind by the Aztecs, the Tlahuicans sent eight thousand sets of clothing, sixteen thousand sheets of bark paper, and twenty thousand bushels of maize to Tenochtitlan annually.

Even though the Tlahuicans were forced to pay hefty tributes for more than a century, they grew wealthy and enjoyed a stable government as part of the Aztec empire. They were strong enough to conquer a few cities around them and established a very profitable trade business. The Tlahuicans remained loyal to the Aztecs to the end, coming to their defense against the Spanish in 1520. This was not the case with some of the other peoples of the empire. Aztec warriors were continually fighting rebellions from cities and regions that deeply resented paying tribute.

A couple of groups successfully repelled the attacks of the Aztecs. One was the Tarascans, who had settled in Tzintzuntzan, in the present-day Mexican state of Michoan. The city of Tzintzuntzan had a population of about thirty thousand and was advanced in the arts, particularly weaving. The Tarascans were not Nahuatl speakers. In 1479 an Aztec army of twenty-four thousand soldiers under the command of the emperor Axayacatl attacked the Tarascans in their homeland.

The Aztecs probably anticipated an easy success, but over the years the Tarascans had grown very powerful, though they had avoided contact with others. In the long and bloody battle, the fierce Tarascan army slaughtered thousands of Aztecs. The surviving Aztecs retreated, never again trying to conquer the Tarascans.

The Tlaxcalan people lived much closer to Tenochtitlan in the Valley of Mexico. Their territory was surrounded by the empire, but somehow Tlaxcala avoided coming under the rule of the Aztecs. The Tlaxcalans had been allies of the Aztecs off and on during the fifteenth century. During the great famine in the Valley of Mexico in 1454, both societies were running low on victims for sacrifice. The Tlaxcalans agreed to enter into "flower wars" with the Aztec army--wars waged only for the purpose of taking victims to be sacrificed to the gods. These wars were waged with the mutual consent of both groups, and strict rules were followed.

At some point in their history together, the Tlaxcalans began to view the Aztecs as mortal enemies. Perhaps the Aztecs broke the rules or continued the wars after Tlaxcala withdrew its consent, but this is not known. In 1520 after the Tlaxcala fought and lost a battle with the invading Spanish, a huge force of the Tlaxcalan army joined forces with the Spaniards to help defeat the Aztecs...

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