Xaltocan was apre-Columbiancity-state and island in theValley of Mexico, located in the center of Lake Xaltocan, part of an interconnected shallow lake system which includedLake Texcoco; this place is now inside the village ofSan Miguel Jaltocan in Nextlalpan,State of Mexico. The site was originally settled by theOtomi people but following a war in the late fourteenth century where the Otomi were defeated by an alliance ofTepanecs andMexica the Otomi were driven off the island and relocated toOtumba,Metztitlan andTlaxcala. The island of Xaltocan was then resettled byNahuatl speakers.[1][2] The name can mean either of two things in the Nahuatl language: either 'sandy ground of spiders' or 'where it is planted on the sand'.[3]
Xaltocan is known to have been inhabited in thePostclassic period. Ceramics and other archaeological remains dating to this period have been recovered in excavations at the site.[4] It is thought to have been a local center of power capable of exacting tribute from other city-states in the area.
The founding of Xaltocan is described in the mytho-historical documents, theHistoria Tolteca-Chichimeca andAnales de Cuauhtitlan. According to theAnales the Xaltocameca (people of Xaltocan) were among theChichimec tribes that left the mythical place of origin,Aztlán, under a leader namedQuauhtliztac ("White Eagle"). TheHistoria also identifies the Xaltocameca as belong to the Otomi ethnic group.[5] In this document, written byIxtlilxochitl, the first leader of the Xaltocameca is namedIztacquauhtli, which also means "White Eagle" inNahuatl.
Xaltocan's island location gave it certain advantages that other areas would not have had access to, such as making it easier to fortify, however one particularly noteworthy use of Xaltocan's location was to use the lake to createchinampas which played a vital role in the agriculture of Xaltocan. The chinampas would have been used to grow a variety of foods including corn, beans, squash and much more. It's been found that there was a calculable agricultural surplus in Xaltocan.
In the 13th century Xaltocan were involved in a prolonged war with theNahua city-state ofCuauhtitlan. Xaltocan was initially the strongest but around 1395 the ruler of Cuauhtitlan, Xaltemoctzin, allied himself withTezozomoc ofAzcapotzalco and his subjects theMexica ofTenochtitlan and finally managed to conquer Xaltocan. The Otomi inhabitants fled north to the Otomian city-state of Metztitlan and toTlaxcala, while others were allowed to resettle on the lands ofTexcoco in the place that was henceforth calledOtumba - "Place of the Otomies".
During the next 100 years the site was resettled by Nahua peoples. After theAztec Triple Alliance defeated theTepanecs of Azcapotzalco, Xaltocan became an Aztec subject city and paid tribute to Tenochtitlan, mainly in the form of woven blankets. The Aztec resettlement of Xaltocan also caused a breakdown in several of the key institutions that were required to keep the farming in Xaltocan sustainable, this caused the chinampas to eventually be abandoned.
In 1521, during theSpanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, the army ofHernán Cortés razed Xaltocan and burned it to the ground.[6]: 326