User:W. Jones Jordan/sandbox

‘Aztec’ is a word used to describe the original inhabitants of the Valley of México, who called themselves Mexicas. The word may have been coined by the exiled Jesuit Franisco Javier Clavijero who, in Italy in 1780, published Historia Antigua de México.1 The word ‘aztec’ was first used in English in 1810, 300 years after the Conquest.2 There are no ‘Aztec’ relics in Mexico’s Museo Nacional de Antropología. Alexander von Humboldt published Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain in 1811, and cited Clavijero extensively.3 The word ‘aztec’ was popularized by William H. Prescott, who published The History of the Conquest of Mexico in 1845.4 Prescott also relied on European sources rather than contemporary accounts such as that of Bernal Diaz de Castillo.5 British historian Hugh Thomas author of Moctezuma, Cortés and the Fall of Old México (1990) says “Neither Cortés, nor Bernal Díaz, nor Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún ever used the word Aztecs”.6 NOTES: 1 Clavijero, Francisco Xavier: Historia de México Antigua México: Editorial Porrúa. 2003 2 Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/Aztec. Accessed 22 Jul. 2022. 3 Humboldt, Alexander de: Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain. Translated from the original French by John Black. London, 1841. Forgotten Books, 2016. 4 Prescott, William H: History of the Conquest of Mexico, 1843. Palala Press. 2016 5 Diaz Del Castillo, Bernal: The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico. Da Capo Press Reprint. 2004 6 Thomas, Hugh: Conquest: Cortes, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico. Simon & Schuster; Illustrated Edition. 1995