WAztec codices are books written by pre-Columbian and colonial-era Nahuas in pictorial and/or alphabetic form.
WThe Mapa Quinatzin is a 16th-century Nahua pictorial document, consisting of three sheets of amatl paper that depict the history of Acolhuacan.
WThe Aubin Codex is a textual and pictorial history of the Aztecs from their departure from Aztlán through the Spanish conquest to the early Spanish colonial period from 1519-1521, ending in 1608. Consisting of 81 leaves, the codex is written in alphabetic Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec empire, on European paper.
WThe Codex Azcatitlan is an Aztec codex detailing the history of the Mexica and their migration journey from Aztlán to the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The exact date when the codex was produced is unknown, but scholars speculate it was crafted some time between the mid-16th and 17th centuries. The name of this important Mexica pictorial manuscript was suggested by its first editor, Robert H. Barlow, who erroneously interpreted the anthill on page 2 as the glyph for “Aztlán.” In the Bibliothèque nationale de France, where it is housed, it is known as Histoire mexicaine, [Manuscrit] Mexicain 59–64.
WThe Codex Borbonicus is an Aztec codex written by Aztec priests shortly before or after the Spanish conquest of Mexico. It is named after the Palais Bourbon in France and kept at the Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée Nationale in Paris. The codex is an outstanding example of how Aztec manuscript painting is crucial for the understanding of Mexica calendric constructions, deities, and ritual actions. In 2004 Maarten Jansen and Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez proposed that it be given the indigenous name Codex Cihuacoatl, after the goddess Cihuacoatl.
WCodex Boturini, also known as the Tira de la Peregrinación de los Mexica, is an Aztec codex, which depicts the migration of the Azteca, later Mexica, people from Aztlán. Its date of manufacture is unknown, but likely to have occurred before or just after the Conquest of the Aztec Empire. At least two other Aztec codices have been influenced by the content and style of the Boturini Codex. This Codex has become an insignia of Mexica history and pilgrimage and is carved into a stone wall at the entrance of the National Museum of Anthropology and History in Mexico City.
WCodex Osuna is an Aztec codex on European paper, with indigenous pictorials and alphabetic Nahuatl text from 1565. It has seven parts, with most being economic in content, particularly tribute, with one part having historical content. It was named after the Spanish nobleman, Mariano Francisco de Borja José Justo Téllez-Girón y Beaufort-Spontin, twelfth Duke of Osuna, in whose library the codex was held until his death in 1882. It then became part of the collection of the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid. It is part of a lawsuit by the indigenous of a Nahua community against Spaniards, and a fragment of a much larger Mexican text; the first numbered folio in the facsimile is 464.
WThe Codex Totomixtlahuaca or Codex Condumex is a colonial-era map produced on a large piece of cotton. The map represents Totomixlahuaca, Mexico, and includes a creation date of 1564. It documents a meeting over a land conflict in communities of the current Mexican state of Guerrero.
WCodex Vaticanus B, also known as Codex Vaticanus 3773, is an Aztec ritual and divinatory document. It is a member of the Borgia Group of manuscripts. It contains 49 leaves, 48 of them are painted on both sides.
WThe Florentine Codex is a 16th-century ethnographic research study in Mesoamerica by the Spanish Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún. Sahagún originally titled it: La Historia Universal de las Cosas de Nueva España. After a translation mistake, it was given the name Historia general de las Cosas de Nueva España. The best-preserved manuscript is commonly referred to as the Florentine Codex, as the codex is held in the Laurentian Library of Florence, Italy.
WThe Codex Magliabechiano is a pictorial Aztec codex created during the mid-16th century, in the early Spanish colonial period. It is representative of a set of codices known collectively as the Magliabechiano Group. The Codex Magliabechiano is based on an earlier unknown codex, which is assumed to have been the prototype for the Magliabechiano Group. It is named after Antonio Magliabechi, a 17th-century Italian manuscript collector, and is held in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Florence, Italy.
WThe Codex Mendoza is an Aztec codex, believed to have been created around the year 1541. It contains a history of both the Aztec rulers and their conquests as well as a description of the daily life of pre-conquest Aztec society. The codex is written in the Nahuatl language utilizing traditional Aztec pictograms with a translation and explanation of the text provided in Spanish. It is named after Don Antonio de Mendoza, the viceroy of New Spain, and a leading patron of native artists.
WThe Oztoticpac Lands Map of Texcoco is a pictorial Aztec codex on native paper (amatl) from Texcoco ca. 1540. It is held by the manuscript division of the Library of Congress, measuring 76 cm × 84 cm and now on display in the Library of Congress as part of its permanent exhibition "Exploring the Early Americas". The contents are both pictorial and alphabetic text in Nahuatl in red and black ink. The glosses indicate it deals with lands that Texcocan lord Ixtlilxochitl I may have given to Don Carlos Ometochtzin Chichimecatecotl of Texcoco, a son of Nezahualpilli, and litigation over the lands' ownership. Don Carlos was tried and executed by Bishop Juan de Zumárraga under his inquisitorial powers in 1539. The Oztoticpac Lands Map was likely created between 1540 and 1544, perhaps commissioned by Antonio Pimentel Tlahuilotzin, governor of Texcoco, as part of an effort to reclaim land held by Don Carlos. The map shows a palace held by Don Carlos in Oztoticpac. In the schematic cadastrals of 75 pieces of land, the map shows Nahua families who farmed the land as well as the measurements of the plots. A number of these properties were rented by tenants with standard glyphic representations of the rents. The names of the pieces of land are indicated with toponymic glyphs. The Oztoticpac Lands Map has been linked to another indigenous pictorial, the Humboldt Fragment VI held by the Staatsbibliothek of Berlin.
WThe Selden Roll is a 16th century Mexican manuscript painted roll from the Coixtlahuaca region, incorporating both Mixtec and Aztec elements, probably recording myths of the origin and migration of divine ancestors.
WThe Codex Telleriano-Remensis, produced in sixteenth century Mexico on European paper, is one of the finest surviving examples of Aztec manuscript painting. Its Latinized name comes from Charles-Maurice Le Tellier, archbishop of Reims, who had possession of the manuscript in the late 17th century.
WThe Codex Tudela is a 16th-century pictorial Aztec codex. It is based on the same prototype as the Codex Magliabechiano, the Codex Ixtlilxochitl, and other documents of the Magliabechiano Group.
WThe Codex Xolotl is a postconquest cartographic Aztec codex, thought to have originated before 1542. It is annotated in Nahuatl and details the preconquest history of the Valley of Mexico, and Texcoco in particular, from the arrival of the Chichimeca under the king Xolotl in the year 5 Flint (1224) to the Tepanec War in 1427.