Tlaxcallan

Tlaxcallan was a Nahua polity in the Tlaxcala valley of central Mexico. Its settlements grew into a confederation of four city-states governed by a council of nobles.

By the fifteenth century the Aztec Triple Alliance had surrounded Tlaxcallan, fighting flower wars for sacrificial captives and embargoing its trade without conquering it. In 1519 the Tlaxcalteca fought Cortes, then allied with him: thousands joined the 1521 siege of Tenochtitlan and later campaigns as far as Guatemala. Under Spanish rule Tlaxcala retained its lands and substantial self-government.