Mixcoatl

The Mixcoatl house takes its name from Iztac Mixcoatl, whom Mexica migration lore calls the father of Tenoch, the chief who led the Mexica at the end of their wanderings from Aztlán. Elected by the council of elders, Tenoch guided his people to an island in Lake Texcoco, where they founded Tenochtitlan, named in his honour, in 1325; whether he was a historical leader or a mythologized founder remains disputed.

He died between 1350 and 1375, after which the elders chose Acamapichtli, of Culhua descent through his mother, as the first tlatoani, beginning a royal line that at first made Tenochtitlan tributary to Azcapotzalco.

In 1428 that line, under Itzcoatl, joined Texcoco and Tlacopan in the Triple Alliance that overthrew Azcapotzalco and built the Aztec empire. Its last independent ruler, Cuauhtémoc, fell with the city to Hernán Cortés in 1521.