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##REDIRECT [[Angatahuacan Republic]]
{{Region_icon_Ajax}}
{{Infobox former country
|native_name = {{nobold|Empire of the Heron}}
|conventional_long_name = Aztapamatlan
|common_name = Aztapamatlan
|era      = {{nowrap|Medieval-Early Modern}}
|status    = Empire
|government_type = [[Cuauhtlatollo]]
|year_start  = 940 CE-947 CE
|year_end    = 1904 CE
|event_start = [[Aztatlacatiliztli War]]<br><small>''War of the Heron's Birth''</small>
|event_end  = [[Zacapine Revolution]]
|life_span = 940-1904
|p1 = Angatahuaca
|s1 = Zacapican
|event_pre  = Teotletl Tlatocayotl<br><small>''Kingdom of the Divine Fire''</small>
|date_pre    = 894 CE-932 CE
|event1      = Omehueyatlatoloyan<br><small>''Rule of Two Oceans''</small>
|date_event1 = 1390 CE-1650 CE
|event2      = [[Red Sail War]]
|date_event2 = {{nowrap|1650 CE-1660 CE}}
|event3      = Centlatoloyan<br><small>''Combined Singular Rule''</small>
|date_event3 = 1650 CE-1890 CE
|stat_year1 =
|stat_area1 =
|stat_year2 =
|stat_pop2 =
|stat_year3 =
|stat_area3 =
|image_flag = White flag.png
|image_map =
|image_size =
|image_map_caption =
|capital = [[Angatahuaca]]
|common_languages = {{wp|Nahuatl}}<br>{{wp|Purépecha language|Purépecha}}
|religion = [[Cozauism]]
|currency =
|leader1 =
|leader2 =
|leader3 =
|leader4      =
|leader5      =
|year_leader1 =
|year_leader2 =
|year_leader3 =
|year_leader4 =
|year_leader5 =
|title_leader =
|deputy1      =
|deputy2      =
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|title_deputy =
|legislature =
|footnotes =
}}
 
'''Aztapamatlan''' ({{wp|Nahuatl}}: 𐐈𐑆𐐻𐐰𐐹𐐰𐑋𐐰𐐻𐑊𐐰𐑌, lit. "Ruled by the Heron"), colloquially known as the '''Empire of the Heron''', was a powerful multi-ethnic polity across southern [[Ajax#Oxidentale|Oxidentale]] and [[Ajax#Malaio|Malaio]] founded and dominated by the hegemonic city state of [[Angatahuaca#History|Angatahauca]] which served as its capital and imperial metropole. Contrary to the common understanding, Aztapamatlan was not a classical Empire such as the dynastic theocracy of the [[Mutul|Mutulese]] or the {{wp|Absolute monarchy|dictatorial monarchy}} of the [[Latium|Latin Empire]]. Instead, Aztapamatlan was ruled since its earliest days as a {{wp|republic}} in which power was vested primarily in the {{wp|Nahuas|Nahuanized}} {{wp|Purépecha}} ruling class who where the military and political elite of society. These elites, known as the Eagles (''Cuauhtli'' in Nahuatl or ''Wakusicha'' in {{wp|Purépecha language|Purépecha}}), wielded outsized political power within the republic, controlling most of the elected offices of the government, the legal and legislative systems, and thus exercising control over the rights and status of the many subject and citizen populations under their control. Aztapamatlan was the first state to unify the territory of what is now the country of [[Zacapican]], and is considered the main precursor to the modern Zacapine state which was itself established by the popular uprising which overthrew the Angatahuacan Cuauhtlatollo and marked the official end of Aztapamatlan. The Aztapaman empire lasted for 964 years (1160 years if the pre-imperial history of Angatahuaca is included), making it one of the longest lasting states in the history of the world and far outstripping the lifespan of any other historical Zacapine state. This longevity is explained by the adaptability of the Aztapaman military and government, its willingness to adopt new technologies, practices and political reforms throughout much of its history, and its {{wp|Xenophilia|xenophilic}} cultural outlook which enabled the state to more easily integrate diverse subject peoples on two continents.
 
==Etymology==
Aztapamatlan and its colloquial appellation as the Heron Empire or at times simply the Heron stem from the history and name of its founding city. Angajtakuaka, later known as Angatahuaca, was named the "Place of the Heron" in the language of the first Purépecha colonists which founded the city, as the coastal island on which the city was established was home to a major colony of {{wp|Snowy egret|snowy egrets}} prized for their pure white plumage. The Nahuas of the local area, who made up the majority of the region's population, used their own equivalent term of ''Aztlan'' to describe the island and the city that foreign sailors had established on it. The white heron-feathers came to be closely associated with Angatahuaca long before the rise of that city to any sort of regional prominence. The citizen soldiers of the city marched under white heron-feather banners and the co-rulers of the city wore heron-feather headdresses as an official sign of their office. When Angatahuaca did expand its influence across the region, its sphere of influence made of its allies, vassal states and conquered territories was referred to as being "Under the power of the Heron" or ''Aztapamatlan'' from the Nahuatl ''Aztatl'' meaning heron and ''-matlan'' indicating the dominance or influence of something. From then on, Aztapamatlan was used as a flexible term to describe all areas directly ruled and indirectly influenced by the city-state of Angatahuaca.
 
==History==
===Pre-Imperial Angatahuaca===
[[File:Japundakta.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Artists impression of the [[Japundakta]] and Xarhiankta style ships used by the naval Purépecha cultures]]
The city state on the island called Aztlan by the locals was the center of what would become Aztapamatlan. However, it had existed for some 200 years before its rise to wider power and the creation of its empire. Founded in 744 by sailors and merchants hailing from the west coast, the city was one of the many colonies the seafaring Purépecha had established in southern Oxidentale following their maritime migration from Norumbia in the preceding centuries. Many of these city states, especially those on the west coast, pursued effective assimilationist policies that formed a buffer zone of indigenous tributaries and vassals with an innermost territory of natives who are culturally and linguistically assimilated into the Purépecha. In the west coast, the Purépecha were numerous and the many indigenous tribes like the {{wp|Kiliwa people|Kiliwa}} and the {{wp|Rarámuri|Raramuri}} peoples were more fragmented, previously displaced from the fertile Zacaco valley of the west by the western axis of the great Nahua migration, which facilitated assimilation. However, Angajtakuaka existed in different circumstances. So far east, Purépecha colonists were few in number and the neighboring states of the southern Aztaco peninsula, mainly ethnic Nahuas of the eastern axis of migration, were more militarily and politically sophisticated and were more numerous than the tribes that had been successfully assimilated in the west. Rather that dominating the coast as the western cities had done, the island city of Angajtakuaka was for the most part a minor player in the regional politics, rarely considered by the chieftains and lords of the mainland. When they were considered, it was often either as a nuisance or a useful tool, and this placed the city-state under frequent external threat.
 
In 894, the eastern Nahua prince [[Cozauh Tlecoyani]] established his own kingdom which came to be called ''Teotletl Tlatocayotl'' ("Divine Fire Kingdom"). Cozauh was an adherent to what was then an obscure monotheistic cult of the Nahua god of fire, the day and of time, {{wp|Xiuhtecuhtli}}, a cult which he would formalize into what is today called [[Cozauism]]. He was a brilliant military mind who rose from humble origins as the lord of a minor city state to conquer most of the Aztaco peninsula, using the faith and the priesthood of the Lord of Fire to administer and integrate his new conquests. At the apogee of Cozauh's reign, the co-rulers of Angajtakuaka with the support of the city's elite adopted Cozauism as their state cult, although they practiced a policy of religious tolerance towards the polytheistic Purépecha pantheon in order to avoid opposition from within the Wakusicha elite and the common public. Cozauism was viewed as a faith of high status at the time, with the formal conversion of the city helping to connect the Wakusicha families to the prestige of King Cozauh and gain standing with his court. It was hoped as well that conversion would aid in preserving the independence that Angajtakuaka enjoyed at that time, a hope which was realized as the city's merchants were given free reign to engage in their commerce and the city itself was largely left to its own devices by the mainlanders. However, even as commerce enriched the city its elites did not have a primarily mercantile outlook. Over the many years since its foundation, the small Purépecha city had been frequently threatened and invaded by its Nahua neighbors envious of its commanding location within what is now called Angatahuaca bay. Although it benefited from a natural defensive advantage with its island location, the city's small population had to be fully mobilized for warfare many times to assert their independence and stave off annihilation. By the time of Cozauh's reign over the mainland, this had fostered a militaristic and somewhat bloodthirsty culture in the city. The conquests and unquestionable martial prowess of Lord Cozauh therefore impressed the Angajtakuakans, many of whom personally admired the man. For this reason, as well as the undeniable fact of the overwhelming military power of the Teotletl Tlatocayotl, smoothed over the ''de facto'' subordination of the city to Cozauh's kingdom from 902 to 932.
 
===Aztapaman expansion in Oxidentale===
====Aztatlacatiliztli War====
{{main|Aztatlacatiliztli War}}
The collapse of the Teotletl Tlatocayotl after the death of Cozauh in 932 created a dangerous power vacuum on the Aztaco peninsula, with many of Cozauh's former vassals and generals vying for power. A few of these warlords claimed to be legitimate successors of Lord Cozauh, heirs to the Tlecoyani ("Fire-bringer") title he had created, while others were secessionist regional vassal lords who were seizing the moment to break free and carve out as much of the old kingdom for themselves as they could. Angatahuaca pledged itself to Lord Apanecatl, one of Cozauh's generals and the leader of the largest successor faction which controlled much of the important southern coast of the peninsula. The Wakusicha saw the war as an opportunity to demonstrate their military prowess to the other players in the region, to the city's populace, and to each other as a means of gaining political advantage. Many of them, especially the unproven sons of the families, began serving as mercenary warriors in the armies of Apanecatl as he fought to reunify the splintered Teotletl Tlatocayotl. This would complicate Angajtakuaka's position when Lord Apanecatl would be killed in battle in 940. As Apanecatl's headless army began to disintegrate into pillaging bands across the southern Aztaco coast, the Angajtakuakan mercenaries that had been in his employ along with some Nahua warriors they had become associated with seized some of the coastal towns in Angatahuaca bay, around what are now the outlying Tlayacatl of the city of Angatahuaca as well as the lands that now make up [[Amegatlan]] altepetl. This seizure of territory by the mercenary sons of the Wakusicha pulled Angajtakuaka into the warfare raging on the mainland as the city was now compelled to defend the towns that had been seized and their new Wakusicha overlords.
 
Despite its small population, the ardent militarism of Angajtakuaka had prepared it well to go to war with the mainland. The city rulers were at once able to mobilize the entire adult male population under arms, leaving the wives of the Wakusicha men to govern in the city while the citizen-soldiery traveled by boat to the mainland to wage war. This marked the beginning of what is remembered as the ''Aztatlacatiliztli'' War, the War of the Heron's Birth, a protracted conflict in which Angajtakuaka gained control of the southern Aztaco plain which had been the core of the old Teotletl Tlatocayotl and the seat of Lord Apanecatl. Due to the disorganized and fractured state of Apanecatl's own lieutenants and their forces, there was no major decisive battle which decided this conflict as was usually the case in wars of this era. Instead, the war was one of attrition with constant raids, ambush battles and a gradual process of defeating one cornering and defeating one warlord after another. Although the Angajtakuakans were good fighters with their spears and axes, it was the capability of the Wakusicha commanders to effectively recruit Nahua auxiliaries that proved decisive. The disorder of the Nahua warbands of the surrounding areas also contributed heavily to what was to come.
 
Even bolstered by a glut of Nahua auxiliaries and deserters hired as mercenaries, the forces of Angajtakuaka were significantly smaller than the remnants of Apanecatl's army. Although Apanecatl's lieutenants were for the most part nominally allied with one another, the void in leadership at the top had produced a dearth of communication and coordination between the units of the army. This vulnerability was fully exploited by the islanders and their allies who were able to hand the Nahuas a resounding {{wp|defeat in detail}} destroying their army one small unit at a time while their allies did nothing to intervene. By the end of 940, the city state of Angajtakuaka was no longer a minor power beset on their island but now the dominant power of the southern shore. The Wakusicha now faced the dire consequences of their victory on the mainland, which was the administration of a large population of Nahuas and many cities themselves larger than Angajtakuaka.
====Nahuanization of Angatahuaca====
The Purépecha colonists across Zacapican had a highly assimilationist policy, in which a core of their state would remain fully Purépecha and concentric rings of increasingly well integrated vassals would be progressively assimilated into the core as well. In such places as Angajtakuaka were assimilation was not possible, the Purépecha often resorted to sentiments of cultural chauvinism and of preserving the Purépecha religion and language. The Wakusicha class had already abandoned the former for the most part, however, when they had adopted Cozausim as their state cult, and were now on the way to abandon the latter as well. It was clear to the victorious generals of the Wakusicha that they would have to integrate large parts of the Nahua institutions of the mainland if they were to have any long term prospect of retaining control over their newfound conquests.
 
====Ona Wars====
The first of the {{wp|Selk'nam people|Ona}} states of the south to come into conflict with Aztapamatlan was the Xalkenrr kingdom which dominated the eastern Anamictlan peninsula directly to the south of Aztapaman territory. 
 
====Western Campaign====
Conquest of the Zacaco and the Purepecha city states
 
====Meco Wars====
 
===Civil war===
 
===Aztapaman expansion in Malaio===
====Itzcoatl and the conquest of Pulacan====
 
====Red Sail War====
==Government==
 
==Culture==
 
==Legacy==
 
[[Category:Zacapican]]

Revision as of 14:32, 14 December 2023

    1. REDIRECT Angatahuacan Republic
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