The Aztec Empire From the time when the Aztecs founded their capital city, Mexico-Tenochtitlan, the religious ideology that would inspire them was evident, and they began military conquests of various neighboring peoples. Based on religious and economic militarism, their territorial expansion allowed them to constitute a powerful empire, tributary in nature. In the early 16th century, the Aztecs' territory was of enormous dimensions. In the north, they had a border in common with the Tarascan, or Purepecha, empire. They dominated the Otomi and Chichimeca in the present-day states of Hidalgo and Puebla, expanding toward the Gulf Coast with their conquest of the Huaxtec region. In the south, the Aztecs reached the borders of the Mayan world, dominating the Totonaca and other peoples in the area now known as the Acalan region of Tabasco. Aztec armies arrived triumphant in the valleys of Oaxaca, establishing points of military dominion in the Zapotec world and constantly fighting in the Mixtec region, whose rebellious peoples continued to struggle against domination. In the time of Ahuizotl, the Aztec ruler from 1486 to 1502, a military advance party conquered the distant area of Soconusco located in the region known today as Chiapas. For essentially ritual reasons, Meztitlan, Tlaxcala, the Yopi region, and Teotitlan del Camino remained independent domains. With some of them, the Aztecs carried out elaborate wars in order to obtain prisoners for use in ceremonies dedicated to the deities Huitzilopochtli and Xipe Totec. Old man. Aztec, ca. 1500. Stone, 48 x 23 cm. Museo Nacional de Antropología, INAH, Mexico City. Photo Michel Zabé, assistant Enrique Macías.