Luis de Santa María Nanacacipactzin

Don Luis de Santa María Nanacacipactzin was the last tlatoani ("king") of the Nahua altepetl of Tenochtitlan,[1] as well as its governor (gobernador) under the colonial Spanish system of government. The previous ruler Cristóbal de Guzmán Cecetzin having died in 1562,[2] Nanacacipactzin was installed on September 30, 1563, and ruled until his death on December 27, 1565.[1]

Luis de Santa María Nanacacipactzin
Tlatoani of Tenochtitlan
1563 – 1565
Preceded by	Cristóbal de Guzmán Cecetzin
Governor of San Juan Tenochtitlan
1563 – 1565
Preceded by	Cristóbal de Guzmán Cecetzin
Succeeded by	Francisco Jiménez
Alcalde of San Juan Tenochtitlan
1557
With	Tomás de Aquino Yspopulac
Preceded by	Miguel Sánchez Yscatl Cristóbal de Guzmán Cecetzin
Succeeded by	Martín Cano Pedro de la Cruz Tlapaltecatl
About
Died	27 December 1565

His rule was dominated by disputes with the Spanish colonial government over tribute payments. In January 1564, the viceroyalty passed a law requiring the Tenochca to pay 14,000 pesos in annual tribute, as well as a large payment in corn. Nanacacipactzin resisted this demand, and faced a number of Spanish-backed lawsuits as a result, even being arrested for three days in September 1564 for failing to secure agreement to the new payments. His mental and physical health declined as a result, and this likely contributed to his death in December 1565.[3]

With Nanacacipactzin's death, the rule of Tenochtitlan by dynastic tlatoque (plural of tlatoani) came to an end.[1] As governor, he was succeeded in 1568 by Francisco Jiménez, who was a native of Tecamachalco rather than Tenochtitlan.[4]

His Nahuatl name, Nanacacipactli (or Nanacacipactzin in the honorific form), literally means "mushroom alligator". It appears his birth name was simply Cipactli "alligator", and the "mushroom" element was added as a nickname,[5] possibly due to a perception that he was ineffective in resisting Spanish tribute demands.[6]

See also

• List of Tenochtitlan rulers
• Aztec emperors family tree

Notes

1. Chimalpahin (1997): vol. 1, p. 175; vol. 2, p. 43.
2. Chimalpahin (1997): vol. 1, p. 175; vol. 2, p. 41.
3. Townsend, Camilla (2019). Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 166–178. ISBN 978-0190673062.
4. Chimalpahin (1997): vol. 1, p. 177; vol. 2, p. 43.
5. Lockhart (1992): p. 118.
6. Townsend (2019). Fifth Sun. p. 168.

References

• Chimalpahin Cuauhtlehuanitzin, Domingo Francisco de San Antón Muñón (1997). Codex Chimalpahin. ed. and trans. by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
• Gibson, Charles (1964). The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule: A History of the Indians of the Valley of Mexico, 1519–1810. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
• Lockhart, James (1992). The Nahuas After the Conquest: A Social and Cultural History of the Indians of Central Mexico, Sixteenth through Eighteenth Centuries. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

External links