The Crónica Mexicayotl is a chronicle of the Aztec

Aztec

The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...

 empire that was written in the Nahuatl

Nahuatl

Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...

 language by Fernando Alvarado Tezozómoc

Fernando Alvarado Tezozómoc

Fernando or Hernando Alvarado Tezozómoc was a colonial Nahua noble. A son of Diego de Alvarado Huanitzin and Francisca de Moctezuma , Tezozómoc worked as an interpreter for the Real Audiencia...

 around 1598. Given that its author belonged to the Aztec royal lineage, the manuscript documents the Aztec version of the history of central Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. It was written in both Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 and Nahuatl by the bilingual author. The Nahuatl document was found by Joaquín García Icazbalceta

Joaquín García Icazbalceta

Joaquín García Icazbalceta was a Mexican philologist and historian. He edited writings by Mexican writers who preceded him, wrote a biography of Juan de Zumárraga, and translated William H. Prescott's Conquest of Mexico...

 in the Boturini collection

Lorenzo Boturini Bernaducci

Lorenzo Boturini Benaduci was a historian, antiquary and ethnographer of New Spain, the Spanish Empire's colonial dominions in North America.-Early life:...

, later moved to the French national Library in Paris and first published in 1949 in translation by Adrián Leon. It chronicles the history of the Aztecs from the first Tlatoani

Tlatoani

Tlatoani is the Nahuatl term for the ruler of an altepetl, a pre-Hispanic state. The word literally means "speaker", but may be translated into English as "king". A is a female ruler, or queen regnant....

 Acamapichtli

Acamapichtli

Acamapichtli was the first tlatoani, or ruler, of the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan, and founder of the Aztec imperial dynasty. He became ruler in 1375 and reigned for 19 years.- Family and early life :...

to the Spanish appointed "puppet rulers" in the mid 16th century.