Itzcoatl and Tlacaelel Form the Triple Alliance
Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan agree to share the spoils of conquest and rule the valley together
Quick facts
- Member cities
- Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, Tlacopan
- Tribute split
- 2 shares Tenochtitlan and Texcoco, 1 share Tlacopan
- Key figures
- Itzcoatl (tlatoani), Tlacaelel (cihuacoatl)
- Ruling title
- Huey tlatoani, 'high king'
What happened
Following their defeat of Azcapotzalco, Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan formalized their wartime coalition into a permanent pact known as the Triple Alliance, with Itzcoatl ruling Tenochtitlan and his nephew Tlacaelel serving as cihuacoatl, the chief adviser and effectively co-architect of the new state. World History Encyclopedia describes the arrangement: conquered territory and its tribute were divided among the three cities, with two shares going to Tenochtitlan and Texcoco and one to the smaller Tlacopan. Tenochtitlan's ruler took the title huey tlatoani, or high king, and the city increasingly dominated the alliance in practice even though the pact treated all three as partners. Tlacaelel, who would go on to advise four successive Mexica rulers without ever becoming tlatoani himself, is credited by later chroniclers with designing much of the alliance's religious and administrative machinery.
Why it matters
The Triple Alliance is the political structure modern historians mean when they refer to the Aztec Empire. It gave Tenochtitlan a durable framework for extracting tribute and organizing conquest across the century that followed, rather than the ad hoc raiding of its earlier subject status.
How we know
The alliance's terms are recorded in colonial-era chronicles including those of Diego Duran and the Codex Mendoza, both compiled from Nahua accounts decades after the events they describe.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. The Fall of Tenochtitlan · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- World History Encyclopedia. Ahuitzotl · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
See something wrong? . Corrections with a source get fixed fastest.
Part of a timelineThe Aztec Empire25 events · From a wandering clan on a swampy island to the dominant power of Mesoamerica, and its end in a 93-day siegeView all →