The Only Empire that Rivalled the Aztecs
The Better Aztecs?
The true scale and enormity of Mesoamerica deserve far more attention in media. The standard narrative of Mesoamerica is the brutal conquest of a warmongering and homogenous Aztec Empire at the hands of the Spanish, and then suddenly the colonial powers pocketed an entire continent. This narrative not only fails to take into account the often sophisticated nature of the Aztecs, but it also fails to consider the other civilizations that inhabited the continent. The areas surrounding the Aztecs alone had numerous large states and civilizations, and in fact, the remnants of the Mayan City-States were still active by the time of the Spanish Invasion. However, a far less known civilization deserves to be mentioned, the Purépecha Empire. The Purépecha started off nearly identical to the Aztecs, forming loose alliances before becoming a sprawling empire through military might. Furthermore, they were the chief rival of the Aztecs, and despite the similarities the two states share, the Purépecha managed to survive its famous contemporary by several decades. Although the name Purépecha is not as well known, it was in certain aspects, far more organized and successful than its rivals.
Early History
Two bitter rivals, Aztecs and Purépechas, both rose to power through lakes. For the Aztecs, Lake…
