PLace-names in mexico-TenochTiTLan • 133However, “ Tenochtitlan” continued to be used among
indigenous elites and within the indigenous government of
the island, especially after Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza’s
formal appointment of Huanitzin to its governorship,
around 1538. That “ Tenochtitlan” meant a political jurisdic-
tion covering just the southern part of the island was solid-
ified by Viceroy Mendoza’s appointment of the eponymous
don Diego de Mendoza to the seat of Tlatelolco in 1549. 13
This appointment acknowledged the earlier divide between
the two altepeme and offered a partial redress of Tlate-
lolco’s politically subordinate position, which the skillful
viceroy no doubt meant as an internal check to Huanitzin.
In addition, the name “Mexico” is almost always included
along with “ Tenochtitlan” in indigenous records of the
city. A letter written by indigenous nobles to Charles V
in 1532 reveals something of how they envisioned the city
at that point. They called the city the “Cibdad de Mexico
Tenuxtitan,” reversing the order of terms in use in Spanish
documentation, a reversal that largely held through the
century. However, in the same letter, they also employed
a more expansive phrase, “Cibdad e barrio de Tenuxtitan
Mexico y su comarca” (city and neighborhood of Tenoch-
titlan Mexico and its surrounding territory). “Ciudad,” as
explained above, was a marker of rank within the Spanish
system, but the linking of the term with “barrio,” “neigh-
borhood,” is significant because a barrio is a subsection
of a larger urban conglomerate; thus, the nobles seem to
be indicating that their domain, that doughnut city thatSpanish cabildo 1545 cibdad de México
Charles V to Spanish cabildo 1549 Ciudad de Temistitan Mexico 26
Cervantes de Salazar, Life in the Imperial 1554 Civitas Mexicus 27
and Loyal City of Mexico
indigenous resident 1558 ciudad de Mexico 28
indigenous cabildo 1563 ciudad de Mexico Tenochtitlan 29
indigenous cabildo 1567 ciudad de Mexico Tenochtitlan 30
Juan López de Velasco, Geografía 1570 ciudad de Tenustitan Mexico 31
Philip II to Spanish cabildo 1571 themixtitlan mexico 32
Fernando Alvarado Tezozomoc, ca. 1600 gran ciudad de Mexico Tenochtitlan/
Crónica mexicayotl huey altepetl Ciudad Mexico Tenochtitlan 33
1 Cortés, Cartas de relación, 50.
2 Cortés, Cartas de relación, various.
3 Cortés, Cartas de relación, various. The referent
is the territory of the Triple Alliance.
4 Cortés, Cartas de relación, 110: “Que cuando
este nombre de Culúa se dice, se ha de
entender por todas las tierras y provincias
de estas partes, sujetas a Temixtitlan.” This
translates as: “When this name Culúa is said,
what is meant is all the lands and provinces of
this region that are subject to Tenochtitlan,”
which suggests that the referent is the territory
of the Triple Alliance.
5 Cortés, Cartas de relación, 218.
6 Bejarano, Actas de cabildo, March 8, 1524.
7 Cortés, Cartas de relación, 283, 287.
8 Bejarano, Actas de cabildo, August 23, 1526.
9 Bejarano, Actas de cabildo, July 12, 1529.
10 Bejarano, Actas de cabildo, September 10,
September 20, 1529.
11 Cortés, Cartas de relación, 300.
12 Bejarano, Actas de cabildo, January 9, 1530.
13 Cortés, Cartas de relación, 309.
14 Pérez-Rocha and Tena, La nobleza indígena,
99–101.
15 García Icazbalceta, Colección de documentos
para la historia de México, 1:175.
16 Bejarano, Actas de cabildo, August 1, 1533.
17 Cortés, Cartas de relación, 317.
18 Bejarano, Actas de cabildo, June 15, 1534.
19 Bejarano, Actas de cabildo, September 11, 1534.
20 Pérez-Rocha and Tena, La nobleza
indígena, 103.
21 González Obregón, Procesos de indios idolatras
y hechiceros, 17, 53, 79.
22 González Obregón, Procesos de indios idolatras
y hechiceros, 1.
23 Motolinia, Historia de los indios de la
Nueva España, 14.
24 Pérez-Rocha and Tena, La nobleza
indígena, 125.
25 González Obregón, Proceso inquisitorialdel Cacique de Tetzcoco, 29. González Obregón,
Procesos de indios idolatras y hechiceros, 99,
written from Tlatelolco.
26 Bejarano, Actas de cabildo, June 17, 1549.
27 Cervantes de Salazar, Life in the Imperial and
Loyal City of Mexico in New Spain, fol. 257r.
28 Reyes García, Celestino Solís, and Valencia
Ríos, Documentos nahuas de la Ciudad de
México del siglo XVI, 74.
29 Reyes García, Celestino Solís, and Valencia
Ríos, Documentos nahuas de la Ciudad de
México del siglo XVI, 101.
30 Reyes García, Celestino Solís, and Valencia
Ríos, Documentos nahuas de la Ciudad de
México del siglo XVI, 89.
31 López de Velasco, Geografía y descripción
universal de las Indias, 2nd pt., 188.
32 Real cedula (royal decree), reproduced in
Bejarano, Actas de cabildo, October 26, 1571.
33 Tezozomoc, Crónica mexicayotl, 4.