Qualla: Tututepec: The Mixtec Empire on the Pacific Shore https://qualla.com/tututepec en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:09 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Tututepec: The Mixtec Empire on the Pacific Shore https://qualla.com/tututepec Tututepec: The Mixtec Empire on the Pacific Shore: Introduction https://qualla.com/tututepec/ Both the Nahuatl and Mixtec names mean the same thing: Bird Hill. In Nahuatl it is Tututepec; in Mixtec, Yucu Dzaa. The city's glyph in both Aztec and Mixtec pictographic scripts depicts a bird perched on a hill - two rival civilizations independently arriving at the same image for a place that commanded attention from both. Located in the lower Rio Verde valley on the coast of Oaxaca, Tututepec was the capital of a Mixtec tributary empire that at its peak controlled more than 25,000 square kilometers of territory and whose political influence stretched from the Pacific coastline deep into the mountains. Today a modern settlement called Villa de Tututepec de Melchor Ocampo sits on top of the ancient city, its streets and foundations resting on the compressed layers of a forgotten imperial capital.

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/f/f/e/tututepec-wp/9ffe-tututepec-the-mixtec-empire-on-the-pacific-shore-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Tututepec: The Mixtec Empire on the Pacific Shore: Eight Deer's Coastal Gambit https://qualla.com/tututepec/ The founding of Tututepec is bound to one of Mesoamerica's most documented individuals: Eight Deer Jaguar Claw, a Mixtec lord whose exploits are recorded across multiple pre-Columbian codices including the Codex Bodley, the Codex Zouche-Nuttall, and the Codex Colombino. In the la...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/f/f/e/tututepec-wp/9ffe-tututepec-the-mixtec-empire-on-the-pacific-shore-eight-deers-coastal-gambit.mp3 0:06 2 full Tututepec: The Mixtec Empire on the Pacific Shore: Cotton, Obsidian, and an Empire's Reach https://qualla.com/tututepec/ By the Late Postclassic period, roughly the 12th through early 16th centuries, Tututepec had evolved into a major tributary state. The empire's economic engine ran on cotton - spindle whorls found in excavated residences and early colonial sources confirm the city was a significa...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/f/f/e/tututepec-wp/9ffe-tututepec-the-mixtec-empire-on-the-pacific-shore-cotton-obsidian-and-an-empires-reach.mp3 0:06 3 full Tututepec: The Mixtec Empire on the Pacific Shore: Shadow Boxing with the Aztecs https://qualla.com/tututepec/ Tututepec's relationship with the Aztec Empire operated in a gray zone between rivalry and avoidance. The two empires never fought each other directly, but they clashed through proxies. When the Aztecs expanded into Oaxaca, Tututepec's northward growth halted. The Aztecs aided bo...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/f/f/e/tututepec-wp/9ffe-tututepec-the-mixtec-empire-on-the-pacific-shore-shadow-boxing-with-the-aztecs.mp3 0:06 4 full Tututepec: The Mixtec Empire on the Pacific Shore: The Fall of Bird Hill https://qualla.com/tututepec/ Tututepec's end came swiftly. After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Hernan Cortes sent his lieutenant Pedro de Alvarado south along the coast in January 1522, accompanied by Zapotec allies from Tehuantepec. Alvarado arrived in Tututepec in February and was received in t...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/f/f/e/tututepec-wp/9ffe-tututepec-the-mixtec-empire-on-the-pacific-shore-the-fall-of-bird-hill.mp3 0:06 5 full