Tlaxcaltec

The Tlaxcalans are a family belonging to the Nahua Mexican tribe that is located in what is now named after them and the state of Tlaxcala. The name Tlaxcallan ( in present-day Spanish Tlaxcala ) in Nahuatl means " place of bread or tortillas ."

The Tlaxcalans were never conquered by the Aztecs. However, the Aztecs also had an interest in preserving the TLAXCALAN independence, as they could carry with them ritual wars by the so-called flower wars, which were used for procurement of human sacrifices to their gods.

During the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards an alliance with Hernán Cortés and his conquistadors, the Tlaxcalans were received, after some initial resistance. With the conquest of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, they played a key role, as they supported the Spaniards upon reaching the valley of Mexico and formed the main part of the attack force. Due to this alliance with the Spanish crown during the conquest of Mexico, the Tlaxcalans enjoyed under the Spanish colonial rule many privileges over the other indigenous peoples, such as the permission to bear arms, to riding horses, to guide of titles of nobility as well as a nearly autonomous administration their settlements.

The Tlaxcalans played an important role in the establishment of a number of settlements in northern Mexico, where the subjugation of the peoples there was not been satisfactory for the Spaniards. The area inhabited by the Tlaxcalans areas were inhabited by warlike native peoples who were known as the Chichimeca. The Tlaxcalans should serve here as a model of the local population there sedentary subjects of the Spanish crown, who worked in the mines and on the haciendas of the Spanish. TLAXCALAN colonies in the field of Chichimecs were in the present Mexican states of San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas, Durango, Coahuila, Nuevo León (eg Nueva Tlaxcala de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Horcasistas and Santiago de las Sabinas, now known as Guadalupe or Salinas Hidalgo ) and Jalisco (such as Villa de Nueva Tlaxcala de Quiahuistlán, today Cototlán ).

The Tlaxcalans have often married with the Spaniards or mestizos, so that there are only very few pure-blood - Tlaxcalans.