Acolhua

Member of a pre-columbian people of the Nahuatl-speaking group of tribes. A peaceable people, second in greatness only to the Aztecs, they gained mastery of the present-day Valley of Mexico after the collapse of the Toltec hegemony in the mid-12th century, and are said to have founded the settlement of Tezcoco. By the end of the 15th century, they became part of the Aztec allies who established an empire over most of central and southern Mexico.