The Trouble with Toltecs

The Toltecs left a lasting legacy on Mesoamerica that is impressive but paradoxical. Were the Toltecs rulers of an empire or products of popular myth? What can history and archaeology tell us about this culture? Discover why the Toltec legacy is so troublesome to pin down.

Misconceptions: The Gran Chichimeca by Aztlan Historian:

Aztlan Historian's channel:

Chapters:
Introduction: 0:01
Historical Accounts: 3:27
Tollan and Tula: 10:45
Tula's Layout and Architecture: 16:20
Wider Tula: 21:59
Connections with Chichen Itza?: 25:21
Assessment of Tula: 29:42
The Toltec Legacy: 32:45

Sources and Bibliography:

[yokothespacewhale]

"history is seldom kind to history"
that earns a subscribe right there

[AztlanHistorian]

Thanks for the chance of working with you, my friend! Cenca tlazohcamati!

[multivitamin]

9:27 "Who taught the clay to lie." may be a metaphor to show how convincing the statues were that they looked alive even tho they were lifeless mud. Therefore the clay lied it is alive.

[KaiserWilbur]

My parents are from Nicaragua and the Nahua presence here is amazing. Historians and scholars believe that the Nahua of Nicaragua are descended from Tollan’s Toltecs. The evidence to support this theory is astonishing, such as the Nicarao’s expertise in medicine, the timeframe of the Nicarao’s migration to Nicaragua after the fall of Tollan lines up almost perfectly. In fact it’s taught in high academia that the Nicarao are Toltecs who simply migrated south after the fall of Tollan. Great video.

[Ntylermil]

This makes me think of Troy, which is a relatively small archeological site, but which had great significance to the Greeks and Romans.

[alexanderparas]

As someone who enjoyed studied Classics in college, I love learning about the amazing histories, languages, and cultures of the Americas. Too often are they overlooked, and you’re doing an amazing job highlighting them and sharing their stories. Thank you for the amazing content!

[robertmcgovern]

I tried to interest our city council in putting a skull rack downtown, next to the kiddie splash park, but they had already spent all the money on a second ball court.🙄 We'd have to raise the funds ourselves. So if anyone wants their name on a paver ($50) or pillar ($200) of the new skull rack, we are taking donations.

[jsmit]

The Toltecs "teaching the clay to lie" means objects they would make look so good it's deceiving to their eyes, they look so good they can't believe what they see, like the clay is lying to them. It's a really powerful, albeit convoluted, way to compliment their work.

[daviddeltoro]

Now THIS is how you lay down the history of ancient Mesoamerica

[SwabcraftCreates]

You don't have to be an empire to have a big impact. City states like Athens and Sparta had massive historical and cultural impacts. Toltec's were heavily influential in a similar way despite not being an empire level power.

[QUIRK]

This is channel consistently publishes some of the highest quality history content on all of YouTube. Thank you for sharing your talent with us

[Jarlegand]

I just binge watched all of your videos for past 3 days and couldn't get enough of them, that upload is a godsend, amazing content!

[mexicounexplained]

The Toltecs have always been "problematic." Great show! You did a wonderful job synthesizing the material. Mil gracias.

[coldmexican]

I'm from Hidalgo and my city is very close to Tula. I went to Tula and Teotihuacan when i was about 6 years old but haven't had the chance to go back to truly appreciate everything and experience it once more since I live in the US.
Lately I've experienced a renewed desire to learn more about my ancestry. I kind of felt disgusted and sad when I realized I knew much more about other cultures and civilizations from foreign places but knew almost nothing about my own ancient culture and roots so I appreciate the level of detail in your video. Thank you.

[sizanogreen]

I like the idea that they were legendary for their craftsmanship and more abstract "refinement" among the mesoamericans, like sparta was to the romans for their militarism and well, spartanic lifestyle & upbringing, maybe based on real facts or more a kind of transgenerational flanderisation. And in that way maybe became an ideal to emulate. Maybe like "rome" after the fall of the west-roman empire.

[thelegate]

Topiltzin seems very similar to King Arthur. Nowadays, we're pretty sure that Arthur was a real person or conglomeration of people (personally, I think he was Riothamus), but the legends got so crazy that we end up with things like Le Morte d'Arthur. Seems to
me that the same thing happened here with him.

[Vienna]

This is one of the only Historical channels on Youtube that talks about Pre Colombian American history, happy I’m a Patreon!

[lucysanchez]

I learn so much from your videos, i’m Mexican myself and I’ve always took pride in my Aztec heritage! Can you make a video about Aztlan and the origins of the Nahua peoples, thx in advance ❤

[Liliphant_]

I love when any history content discusses the sources involved

[monalisa]

This is a great video but I'd like to add one thing that went unmentioned. In western El Salvador we have a group of Nahua people that claim descendance from Tollan. The common story we hear there is that they were part of the nobility who left Mexico (giving them the name pipil) during the socio religious conflict between Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca. How this went down and when these nobles left is uncertain but the linguistic split happened about the same time as this event. Anyways just thought that was cool. Also Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl is such a great name. One warrior/Reed, our prince, Quetzalcoatl. The ancestors went hard with that one.