Dr. James Fitzsimmons

They're probably from northwestern Mexico.

They are probably a hunting and gathering tribe, one of many.

They were called the Mexica.

There are lots of Nahua-speaking folks that would later become Aztecs that are wandering into the basin of Mexico.

And one group is called the Mexica, and they wander into the basin of Mexico.

So the story goes, they're one of the last to arrive.

They get to the lake where Mexico City is today.

Much of the lake has been drained since, but they get to this.

It was a lake at that point.

And they find this part of the lake.

They're given basically this little territory of land after some time to sort of work.

It's a garbage territory.

It's in the middle of a swampy area.

And they build it up, and then from there they kind of form this empire.

Eagle with the snake, yeah.

They're wandering around for a while and they sort of see this.

It's why the Mexican flag actually has the eagle and snake on it.

It's because that's the Aztec myth or the Mexican myth.

Supposedly they start off as mercs.

So they start off as mercenaries working for other people that are much more established than they are.