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The 'Tepanecs' or 'Tepaneca' are a Mesoamerican people who arrived in the Valley of Mexico in the late 12th or early 13th centuries.^[1] The Tepanec were a sister culture of the Aztecs (or Mexica) as well as the Acolhua and others -- these tribes spoke the Nahuatl language and shared the same general pantheon, with local and tribal variations.
Welcomed to the Valley of Mexico by Xolotl, the Tepanecs settled on the west shores of Lake Texcoco. Under their ''tlatoani'', Acolnahuacatl, the Tepanec took over Azcapotzalco from the indigenous inhabitants.
In the early 15th century, Tezozomoc brought the Tepanec to their height of power; at that point they controlled nearly all of the Valley of Mexico as well parts of the Toluca and Morelos valleys. Native sources say that Tezozomoc lived to the age of over 100 and was legendary for his generalship and statesmanship.
The death of Tezozomoc in 1426 brought his sons Tayauh and Maxtla to the throne, with Maxtla most likely poisoning Tayauh.
In 1428, Maxtla was overthrown by the nascent Aztec Triple Alliance, which included the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan and the Acolhua of Texcoco, as well as Maxtla's fellow Tepanecs of Tlacopan.
With the rise of the Aztec empire, Tlacopan became the predominant Tepanec city, although both Tenochtitlan and Texcoco eclipsed Tlacopan’s size and prestige.

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1. The dates vary by source, including 1152 CE in Anales de Tlatelolco, 1210 from Chimalpahin, and 1226 from Ixtlilxochitl (as interpreted by Smith, p. 169).

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