Fleeing once again, they eventually settled in the land of the Tepanec and became King Tezozomoc's vassals. The land on which they were allowed to settle was a group of islands in the center of Lake Texcoco. On one of these islands the Aztecs founded the sacred city of Tenochtitlan and immediately built an altar to their patron god, Huitzilopochtli, God of War. As the city grew, a splinter group broke off and settled on a neighboring island, founding the city of Tlatelolco. The two cities eventually merged with Tlatelolco becoming the trading center and Tenochtitlan becoming the political and religious capital.
The Mexican nation steadily rose in power but remained under the yoke of the Tepanec until the king Itzcoatl (reigned 1427-1440) formed a military alliance with nearby Texcoco and other neighboring groups and forced the Tepanec out. Under the rule of Itzcoatl, and for eighty years afterwards, the Aztecs proceeded to subjugate the remainder of the Valley of Mexico and then further beyond--from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf coast in the east and from central Mexico in the north to present-day Guatemala in the south. The military victories of the expanding empire were celebrated by ritual human sacrifices. At times after a great military success, thousands of enemy soldiers were marched up the steps of the great pyramid of Huitzilopochtli and sacrificed to the god. The flesh of the victims was often eaten as a form of communion with the Aztec deities who had blessed their campaigns.[2].
Moctezuma II, the last Aztec emperor (also known as Montezuma or Motecuhzoma), became king in 1502 at the apex of Aztec power. In the words of Ignacio Bernal, Director of the National Museum of Anthropology of Mexico:.
When Moctezuma was chosen emperor in 1502, he had the reputation of a valiant captain who had ably led his armies; but he was especially recognized as a profound expert in religious matters, a kind of simple and humble mystic.