Codex Boturini

The oldest surviving source that recounts the legendary 200-year journey of the Aztecs from the mythical island of Aztlán southward to the Valley of Mexico
Led by their sun and war deity Huitzilopochtli, they established numerous settlements and places of worship and eventually developed their own new culture
The journey culminates in the founding of the city of Tenochtitlan on Lake Texcoco, which would become the center of power for the vast, multicultural Aztec Empire The unfinished codex, however, ends before the founding of Tenochtitlan.

Codex Boturini

Museo Nacional de Antropología (Mexico City, Mexico)

Description

Codex Boturini

Legend says that in 1168, a group of Aztecs set out to find a new settlement in the name of their revered sun and war deity, Huitzilopochtli. Their following 200-year journey began in Aztlán, the mythical island of their origin, and culminated in the founding of Tenochtitlan in the Valley of Mexico, which would go on to become one of the greatest world metropolises of its time. Along the way, an ordinary group of Azteca became the Mexica, who would rule the Aztec Empire until the Spanish colonization in 1521. As chosen followers of Huitzilopochtli, they established new spiritual and cultural practices under his guidance, such as human sacrifice and the consumption of pulque (octli in Nahuatl), an alcoholic beverage made from fermented agave that remains a Mexican national drink to this day. The Codex Boturini, also known as the Tira de la Peregrinación (Eng. The Pilgrimage Strip), records this community- and identity-forming legend on a five-and-a-half-meter-long, folded strip of amatl paper. It is the oldest surviving source that recounts the winding journey from Aztlán to the Valley of Mexico. The unfinished codex, however, ends before the founding of Tenochtitlan.

Codicology

Alternative Titles: Tira de la Peregrinación
Pilgrimage Strip
Tira de la Peregrinación de los Mexica
Tale of the Mexica Migration
Códice Boturini
Type: Manuscript on paper
Size / Format: 22 pages / 549 (25.5) × 19.8 cm
Origin: Mexico
Date: first half of the 16th century
Epochs: Late Middle Ages Onwards
Style: Pre-Columbian
Genre: Chronicles / History / Letters
Mythology
Script: Pictographs
Illustrations: Black ink pictographs, date entries in red ink
Content: The legend of the Aztec people's migration from Aztlán to the Valley of Mexico; unfinished, ending before the founding of Tenochtitlan
Previous Owners: Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora
Colegio Máximo de San Pedro y San Pablo
Lorenzo Boturini Benaducci
Pedro Cebrián y Agustín, Count of Fuenclara and Viceroy of New Spain
Escribanía de Gobierno
Biblioteca de la Real y Pontificia Universidad de México
Convento de San Francisco
Ministerio de Relaciones Interiores y Exteriores

Available facsimile editions:

Facsimile Editions

#1 Tira de la Peregrinación

Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia – Mexico City, 2021

Publisher: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia – Mexico City, 2021

Commentary: 1 volume by Rafael Tena
Language: Spanisch

Complete color reproduction of the original “Codex Boturini” at its original size. The facsimile aims to reproduce the original’s appearance, feel and physical characteristics as faithfully as possible. The pages are trimmed to the original format. The binding may differ from the original’s present-day binding.

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Codicology

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