Aztec Codex Writing

Timeline

1. 1300–1428Valley of Mexico and surroundings · Valley of MexicoThe Mexica absorbed Mixtec and earlier Mesoamerican pictographic traditions, developing codex-making techniques on amate paper using pictographs to record lineages and rituals.
2. c. 1471–1480Tenochtitlan scribe workshops · Aztec EmpireDuring imperial expansion, codices were widely used to record provincial tribute, military campaigns, and ritual calendars; the scribe class performed administrative document functions in the capital and provincial centers.
3. c. 1540–1542New Spain · MexicoCodices surviving or copied after the conquest (such as the Codex Mendoza) preserved the pictographic style and information structure of the late empire, becoming the main basis for later study of the writing tradition.
4. 1521Mesoamerica · MexicoColonial authorities burned many codices and banned amate paper production, interrupting the native scribe tradition; since the 20th century, archaeological and documentary research has gradually reconstructed knowledge of the Aztec pictographic writing system.