Aztecs documented earthquakes centuries ago
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Each September 19th, Mexico practices emergency responses learned from the 1985 and 2017 earthquakes, acknowledging the country lies in an active seismic zone.
Historical records show that the Aztecs also documented earthquakes, with the earliest graphical evidence appearing in the Códice Telleriano-Remensis. Tlacuilos, Aztec painters, recorded 12 earthquakes between 1460 and 1542 using a system of symbols and colors that researchers later deciphered with post-conquest texts.
According to the Anales de Tlatelolco, a 1455 earthquake in Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, caused the ground to crack and buildings to collapse. Twenty years later, in 1475, another earthquake damaged houses, palaces, and temples, and caused landslides. These events deeply affected the Aztecs, who interpreted earthquakes as messages from the universe tied to cycles of creation and destruction. Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, a researcher of Mexica culture, described Aztec reactions to earthquakes.
People sprayed water on their jewelry, believing it would protect their homes from being carried away by the shaking. They also lifted children by the temples, hoping they would continue to grow and not be taken by the earthquake. The Códice Telleriano-Remensis used the word tlalollin, combining words for “movement” and “earth”, to describe earthquakes, reflecting their importance in Aztec cosmology.
Researchers found records of a 1496 earthquake near present-day Guerrero, Mexico, which they estimate may have reached a magnitude of 8.0 or higher.
