The Eagle and the Cactus About three hundred years after the Maya
abandoned their cities, another great civilization arose. They were the Aztec people, who lived in what is today central Mexico.

According to legend, the Aztec were once a nomadic tribe. They wandered the land, setting up temporary homes here and there, fighting off attackers, and surviving on snakes and lizards. One day, the god of the sun spoke to the people. The god told the Aztec people to look for a
sign—an eagle with a snake in its beak perched on a cactus. On the spot where the eagle perched, the Aztec were to build a great city.

The legend goes on to describe how the Aztec finally received the sign the god had told them about. The eagle appeared on a swampy island in Lake Texcoco (/teshkohkoh/). On that day, the Aztec’s wandering ended. They settled down and began building a city. The Aztec people called their new home Tenochtitlán (/taynochtee*tlahn/), which means “the place of the prickly pear.” Even today the eagle and serpent are shown on the flag of Mexico.