Nuevo México is often incorrectly believed to have taken its name from the post-independent nation of Mexico. But as early as 1561[5] (260 years before Mexican independence), Spanish colonial explorers used el Nuevo México to refer to Cíbola, cities of wealth reported to exist far to the north of the recently conquered Aztec Empire.[6][7][8] This name also evoked the Mexica people’s accounts of their ancestral origin in Aztlán to the north before their migration to Mexico centuries prior. The Nahuatl-language history of the Mexica people, the Crónica Mexicayotl, dated to 1609, makes this identification explicit, describing how the Mexica left “their home there in Old Mexico Aztlan Quinehuayan Chicomoztoc, which today they call New Mexico (yancuic mexico).”
It’s not accurate. While Mexico as a country exists from 1810, Mexico, as a nation, existed way before the Spanish Conquistadores came to the Americas. Mexico was founded into two sister prehispanic cities called Mexico-Tenochtitlan and Mexico-Tlatelolco in 1325 and 1337, respectively. Moreover, even after Spain conquered Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, and their allies, the city they founded on top was never called different. It wasn’t called Nueva Madrid, even though the colony was called Nueva España. So, “Mexico” existed way before, during and after the Spanish occupation, and it is indeed why the Spanish called the area New Mexico, a word they never heard before they came to the Americas (América).
Relevan section
It’s not accurate. While Mexico as a country exists from 1810, Mexico, as a nation, existed way before the Spanish Conquistadores came to the Americas. Mexico was founded into two sister prehispanic cities called Mexico-Tenochtitlan and Mexico-Tlatelolco in 1325 and 1337, respectively. Moreover, even after Spain conquered Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, and their allies, the city they founded on top was never called different. It wasn’t called Nueva Madrid, even though the colony was called Nueva España. So, “Mexico” existed way before, during and after the Spanish occupation, and it is indeed why the Spanish called the area New Mexico, a word they never heard before they came to the Americas (América).
Love that New Mexico predates Mexico. It’s so full of hope and optimism.
Motion to rename “New Mexico” to “Old Mexico”