Some questions about the 1500 map, particularly in regards to the Aztecs. Are the darker and lighter colors supposed to show the Aztec territory and its tributaries, or instead are the lighter areas supposed to be some sort of cultural sphere? Because it seems to have some issues. Here, for clarification...
The two white areas on this map (which were colored light Aztec color)- the larger, the Purepechan Empire/lands of Tzintzuntzan, and the smaller, the Tlaxcallan state, were both independent of the Aztecs and often were at war with them. And while the Tlaxcalla were Nahua like the Aztecs, the Purepecha were both independent and not particularly culturally connected to the Aztecs either as far as I can tell
Then, with the lighter grey area on this map (which was colored regular Aztec color)... well, looking at various maps of the Aztec Empire, it looks like they just didn't exactly have any territory to the west of the Purepecha. Now, there's plenty of inexact maps on the internet and I am no expert of this era, so maybe the maps that come up with a brief look online are wrong, but this could at least warrant a second look
And then there's the darker grey area (which was colored light Aztec color) - the lands to the south, seemingly mostly Mixtec lands, a sizable part of which would seemingly be directly conquered by the Aztecs a decade or so later. This is the area which I am least sure there's actually anything wrong, but I don't know if those areas were any sort of Aztec protectorates/puppets/tributaries
Actually, I'm also not sure about the Mayans too, and how the coloring is with them and the darker vs lighter areas and what they are supposed to depict? Like, I'm pretty sure the Mayans were just a collection of city states at that point rather than any unified empire, am I wrong and the darker blue area depicts a unified state, or instead it depicts just like a broader cultural area? and then what the lighter areas depict?