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The aztec empire originated by overthrowing a previous empire called the Tepanecs who rules from a city called azcapotzalco. The tepanec empire was much smaller. Before the tepanec hegemony were the Toltecs from Tollan and the Teotihuacan.
But there are huge gaps in the history of central mexico and were there any similar aztec-like empires in the area? A wikipedia search comes up with no result on this. There are centuries long gaps in history of this area. @9 Fanged Hummingbird