Aztlan *

Aztlan is the traditional name for the homeland of the Aztecs of Mexico. Some authors have seen this name as resonant with Atlantis. Aztlan or Azatlan is interpreted as the place of the herons or whiteness.

Inevitably, controversy surrounds the location of Aztlan with theories ranging from Utah to Mexico to Cuba and even further afield. Some legends appear to identify the Aztec homeland as an island in a small lake inhabited by herons, north of Mexico City. This appears to be a very modest claim for the origins of what became a mighty empire.

North of Mexico City is the marshy island of Mexcaltitan thought by some to be Aztlan, the legendary homeland of the Aztecs^(d).

When they first arrived in Mexico the Aztecs allegedly told the Spanish that they had originated on a large island called Aztlan, which lay, in the eastern ocean. Andrew Collins prefers to interpret herons as cranes and then he proceeds^[072] to point out that “although various species of sandhill crane inhabit North America, only one subspecies is found in the Antilles, and this is the endangered Cuban sandhill crane”. Collins is convinced that the vicinity of Cuba will be revealed as the original location of Atlantis and the Aztecs as refugees from its now submerged remains.

R. Cedric Leonard was not keen to write about Aztlan and a possible link with Atlantis, but eventually published a short paper on the subject. He was obviously underwhelmed by the idea and pointed out some errors by proponents of the association of the two^(c). 

In December 2016, a number of print and electronic media outlets tried to give the kiss-of-life to the idea that Atlantis had been situated in Antarctica^(a). I also find that a highly speculative attempt has been made to link Antarctica with both Aztlán and Atlantis^(b).

NOTE: Aztlan is the name applied today by Mexican Americans to that part of southwestern USA that was ceded to the United States in 1848 by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. [California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and parts of Texas and Colorado].

^(a) https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/568409/antarctica-atlantis-found-ancient-city-pyramids-plato-hapgood-civilisation-giza (Link broken) *

^(b) The Lost Civilization of Atlantis: Buried beneath the Ice of Antarctica | Ancient Code (archive.org) 

^(c) The Aztec Legend of Aztlan (archive.org) 

^(d) https://www.thedailybeast.com/is-mexcaltitan-a-tiny-island-really-the-lost-home-of-the-aztecs