Chimalpahin

Who was Chimalpahin?

Domingo Francisco de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, usually referred to simply as Chimalpahin or Chimalpain, was a Nahua annalist from Chalco. His Nahuatl names mean "Runs Swiftly with a Shield" and "Rising Eagle", respectively.

Chimalpahin claimed descent from the lords of Tenango-Amecameca-Chalco.

He wrote on the history of Mexico and other neighboring nations in the Nahuatl and Spanish languages, but the majority of his works have not survived. The most important of his surviving works is the Relaciones or Anales. This Nahuatl work was compiled in the early seventeenth century, and is based on testimony from Indigenous persons. It covers the years 1589 through 1615, but also deals with events before the Conquest and supplies lists of Indigenous kings and lords and Spanish viceroys, archbishops of Mexico and inquisitors. Chimalpahin recorded the 1610 and 1614 visits of Japanese delegations to Mexico.

He also wrote Diferentes historias originales. This work is a compilation of claims and proofs of nobility asserted by Indigenous leaders of Chalco-Amequemecan.