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From Primitive History by Hubert Howe Bancroft, “The Native Races Of The Pacific States Of North America”, Vol. II, Pub. 1875.Tepanec and Tecpanec are closely related, if not the same words.
There is a city called Tecpan in Guatemala (formerly called Patinamit and Iximché). Tecpan as the name came much later, the likely scenario being that after the Tepanecs were no longer able to hold forced sway in Anáhuae, so they moved way south and took over Patinamit and called it Tecpan. From Primitive History by Hubert Howe Bancroft, “The
Native Races Of The Pacific States Of North America”, Vol. V, Pub. 1876.
Tecpan means 'royal palace.'
Huetecpan means royal pleasure grounds.
Practiced among the Nahua nations, some land in the kingdom was called tecpantlalli (lands of the palace). This land was granted to nobles called tecpanpouhque or tecpantlaca (people of the palace). In return for free lands, the tecpantlaca had to attend to the repairs and proper arrangement of the royal residences, and cultivate the royal gardens, getting additional workers as needed. They also had to wait on the king whenever and wherever he appeared in public. The land still belonged to the king, the crown, the sovereign.
All this is to say that the Tepanecs and Tecpans were a group of Nahuan royals, nobles, upper class from various cities who decided to form their own group and society, likely because they realized they were royal slaves, not much better off than the common slave. They were simply glorified slaves with titles and a few more privileges, like overseers on horseback and like police on black backs. These royals, overseers, police and today even common folk (based on lightness) thinking their lives matter more than others. Same shit, different day, different way.
We can see tepan and tecpan in the word “coatepantli” which means 'wall of snakes.' The wall was made of stones and it was a royal palace because it was a wall surrounding a temple. A wall adorned with stone snakes was very common in Egypt.The famous Cu (Temple) of Vitziliputzli (Huitzilopochtli) in Mexico had a very great circuite (circular wall) built of great stones shaped to resemble snakes tied one to another. The circuite was called Coatepantli (circuite of snakes). From Primitive History by Hubert Howe Bancroft, “The Native Races Of The Pacific States Of North America”, Vol. III, Pub. 1875.
The Tepanecs were in league with the Aztecs and Alcohuas, all three of which were looking for homes to call their own and all three were breakaway groups. The Chichimecs Proper fractured into Culhuas, Acolhuas and Mixcohuas. Located near each other was Mexico, capital of Aztecs; Tezcuco, capital of Alchohuas; and Tlacopan (Tacuba), capital of Tepanecs, whose former capital was Azcapuzalco. Tezcuco, Azcapuzalco and other capitals were governed by branches of the same royal Chichimec family during an era of civil struggle for balance of power and succession to the throne.
The Tepanecs of Azcapuzalco met their final descent from disgrace when they tried to defeat the Alcohuas. They were regrouped as a much smaller force in Tlacopan, and re-admitted as allies with Aztecs and Alchohuas.
In the Mexican empire, slaves were continually offered for sale in the public marketplace of every town, but the principal slave-mart seems to have been Azcapuzalco, no longer under Tepanec control, destroyed by Tezcuco King Nezahualcoyotl who became first Toltec King, ruling at Culhuacan.
