The area now known as Mexico has encompassed a rich variety of civilisations and cultures across its near 10,000 years of human habitation. Encompassing the Olmec, Maya, Zapotec, Teotihuacan, Purepecha, and Aztec civilisations before its colonisation by the Spanish, the region’s boundaries fluctuated to encompass other areas of Mesoamerica in the premodern world. As such, some of these women ruled over areas outside of present-day Mexico’s boundaries at a time when the civilisations transcended modern geographical borders. Forms of rulership varied from civilisation to civilisation, however it is evident on several occasions that women were able to rule, and rule successfully.
This is a brief overview to place some of the female rulers of the regions now known as Mexico in their context – you can find more about these women below!
- Yohl Ikʼnal (fl. 6th century)
- Lady of Tikal (fl. 6th century)
- Sak Kʼukʼ (fl. 7th century)
- Yax Ahau Xoc (fl. 8th century)
- Lady Eveningstar (704-751)
- Atotoxtli II (fl. 1466-1472)
- Tlapalizquixochtzin (fl. 15th-16th century)
- Azcasuch (fl. 15th century)
- Ana Cortés (fl. 16th century)
Bibliography
Beezley, William, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Mexican History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020
Englehardt, Joshua D., and Michael D. Carrasco. Interregional Interaction in Ancient Mesoamerica. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2019.
Levin Rojo, Danna A., and Cynthia Radding, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Borderlands of the Iberian World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019
Ochoa, Margarita R., and Sara Vicuña Guengerich, eds. Cacicas. The Indigenous Women Leaders of Spanish America, 1492-1825. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2021
Standish, Peter. A Companion to Mexican Studies. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2006
Traxler, Loa P., and Robert J. Sharer. The Origins of Maya States. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016
Turner, Andrew D., and Michael D. Coe. “A Portrait of Lady K’abal Xook, Queen of Yaxchilan.” Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin. Recent Acquisitions (2018): 66-73.
Team Queens 