Oxford University Predates the Aztec Empire

While one of the world's most esteemed universities was cultivating academic pursuits, the civilization that would build a magnificent city of floating gardens and pyramids had not yet found its home. The first evidence of teaching at Oxford dates to 1096, establishing it as the oldest university in the English-speaking world. This early instruction was modest, with scholars gathering to discuss subjects like theology and philosophy. The university's growth was organic and accelerated significantly after 1167, when King Henry II prohibited English students from attending the University of Paris. By the time the first colleges were being established at Oxford in the mid-13th century, the Mexica people were still migrating through present-day Mexico.

It wasn't until 1325 that the Mexica, following a prophecy, founded their capital, Tenochtitlan, on an island in Lake Texcoco. According to legend, their gods told them to build their city where they saw an eagle perched on a cactus, eating a snake. This site, in the middle of a lake, presented significant engineering challenges that led to innovative agricultural and architectural techniques. By the time Oxford was celebrating over two centuries of scholarship and had formalized its structure with colleges and royal charters, the Aztec civilization was just beginning to lay the foundation (Review) for what would become one of the largest and most impressive cities in the pre-Columbian Americas.