April 28

Born in 1402 in Texcoco, Nezahualcoyotl inherited the throne in 1431 and presided over a golden age of legal reform and cultural achievement. He codified laws, commissioned aqueducts and temples, and forged alliances that strengthened the Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. An accomplished poet, he wrote profound verses in Nahuatl reflecting on the nature of life and the divine. His court became a center of learning and artistic expression in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Nezahualcoyotl’s intellectual and architectural legacy endures as one of the most enlightened rulers of his era.