Toltec,
Castillo, El [Credit: Cosmo Condina—Stone/Getty Images]
Nahuatl-speaking tribe who held sway over what is now central Mexico from the 10th to the 12th century ce. The name has many meanings: an “urbanite,” a “cultured” person, and, literally, the “reed person,” derived from their urban centre, Tollan (“Place of the Reeds”), near the modern town of Tula, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Mexico City.