a place name; an important altepetl northwest of Mexico City -- the name means "anthill place"
this was the site of a market in pre-Hispanic times that had a focus on selling enslaved human beings (see attestations, Sahagún)
Azca Potzalco, ca tzontecoma Altepetlcatcaía. Yníccen mochí ynacolhuâ, Y huá tepanecatl = Azcapotzalco, which was the chief city, the first among all the Acolhua and Tepaneca
Yn Acolhua oquícihuatí ynahuac ý cuetlax Xochitl- yhuá quimacac yn pilotl Azcapotzal co = He gave Cuetlaxochitl to Acolhua as wife, and he gave him the nobility of Azcaputzalco.
azcapotzalco. quimacato. possion. Juan grande nahuatlahto. yn Don Antonio valeriano telpochtli, vmpa quicahuato. ynic Juez gouernador vmpa mochihuato, compatlato. Don Balthasar min. vmpa Juez gouernador catca. nican S. Pablo ҫoquipan ychan auh ynin omoteneuh Don Antonio valeriano telpochtli fiscal catca. ỹ nican S. Joseph. S. Franco. yn onca yehuac yc mohuicac azcapotzalco, ynin telpochtli, yxhuiuhtzin. yn tlacatl huehue Don Antonio valeriano ychantzinco azcapotzalco. in miyec xihuitl. nican omoJuezgouernadortilico, Mexico tenochtitlan, ypãpa yn inamictzin cihuapilli Doña isabel de aluarado, yn ichpochtzin catca tlacatl Don diego de aluarado. huanitzin tlahtohuani catca tenochtitlan = Juan Grande, interpreter, took don Antonio Valeriano the younger to Azcapotzalco to give him possession of office, he having been appointed judge-governor there. He replaced don Baltasar Martín, who was judge-governor there and is from San Pablo Ҫoquipan here. This said don Antonio Valeriano the younger was fiscal here at San Josef at San Francisco, and he left there when he went to Azcapotzalco. This young man is the grandchild of the lord don Antonio Valeriano the elder, from Azcapotzalco, who served as judge-governor for many years here in Mexico Tenochtitlan, because his spouse was the lady doña Isabel de Alvarado, who was the daughter of the lord don Diego de Alvarado Huanitzin, who was a ruler of Tenochtitlan (central Mexico, 1611)
"Atzcaputzalco" had a slave market, where sacrificial victims could be purchased for observing certain religious festivals. See, for example, the observations associated with Yacateuctli and Huitzilopochtli. (central Mexico, sixteenth century)