Both the Aztec and Pueblo Indians have legends in common about Montezuma, one of their most important gods, that merge in tales of antiquity and stories of hidden treasures.

The Aztec Indians belong to the largest and most important Indians on the North American continent, the Nahuatl peoples. This linguistic group extends from Canada (British Columbia), to as far south as Panama (Mayas). It includes the Shoshone Indians of the Great Northwest, the Paiute, Mono, Panamint, Serrano, Gabrieleno, Luiseno, Capenoes, and Cahuilla tribes of California and the Tepehuan, Tarahumara, Pima, Yaqui, Hopi, Kiowas, and Comanche Indians.

The fabled Vale of Aztlan (place of reeds and herons), from whence the Aztecs came, is described in a ancient codex as a valley surrounded by mountains in which a large lake and much swampy land existed. There their people lived on a lake island where they found a tremendous cave.

In pre-Columbium days successive waves of these Nahua speaking peoples drifted south from Aztlan and on into Mexico, beginning with the Toltecs, the great stone builders, and ending with the Aztecs.