Here’s a timeline comparison that bends your sense of history:
Teaching began at University of Oxford around 1096.
The Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan — the heart of the Aztec Empire — was founded in 1325.
That means students were studying in Oxford centuries before the Aztec Empire even existed.
When we imagine ancient civilizations like the Aztecs, we tend to mentally place them alongside medieval Europe. But the reality is far more complex. By the time the Aztecs were building their magnificent capital in what is now Mexico City, Oxford had already been operating for more than 200 years.
Oxford grew rapidly after 1167, when King Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris. Scholars returned home, and Oxford became a major intellectual center of medieval Europe.
Meanwhile, the Aztec civilization rose dramatically in the 14th and 15th centuries, forming a powerful empire centered around Tenochtitlan — a city built on an island in Lake Texcoco, complete with canals, causeways, and advanced agricultural systems like chinampas (floating gardens).
When Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés arrived in 1519, Oxford had already existed for over 400 years.
This fact highlights how history isn’t linear or neatly segmented into “ancient,” “medieval,” and “modern.” Civilizations develop on overlapping timelines.
While scholars debated theology in stone halls in England, a vast empire was rising across the Atlantic — completely unaware of Europe’s universities.
History is happening everywhere at once.