I have been fortunate enough to visit some amazing archeological sites in Mexico, but know very little about life in pre-Colonial Mesoamerica. A recently released digital version of an early Spanish codex from 16th century Mexico offers a window into life of the Mexica (Aztec) people.

The Getty Research Institute’s digitized version of La Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España is best known as the Florentine Codex—this name comes from the text’s mysterious storage in the Medici family libraries for centuries. Although the Library of Congress and UNESCO’s Memory of the World have offered scanned iterations of the books since 2012 and 2015, respectively, this edition is the most widely accessible because of its searchable interface and additional context.

In 1577, Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún created a monumental encyclopedia of Mesoamerican culture. Working in collaboration with Nahua writers, artists, and elders, Sahagún documented life in the Aztec empire around the time of the Spanish conquest, together creating nearly 2,500 illustrations and 12 books recording the daily practices and culture of 16th-century Mexico. The text is widely regarded as one of the most important resources of Indigenous knowledge, especially considering most history is derived from colonial perspectives. Organized by topic, text, and images, the new digital version has both the original Nahuatl and Spanish writings alongside English translations.

Although the codex was originally shipped to Spain in the late 16th century, it ended up in Rome in the hands of Cardinal Ferdinando I de’ Medici, who then brought it to Florence, where it was protected in Medici family libraries during the Spanish Inquisition. It remains the most comprehensive and important document of life in Mexico at the time. It is also the longest historical narrative written in Nahuatl about the conquest of Mexico, documenting the perspective of the people of Tlatelolco, today a part of Mexico City and the place where the codex was written.