Culhuacan (Cōlhuàcān) was one of the Nahuatl-speaking pre-Columbian city-states of the Valley of Mexico. According to tradition, Culhuacan was founded by the Toltecs under Mixcoatl and was the first Toltec city. The Nahuatl speakers agreed that Culhuacán was the first city to give its rulers the title of "speaker" (tlatoani). In the sixteenth century following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Culhuacan was incorporated into colonial New Spain and called a pueblo, but in local-level documentation in Nahuatl, residents continued to use the designation altepetl for their settlement.
Culhuacan was perhaps the first of the chinampa towns founded on the shores of Lake Xochimilco, with chinampas dating to 1100 C.E.
From written records there is evidence that Culhuacan survived the fall of Tollan and maintained its prestige until the mid-14th century. According to the Crónica Mexicayotl, transcribed in 1609, in 1299, Culhuacan's tlatoani, Coxcoxtli, helped the Tepanecs of Azcapotzalco, the Xochimilca and other cities expel the Mexica from Chapultepec. Coxcoxtli then gave the Mexica permission to settle in the barren land of Tizaapan, southwest of Chapultepec, and they became vassals of Culhuacan. The Mexica subsequently assimilated into Culhuacan's culture and their warriors provided mercenaries for its wars.
The Tenochtitlan tlatoani Acamapichtli was a grandson of Coxcoxtli. Nevertheless, in 1377 Azcapotzalco subdued Culhuacán in large part with Aztec troops. In 1428, the Mexica tlatoani Itzcóatl helped to overthrow Azcapotzalco's hegemony, and accepted the title "Ruler of the Culhua".
Huehue Topiltzin Nauhyotzin 717–763
Nonohualcatl I 763–845
Yohuallatonac 845–904
Quetzalacxoyatzin 904–953
Chalchiuhtlatonac 953–985
Totepeuh 985–1026
Nauhyotzin II 1026–1072
Cuauhtexpetlatzin 1072–1129
Nonohualcatl II 1130–1150
Achitomecatl 1151–1171
Cuauhtlatonac 1172–1185
(Chichimeca's dynasty)
Mallatzin 1186–1200
Cuauhtlahtolloc (caudillaje) 1200–1235
Chalchiuhtlatonac II 1235–1245
Cuauhtlix 1245–1252
Yohuallatonac Telpochtli