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The Toltecs of Mexico have a legend that the age of the 'first world' lasted 716 years, after which man and all the earth were destroyed by floods and lightening, except for those who escaped in a toptlipetlacali, or closed chest. After multiplying, they built a huge tower to take refuge when the world would again be destroyed. Thus this story conflates the stories of Babel and the Ark of Noah.

The Toltecs dominated central Mexico from the 10th until the mid-12th century AD. Many of the region's later peoples claimed descent, notably the Aztecs, who told Spanish conquerors about the Toltecs.

They moved into the Valley of Mexico after the collapse of Teotihuacán in the late 7th century left a power vacuum. They quickly developed trade routes that reached from modern-day Costa Rica to the American Southwest. By the 9th century the Toltecs were established at Tula, Hidalgo, the most northern capital ever built for a Mesoamerican culture.

In the 12th century, Toltec power waned as droughts disrupted agriculture and Tula came under heavy pressure from displaced peoples. Tula was destroyed around 1150. Some Toltecs fled to the Valley of Mexico, where their lineages bore great prestige in the Aztec era.