The ancient Mixtecs called the land in which they
 lived ñudzahui --the Rain Place.(1) This tutorial 
illustrates how the natural and cultural landscapes
 of that Rain Place were depicted in the codices. 
Recording the location of past events was very 
important to the ancient Mixtecs, and as a result the
 pages of the codices are filled with images that 
allow us to reconstruct the "where" of the Mixtec past. 

The study of toponyms--pictorial representations of 
places-- has been a major topic of study for codex 
researchers. In fact it was through toponymic 
decipherment that the codices were first firmly linked to the Mixteca, in Alfonso Caso's 1949 commentary on the Mapa de Teozacoalco.(2) Although the kings and queens, the textiles, and the featherwork depicted in the codices have long since vanished, the landscape of the Mixteca remains, and remains important to the people who live in it.