Nezahualcóyotl was a ruler of Texcoco, a city-state allied with Tenochtitlan in the Triple Alliance. He is remembered as a wise ruler, poet, builder, and patron of learning in pre-Hispanic central Mexico.

In Mexican culture, Nezahualcóyotl represents the intellectual and artistic achievements of the Indigenous world before the Spanish conquest. For citizenship learners, he helps show that pre-Hispanic Mexico had complex political, poetic, philosophical, and urban traditions.