History
Is Oxford University older than the Aztec Empire?
The short answer
Yes. There is evidence of teaching at Oxford as early as 1096. Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, was founded in 1325 — 229 years later. The empire proper dates from an alliance in 1428, by which time Oxford had had colleges for over 150 years.
Oxford's growth accelerated after 1167, when Henry II barred English students from the University of Paris and sent a generation of scholars home. By 1264 it had become a full university with residential halls — University, Balliol and Merton.
Tenochtitlan was founded on an island in Lake Texcoco in 1325. The Aztec Empire as an empire dates from 1428, when Tenochtitlan allied with Texcoco and Tlacopan and became dominant.
The fact does the same work as the Cleopatra one, in the other direction. Our sense of old and new is built almost entirely out of which stories we were told first, and it collapses the moment two timelines are laid side by side.