..... Click the link for more information. , it was founded (c.A.D. 1345) on a marshy island in Lake Texcoco. It was a flourishing city (with an estimated population of between 200,000 and 300,000), connected with the mainland by three great causeways. These ran along massive dike constructions erected to prevent the salty floodwaters of the eastern lake from mingling with the freshwater surrounding the island city. The dikes thereby protected the unique system of lake agriculture known as chinampas. Canals within the chinampas served to convey traffic throughout the city, including to and from the bustling, highly organized market at Tlatelolco. The ceremonial precinct contained many structures, including a great pyramid sacred to the Aztec war god Huitzilopochtli Huitzilopochtli (wē'tsēlōpōcht`lē), chief deity of the Aztec, god of war.
..... Click the link for more information. . It was to Tenochtitlán and the court of Montezuma that Hernán Cortés came, and it was from Tenochtitlán that the Spanish fled on the night of June 30, 1520, under heavy Aztec attack—the so-called noche triste. Cortés returned in 1521, took the city after a three-month siege, razed it, and captured the ruler, Cuauhtémoc Cuauhtémoc (k
–outā`môk), d. 1525, Aztec emperor...... Click the link for more information. , successor to Montezuma. The Spaniard founded present-day Mexico City on the ruins.
Bibliography
See studies in the Handbook of Middle American Indians, ed. by R. Wauchope (13 vol., 1964–73); M. P. Weaver, The Aztecs, Maya, and Their Predecessors (1972); E. M. Moctazuma, ed., Great Temples of the Aztecs: Treasures of Tenochtitlan (1988).
Tenochtitlán
Ancient capital of the Aztec empire. Located at the site of modern Mexico City, it was founded c. 1325 in the marshes of Lake Texcoco. It formed a confederacy with Texcoco and Tlacopán and was the Aztec capital by the late 15th century. Originally located on two small islands in Lake Texcoco, it gradually spread through the construction of artificial islands to cover more than 5 sq mi (13 sq km). It was connected to the mainland by several causeways. The population in 1519 was estimated to be about 400,000 people, the largest residential concentration in Mesoamerican history. It contained the palace of Montezuma II, said to consist of 300 rooms, as well as hundreds of temples. It was destroyed by the Spanish conquistadores under Hernán Cortés in 1521.
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