Tenochtitlan Lives

700 years ago the Aztecs founded their capital city of Tenochtitlan, a city that was destined to become present day Mexico City.

In honor of the anniversary there is a photographic display along the fence of Chapultepec Park which shows how the legacy of the Aztecs survives in the modern city.

An artist's conception of what Tenochtitlan looked like at its height on the eve of the Spanish conquest.  It was built on an island in the middle of shallow Lake Texcoco.  The city's area was expanded by anchoring earth-covered rafts to the lake bottom.  Like Venice, the city was crisscrossed by canals.  Causeways connected the city to the mainland.  The light colored area left of center was the holy precinct where the temples were located... just steps away from the modern city's main plaza, the Zócalo.  When the Spanish arrived in 1519, Tenochtitlan had an estimated population of more than 200,000 people, making it one of the world's largest cities at that time.

This photo map shows the extent of Tenochtitlan (the light colored area) in regards to modern Mexico City.  Lake Texcoco was drained off to allow for the expansion of the capital of the Spanish colony.  Eventually the city absorbed separate towns such as Tacuba, Coyoacán, and Iztapalapa that once stood on the shores of the lake.

The forest of Chapultepec, today the city's largest park, was a retreat for the Aztec nobility.  On the cliff of Chapultepec Hill you can still see traces of a carving representing the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II (Montezuma).

Sharing the island with Tenochtitlan was its sister city of Tlatelolco.  While Tenochtitlan was the political and religious center of the Aztec empire, Tlatelolco was its commercial heart with an enormous market.

The ruins of Tlatelolco are to be found at a place known as the Plaza of the Three Cultures.  Here are Aztec ruins, a Spanish colonial church and 20th century high rise buildings.

When the Spanish conquered Tenochtitlan, they leveled the city and used the stones from Aztec buildings to construct their colonial capital.  On one street corner you can see a stone with an Aztec carving of a serpent that was incorporated into a colonial palace.

The Mexico City district of Xochimilco has the last remnants of the "chinampa" agricultural system that dates back to Aztec times.  The so-called "floating gardens" were created by heaping soil on rafts in the lake.  Crops were raised on these "chinampas",  Eventually they became rooted to the lake bottom creating a network of islands and canals.  To this day it remains an agricultural area that grows food for the city.

When construction on the Mexico City subway system was begun in the late 1960s, it turned out to be a boon for archaeologists.  During the excavation countless artifacts were found.  At the Pino Suárez station, one stop south of the Zócalo, an Aztec altar dedicated to Ehecatl, the god of wind, was discovered.  It was left intact, and the subway station was build around it.

An even greater archaeological find came in 1978 when utility workers excavating under the city streets stumbled upon the base of the main Aztec temple (Templo Mayor). Several city blocks were demolished and excavated, creating an archaeological site in the heart of Mexico City's historic center.

The excavations continue beneath Mexico City.  In 2006 an enormous carving of the Aztec earth goddess was discovered.  It is the largest Aztec monolith ever found.

 20th century residents of Mexico City, dressed as Aztecs, can be found near the "Templo Mayor" performing rituals of their ancestors.