Lake Texcoco

Valley of Mexico on an island in Lake Texcoco. It was estimated that the size of this city-state was 8 – 13.5 km2. Tenochtitlan wasn’t the only city-state on this island, Tlatelolco was also located here, Tenochtitlan’s sister city. Legend says that this site was chosen because Huitzlopochtli, the god of war, ordered them to look for “the prickly pear cactus and build a temple in his honor” [3]. This is when they found the cactus, on an island, in the middle of the lake. The Mexica’s quickly…

developed various technological innovations to adapt to this environment. They had aqueducts and canals and water gardens, all of which demonstrate how the environment affected the group’s establishment. Furthermore, due to their location around Lake Texcoco, Tenochtitlan could expand and come to involve other cities that belonged to different political subgroups, such as the Tlatelolco, who became famous for their markets. Finally, Schwartz describes how the Spanish taught many Nahua…

The Aztec’s worshiped many gods (deities). The most worshiped god in the Aztec culture was Huitzilopochtli, whose name meant left handed hummingbird. An interesting characteristic of Huitzilopochtli is he was born full grown. He was the god of sun and war and was a cultural god. Coatlícue, his mother became pregnant by placing feathers under her breasts. When her more than 400 children learned of the pregnancy they were outraged and revolted against her. When Coatlícue was decapitated by her…

Schwartz’s text is both a history and historiography—he provides a history of the Mesoamerican indigenous groups and the Spaniards, while analyzing the various biases present in the many accounts of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. He also sets the scene for his book to be presented as a compilation of various primary sources, each reflecting the different views of the groups involved. He breaks his introductory chapter into six main sections—the indigenous people of Mesoamerica, Tenochtitlan,…

inland Empire. Hernan Cortés immediately sent a message asking for a Meeting with the Aztec ruler, Montezuma II. . Messengers had already sent the message to the "Lord of Cuhúa" In Tenochitlán, which is the capital city set on an island in Lake Texcoco, 200 miles away. They said that fair-skinned, bearded strangers and fearsome man-beasts (Calvary) arrived from the "Towers floating on the sea". Hernan Cortés set forth and claimed their land for god and king, he build a Settlement on the…

and worldview. Building them was one of the most important architectural duties for an Aztec. The pyramids were believed to represent mountains and fertility. Tenochtitlan, also known as, The Impossible City was a city-state located on an island of Lake…

Most of their land had coastal areas or easy access to water through rivers or lakes which made it possible for the Aztecs to build gardens called “Chinampas”. Basically chinampas are a small or semi large gardens placed in shallow lake waters that had sediment, mud and decaying matter to grow plants on and was often surrounded by trees or walls to protect vegetation. To prevent depletion of the nutrients…

The reason why Tenochtitlan was so big, actually, was because of the Chinampas, or small islands (depicted by Aztecs and displayed here) that made up the large island on Lake Texcoco where Aztecs inhabited. This is considered a great achievement/invention by the Aztecs, therefore earning a rightful place in our museum. Another achievement mentioned before that is found in this room is the sun stone calendar. There are two calendars…

of the Templo Mayor, the main Mexica temple located in the sacred district of the former Mexica capital, known as Tenochtitlan, which is now present-day Mexico City. The city of Tenochtitlan was established in 1325 on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco and with the city’s foundation the original structure of the Templo Mayor was built. In between the years 1325 and 1519, the Templo Mayor was expanded, enlarged, and reconstructed during seven main building phases, which likely corresponded…

empire in what is now central Mexico. Primitively, the Aztecs were a meandering group of hunter gatherers. In the mid-1200s C.E., the Aztecs established on the arable land of the Valley of Mexico. In 1325, the Aztecs took retreat on an island on Lake Texcoco. Here, the Aztecs built the immense city of Tenochtitlán. This city became the capital of the Aztec Empire. The Aztecs then thrived from 1428 C.E. to 1519 C.E. The great Aztec Empire then took a fall due to the Spanish conquest. What made…