Tenochtitlan and Its Environs

Tenochtitlan- Mexico City was founded by the Mexica (Aztecs) in the year 1325 or 1345. It originally lay in the center of a lagoon as if it were the heart of the Valley of Mexico. Its arteries—avenues and dikes—connected it to dry land. To the south the Ixtapalapa causeway split at the level of Mexicaltzingo, that of Tepeyac went north to the temple of Tonantzin, and the Tlacopán causeway ran parallel to an aqueduct to Chapultepec. To the east communication with dry land was achieved through the use of canoes and moorings. This traffic of canoes and craft on the waterways gave Tenochtitlan a Venetian appearance. The four principal canals were oriented toward the cardinal directions.

Tenochtitlan suffered disasters caused by terrible floods and severe drought. Barricades and public works were undertaken, many planned by Nezahuacoyotl, to avoid the violent rush of water. On some occasions the need to provide water to the city and desalinate the lagoon provoked powerful floods. There was also a complex system of bulwarks that kept back the salt-water lagoon to regulate the springs and act as waterways. Along two great axes, those of TeayucaCulhuacan and Los Remedio-Tepetzingo (now Peñón de los Baños), lay the main temples of the settlements.

The Valley of Mexico was then a great river basin filled with lakes and freshwater lagoons (to the north and south) and brackish water in the center. The various inhabitants of the region fished, hunted, collected, and cultivated. The varied diet included freshwater fish, acociles, gusanillos, frogs, axolotles, algae, hemiptera, and their eggs. Various migratory birds were trapped, and maize, frijol, squash, chile, tomato, amaranth, and flowers were cultivated in the chinamlpa system that occasionally was fertilized with guano. These chinampas were anchored by fences of huejote trees (a species of willow) and had a framework constructed of aquatic plants and the mud of the lake.

Many springs fed the lower zones, which were ringed with sierras covered with pine and oak and on which deer, hare, rabbit, opossum, and other animals were hunted. Wood was felled here both for construction purposes and firewood, which also was employed to burn limestone to produce stucco. Various waterside houses located in settlements such as Ixtapalapa, Mexicaltzingo, and Coyoacán, were constructed on stakes set in the water. Artificial islands, such as Tláhuac, also were created.