CHAPTER 2 LATE POSTCLASSIC MESOAMERICA 91Box 2.1 The Mexica Capital TenochtitlanThe Aztec imperial capital Tenochtitlan was founded in A.D. 1325 on a swampy island in Lake Tex-
coco. According to Aztec history, the wandering Mexica people chose the city’s site upon re-
ceiving an omen from their god Huitzilopochtli: An eagle would be seated on a cactus eating a
snake (this image is now the national symbols of Mexico). Tenochtitlan’s island location in the
densely settled Valley of Mexico provided excellent opportunities for commerce, and the city
prospered and grew. It became the imperial capital after the formation of the confederated Aztec
empire in 1428. By 1519 the city covered thirteen square kilometers and boasted a population
of around 200,000 persons. Much of Tenochtitlan was destroyed when the Spaniards invaded, and
colonial Mexico City was built over the ruins.
Tenochtitlan was criss-crossed by many canals that were traversed by busy canoe traffic.
Dikes kept the salty waters of Lake Texcoco separate from the fresh water surrounding the city,
permitting cultivation of chinampas,“raised fields,” on the outskirts (see Box 1.3). Urban residents
included nobles and commoners engaged in a variety of occupations including artisans, mer-
chants, bureaucrats, farmers, and priests. The great marketplace at Tlatelolco, Tenochtitlan’s
smaller twin city, was attended daily by over 60,000 persons. Political and religious activities were
centered in the Sacred Precinct, a large walled compound crowded with temples, palaces, and
other civic buildings including the “Templo Mayor” (the latter an impressive temple-pyramid
that was the symbolic center of the Aztec empire and cosmos). The precinct formed the nucleus
for the rest of the city, whose streets, canals, and buildings were all built with a common grid ori-
entation matching that of the Sacred Precinct.
The rulers of Tenochtitlan drew on older Mesoamerican traditions of urban planning as they
designed the city, but they also innovated. The great size, dense population, and strict grid lay-
out were features that mirrored the earlier imperial capitals of Teotihuacan and to a lesser extent
Tula. The Aztecs also called upon an older Mesoamerican urban tradition not evident at the ear-
lier site of Teotihuacan by founding a sacred city constructed around a central ceremonial precinct
dominated by large pyramids and shrines. In this respect, Tenochtitlan resembled the great sites
of Tikal, Monte Albán, or Xochicalco more than Teotihuacan (see Box 1.4).
Tenochtitlan exceeded Teotihuacan and other earlier Mesoamerican cities in size, scale,
and the importance of marketplaces and trade. Tenochtitlan’s merchants, traveled farther and
traded a wider variety of goods with a greater number of foreign towns than any previous mer-
chants, and the number and size of marketplaces in Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco far surpassed
those of other Mesoamerican cities. The Templo Mayor, although not as massive as the Pyramid
of the Sun at Teotihuacan, was far more elaborately decorated and contained many times the
number of rich offerings than earlier temple-pyramids. The richness of the construction and of-
ferings at the Templo Mayor reflects the opulence and prosperity of Tenochtitlan, a prosperity that
was created and sustained by both commercial activity and tribute payments coming from con-
quered provinces.
Today Tenochtitlan lies buried under Mexico City. In recent decades, archaeologists have
made numerous discoveries in connection with the expansion of the Mexico City underground
metro system. By far the most spectacular archaeological finds have come from the excavations
between 1978 and 1988 of the Templo Mayor, in the heart of Mexico City. The Templo Mayor and
its elegant museum, open to visitors year-round, are impressive testimonies to the grandeur that
was Tenochtitlan in 1519.