Editing Tenochtitlan (section)

==History==
[[File:ASc131-Pomnik nieopodal Zocaio Plac.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|A Mexico City [[Monumento de la Fundación de México-Tenochtitlan|monument commemorating the founding of Tenochtitlan]]]]

Tenochtitlan was the capital of the Mexican civilization of the [[Mexica]] people, founded in 1325. The state religion of the Mexica civilization awaited the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy: the wandering tribes would find the destined site for a great city whose location would be signaled by an eagle with a snake in its beak perched atop a cactus (''[[Opuntia]]''), which had grown from the heart of [[Copil (son of Malinalxochitl)|Copil]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bahr |first1=Donald M. |title=Temptation and Glory in One Pima and Two Aztec Mythologies |journal=Journal of the Southwest |date=2004 |volume=46 |issue=4 |page=742 |jstor=40170283 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40170283 |issn=0894-8410}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Aveni |first1=A. F. |last2=Calnek |first2=E. E. |last3=Hartung |first3=H. |title=Myth, Environment, and the Orientation of the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan |journal=American Antiquity |date=1988 |volume=53 |issue=2 |page=292 |doi=10.2307/281020 |jstor=281020 |s2cid=162323851 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/281020 |issn=0002-7316}}</ref>

The Mexica saw this vision on what was then a small swampy island in Lake {{lang|nci|Texcoco|italic=no}}, a vision that is now immortalized in [[Coat of arms of Mexico|Mexico's coat of arms]] and on the [[Mexican flag]]. Not deterred by the unfavourable terrain, they set about building their city, using the {{lang|nci|[[chinampa]]}} system (misnamed as "floating gardens") for agriculture and to dry and expand the island.

A thriving culture developed, and the Mexica civilization came to dominate other tribes around Mexico. The small natural island was perpetually enlarged as {{lang|nci|Tenochtitlan|italic=no}} grew to become the largest and most powerful city in [[Mesoamerica]]. Commercial routes were developed that brought goods from places as far as the [[Gulf of Mexico]], the Pacific Ocean and perhaps even the [[Inca Empire]].<ref>Blainey, G. ''A Very Short History of the World'', 2007</ref>

After a flood of [[Lake Texcoco]], the city was rebuilt during the rule of {{lang|nci|[[Ahuitzotl]]|italic=no}}, which was between 1486 and 1502, in a style that made it one of the grandest ever in Mesoamerica.

Hernan Cortés arrived in Tenochtitlan on 8 November 1519. Although there are no precise numbers, the city's population has been estimated at between 200,000 and 400,000 inhabitants,<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Native population of the Americas in 1492|date=1992|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|others=Denevan, William M.|isbn=9780299134334|edition= 2nd|location=Madison, Wis.|oclc=648253221}}</ref> placing Tenochtitlan among the largest cities in the world at that time.<ref>{{cite book |title=Conquistador: Hernán Cortés, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs |last=Levy |first=Buddy |year=2008 |publisher=Bantam Books |isbn=978-0553384710 |page=106 }}</ref> Compared to the cities of Europe, only [[Paris]], [[Venice]] and [[Constantinople]] might have rivaled it. It was five times the size of the [[London]] of [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]].<ref name="Coe, M. 2008, p. 193" /> In a letter to the Spanish king, Cortés wrote that {{lang|nci|Tenochtitlan|italic=no}} was as large as [[Seville]] or [[Córdoba, Andalusia|Córdoba]]. Cortés' men were in awe at the sight of the splendid city and many wondered if they were dreaming.<ref>{{cite book |title=Latin American urbanization |last1=Butterworth |first1=Douglas |last2=Chance |first2=John K. |year=1981 |publisher=CUP Archive |isbn=978-0-521-28175-1 |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8wA4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA2}}</ref>

Although some popular sources put the number as high as 350,000<ref>Stannard, D. (1992)</ref> the most common estimates of the population are of over 200,000 people. One of the few comprehensive academic surveys of Mesoamerican city and town sizes arrived at a population of 212,500 living on {{convert|13.5|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}.<ref>Smith (2005), p. 411</ref> It is also said that at one time, Moctezuma had rule over an empire of almost five million people in central and southern Mexico because he had extended his rule to surrounding territories to gain tribute and prisoners to sacrifice to the gods.<ref name="Walker, C. 1980, p. 162" />

===Conquest===
[[File:Conquista-de-México-por-Cortés-Tenochtitlan-Painting.png|thumb|upright=1.2|The Conquest of Tenochtitlan]]
When Cortés and his men invaded {{lang|nci|Tenochtitlan|italic=no}}, [[Moctezuma II]] chose to welcome Cortés as an ambassador rather than risk a war which might quickly be joined by aggrieved indigenous people.

As Cortés approached {{lang|nci|Tenochtitlan|italic=no}}, the {{lang|nci|Tenochcah|italic=no}} celebrated [[Toxcatl]]. At this event the most prominent warriors of each {{lang|nci|[[altepetl]]|italic=no}} would dance in front of a huge statue of {{lang|nci|[[Huitzilopochtli]]|italic=no}}. The Spanish leader, [[Pedro de Alvarado]], who was left in charge, worried that the natives planned a surprise attack. He captured three natives and tortured them until they said that this was indeed planned to happen. During the festival, the Spaniards came heavily armed and closed off every exit from the courtyard so that no one would escape. This happened during their last days in Tenochtitlan.<ref>Townsend, Camilla. 2006. 102–103.</ref>

Nobles lined each side of the city's main causeway, which extended about a [[League (unit)|league]] (4.83 km).  Walking down the center came Moctezuma II, with two lords at his side, one his brother, the ruler of {{lang|nci|[[Iztapalapa]]|italic=no}}. Cortés dismounted and was greeted by the ruler and his lords, but forbidden to touch him. Cortés gave him a necklace of crystals, placing it over his neck.<ref>Cortés, H. 1520, p.  69.</ref>

[[File:Adoratorio_de_Ehecatl_Metro_Pino_Suárez.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Mexica pyramid of Ehecatl in the Metro Pino Suárez station, Mexico City Subway.]]
They were then brought to a large house that would serve as their home for their stay in the city. Once they were settled, Moctezuma himself sat down and spoke with Cortés. The great ruler declared that anything that they needed would be theirs to have.<ref>Cortés, H. 1520, p. 71.</ref> He was thrilled to have visitors of such stature.  Although the Spaniards were seeking gold, Moctezuma expressed that he had very little of the sort, but all of it was to be given to Cortés if he desired it.<ref>Cortés, H. 1520, p. 70.</ref>

Soon after arriving in {{lang|nci|Tenochtitlan|italic=no}}, Cortés came up against problems.  At [[Veracruz|Vera Cruz]], the officer left in charge received a letter from {{lang|nci|[[Qualpopoca]]|italic=no}}, the leader of [[Nautla, Veracruz|Nueva Almería]], asking to become a vassal of the Spaniards. He requested that officials be sent to him so that he could confirm his submission. To reach the province, the officers would have to travel through hostile land. The officer in charge of Vera Cruz decided to send four officers to meet with Qualpopoca.<ref>Cortés, H. 1520, p. 72.</ref>

When they arrived, they were captured and two were killed, the other two escaping through the woods. Upon their return to Vera Cruz, the officer in charge was infuriated, and led troops to storm Almería. Here they learned that Moctezuma was supposedly the one who ordered the officers executed.<ref>Cortés, Hernan. 1520, p. 73.</ref> Back in {{lang|nci|Tenochtitlan|italic=no}}, Cortés detained Moctezuma and questioned him.<ref>Cortés, H. 1520, p. 77.</ref> Though no serious conclusions were reached, this negatively affected the relationship between Moctezuma and the Spaniards.<ref>Stannard, D. 1992, 214.</ref>

Cortés subsequently besieged {{lang|nci|Tenochtitlan|italic=no}} for over 90 days, causing a famine.<ref name="Walker, C. 1980, p. 162"/> Having gained control, he then directed the systematic destruction and leveling of the city;<ref>"The Colonial Spanish-American City: Urban Life in the Age of Atlantic Capitalism", [[Jay Kinsbruner]], University of Texas Press, 2005, p. 20, {{ISBN|0-292-70668-5}}</ref> and began its rebuilding, despite opposition. The reconstruction involved the creation of a central area designated for Spanish use (the ''traza''). The outer Indian section, now dubbed ''San Juan Tenochtitlan'', continued to be governed by the previous indigenous elite and was divided into the same subdivisions as before.<ref>Stannard, D. 1992, 109.</ref>

The people of {{lang|nci|Tenochtitlan|italic=no}} were soon exposed to [[Columbian exchange#Diseases|diseases]] to which they had no immunity. Symptoms were often delayed for up to ten days, when the infection would spread throughout the body, causing sores, pain, and high fever. People were weak to the point that they could not move, nor obtain food and water. Burial of the dead became difficult to impossible, due to the pervasiveness of the people's illness. The people of Tenochtitlan began to starve and weaken. The death toll rose steadily over the course of the next 60 days.<ref>Townsend, Camilla. 2006, 109–110.</ref>{{when|date=January 2018}}{{Clarify|reason=Needs transition and explanation of events between invasion and colonial era|date=November 2020}}

===Colonial era===
{{Main|History of Mexico City}}
[[File:Barrios Tenochtitlan OSM2.png|thumb|upright|Districts of Tenochtitlan overlaid on a map of modern streets of Mexico City, with the {{lang|es|traza}} shown in gray]]
Cortés founded the Spanish capital of Mexico City on the ruins of Tenochtitlan. Despite the extensive damage to the built environment, the site retained symbolic power and legitimacy as the capital of the Aztec empire, which Cortés sought to appropriate. For a time this {{lang|es|ciudad de españoles}}, the highest rank in the Spanish hierarchy of settlement designation, was called Mexico–Tenochtitlan. [[Charles Gibson (historian)|Charles Gibson]] devotes the final chapter of his classic work, ''The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule'', to what he called "The City",<ref>Charles Gibson, ''The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule''. Stanford: Stanford University Press 1964.</ref> with later historians building on his work.<ref>Barbara Munday, ''The Death of Aztec Tenochtitlan, the Life of Mexico City''. Austin: University of  Texas Press 2016. {{ISBN| 978-1477317136}}</ref> The Spaniards established a {{lang|es|[[cabildo (council)|cabildo]]}} or town council, which had jurisdiction over the Spanish residents. The Spanish established a Europeans-only zone in the center of the city, an area of 13 blocks in each direction of the central plaza, which was the {{lang|es|traza}}.  Although many native residents died during the siege of Tenochtitlan, the indigenous still had a strong presence in the city, and were settled in two main areas of the island, designated San Juan Tenochtitlan and Santiago Tlatelolco, each with a municipal council that functioned the entire colonial period. San Juan Tenochtitlan was a Spanish administrative creation, which amalgamated four indigenous sections, with each losing territory to the Spanish {{lang|es|traza}}. The Spanish laid out the streets of the {{lang|es|traza}} in a checker board pattern, with straight streets and plazas at intervals, whereas the indigenous portions of the city were irregular in layout and built of modest materials. In the colonial period both San Juan Tenochtitlan and Santiago Tlatelolco retained jurisdiction over settlements on the mainland that they could draw on for labor and tribute demanded by the Spanish, but increasingly those subordinate settlements ({{lang|es|sujetos}}) were able to gain their autonomy with their own rulers and separate relationship with the Spanish rulers.<ref>Gibson, ''Aztecs Under Spanish Rule'', pp. 368–377.</ref> Concern about the health of the indigenous population in early post-conquest Mexico–Tenochtitlan led to the founding of a royal hospital for indigenous residents.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Leiby |first=John S. |title=The Royal Indian Hospital of Mexico City, 1553–1680. |journal=The Historian |volume=57 |issue=3 |year=1995 |pages=573–580 |jstor=24451466 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-6563.1995.tb02021.x }}</ref>

There are a number of colonial-era pictorial manuscripts dealing with Tenochtitlan–Tlatelolco, which shed light on litigation between Spaniards and indigenous over property.<ref>Glass, John B. in collaboration with Donald Robertson. "A Census of Native Middle American Pictorial Manuscripts". article 23, ''Guide to Ethnohistorical Sources'' Part 3; ''Handbook of Middle American Indians''. University of Texas Press 1975, census #209, 210 p. 166–167.{{ISBN|0-292-70154-3}}</ref> An account with information about the war of Tenochtitlan against its neighbor Tlatelolco in 1473 and the Spanish conquest in 1521 is the {{lang|es|Anales de Mexico y Tlatelolco, 1473, 1521–22|italic=yes}}.<ref>Glass and Robertson. "A Census of Native Middle American Pictorial Manuscripts". article 23, census #211 p. 167.{{ISBN|0-292-70154-3}}</ref> Anthropologist Susan Kellogg has studied colonial-era inheritance patterns of Nahuas in Mexico City, using [[Nahuatl]]- and Spanish-language testaments.<ref>Susan Kellogg, ''Law and the Transformation of Aztec Culture, 1500–1700''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1995.</ref> 
On the 13th of August 1521, after over two months of fighting, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés succeeded in bringing about the fall of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire, and consequently brought an end to the Aztec empire.

===Ruins===
[[File:Templo Mayor in Mexico-Tenochtitlan 16th century (illustration 1900).jpg|thumb|upright|The ''Templo Mayor'' in [[Mexico-Tenochtitlan]], the Aztec capital.]]
[[File:Templo Mayor 2015 001.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Templo Mayor]] of Mexico-Tenochtitlan ruins.]]
[[File:Templo Mayor 2007.JPG|thumb|upright|The ruins of the Templo Mayor]]
[[Image:Fundacion Tenochtitlan.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''Fundación de México'' (The foundation of Mexico) – Tenochtitlán by [[Roberto Cueva del Río]]]]

Tenochtitlan's main temple complex, the [[Templo Mayor]], was dismantled and the central district of the Spanish colonial city was constructed on top of it. The great temple was destroyed by the Spanish during the construction of a cathedral. The location of the Templo Mayor was rediscovered in the early 20th century, but major excavations did not take place until 1978–1982, after utility workers came across a massive stone disc depicting the nude dismembered body of the moon goddess [[Coyolxauhqui]].  The disc is {{convert|3.25|m|ftin|sp=us}} in diameter, and is held at the Templo Mayor Museum.<ref>{{cite book|last=Snow|first=Dean R.|title=Archaeology of Native North America|year=2010|publisher=Prentice Hall|location=Boston|isbn=978-0-13-615686-4}}</ref>

The ruins, constructed over seven periods, were built on top of each other.  The resulting weight of the structures caused them to sink into the sediment of Lake Texcoco; the ruins now rest at an angle instead of horizontally.

Mexico City's [[Zócalo]], the [[Plaza de la Constitución]], is located at the site of Tenochtitlan's original central plaza and market, and many of the original ''calzadas'' still correspond to modern city streets. The [[Aztec calendar stone]] was located in the ruins. This stone is {{convert|4|m|ftin|sp=us}} in diameter and weighs over {{convert|20|ST|t ST LT|1|abbr=off|order=out|sp=us}}. It was once located half-way up the great pyramid. This sculpture was carved around 1470 under the rule of King [[Axayacatl]], the predecessor of [[Tizoc]], and is said to tell the history of the Mexicas and to prophesy the future.<ref>Walker,  pp. 162–167</ref>

In August 1987, archaeologists discovered a mix of 1,789 human bones {{convert|5|m|ftin|spell=in|sp=us}} below street level in Mexico City.<ref name=NG>{{cite magazine| title=Venerable Bones | author=A.R. Williams| magazine=National Geographic| url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/08/pictures/120829-aztec-sacrifice-templo-mayor-bones-archaeology/| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901023458/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/08/pictures/120829-aztec-sacrifice-templo-mayor-bones-archaeology| url-status=dead| archive-date=1 September 2012|  date=29 August 2012}}</ref> The burial dates back to the 1480s and lies at the foot of the main temple in the sacred ceremonial precinct of the Aztec capital. The bones are from children, teenagers and adults. A complete skeleton of a young woman was also found at the site.<ref name=NG />
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