Tenochtitlan

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For the modern municipality in Mexico see Tenochtitlán, Veracruz. For the post-Aztec history see History of Mexico City

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Tenochtitlan (pronounced Template:IPA) or, alternatively, Mexico-Tenochtitlan, was the capital of the Aztec empire, which was built on an island in Lake Texcoco in what is now the Federal District in central Mexico. The city was largely destroyed in the 1520s by Spanish conquistadores. Mexico City was erected on top of the ruins and, over the ensuing centuries, most of Lake Texcoco has gradually been drained.

1 Geography
2 City plan
3 Inhabitants
4 History
5 Ruins of Tenochtitlan

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Geography

Tenochtitlan was connected to the mainland by a series of wide causeways with bridges, known as calzadas. The city was interlaced with a series of canals, so that all sections of the city could be visited either on foot or via canoe. An aqueduct provided the city with fresh water. Tenochtitlan covered an area of 8 square kilometers.

Although the lake was salty, dams built by the Aztecs kept the city surrounded by clear water from the rivers that fed the lake. Two double aqueducts provided the city with fresh water; this was intended mainly for cleaning and washing. For drinking, water from mountain springs was preferred. Most of the population liked to bathe twice a day; Moctezuma was reported to take four baths a day. As soap they used the root of a plant called copalxocotl (saponaria americana); to clean their clothes they used the root of metl. Also, the upper classes and pregnant women enjoyed the temazcalli, which was similar to a sauna bath and is still used in the south of Mexico; this was also popular in other Mesoamerican cultures.

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City plan

The city was divided into four zones or campan, each campan was divided on 20 districts (calpullis), and each calpulli was crossed by streets or tlaxilcalli. There were three main streets that crossed the city and extended to firm land; Bernal Díaz del Castillo reported it was wide enough for ten horses. The calpullis were divided by channels used for transportation, with wood bridges that were removed at night. It was in trying to cross these channels that the Spaniards lost most of the gold they had acquired from Moctezuma.

Each calpulli had some specialty in arts and craft. When each calpulli offered some celebration, they tried to outdo the other calpullis. Even today, in the south part of Mexico City, the community organizations in charge of church festivities are called "calpullis".

Each calpulli had its own tianquiztli (marketplace), but there was also a main marketplace in Tlatelolco. Cortés estimated it was twice the size of the city of Seville with about 60,000 people, trading daily, Sahagún give us a more conservative 20,000 daily and 40,000 on feast days. Aztecs had no coins, so most trade was made in goods, but cacao was so appreciated, it was used as an equivalent of coins. Gold had no intrinsic value: it was considered as a raw material for crafts. Gold jewelry had value, but raw gold had little. For the Aztecs, the destruction of objects to get a few pieces of gold was incomprehensible.

There were also specialized tianquiztli in the small towns around Tenochtitlan. In Chollolan, there were jewels, fine stones, and feathers, in Texcoco there were clothes, in Aculma was the dog market. The Aztecs had three special breeds of dogs with no hair, of which only one survives. They were the tepezcuintli, the itzcuitepotzontli and the xoloizcuintli. These hairless dogs were mainly for eating and also were offerings for sacrifice. The Aztecs also had normal dogs for company.

In the center of the city were the public buildings, temples and schools. Inside a walled square, 300 meters to a side, was the ceremonial center, there were about 45 public buildings, the main temple, the temple of Quetzalcoatl, the ball game, the tzompantli or rack of skulls, the temple of the sun, the platforms for the gladiatorial sacrifice, and some minor temples. Outside was the palace of Moctezuma, with 100 rooms, each one with its own bath, for the lords and ambassadors of allies and conquered people. Near, also was the cuicalli or house of the songs, and the calmecac. The city had a great symmetry. All constructions had to be approved by the calmimilocatl, a functionary in charge of the city planning. No one could invade the streets and channels.

The palace of Moctezuma also had two houses or zoos, one for birds of prey and another for other birds, reptiles and mammals. About three hundred people were dedicated to the care of the animals. There was also a botanical garden and an aquarium. The aquarium had ten ponds of salt water and ten ponds of clear water, containing fishes and aquatic birds. Places like this also existed in Texcoco, Chapultepec, Huastepec (now called Oaxtepec) and Tezcutzingo.

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Inhabitants

Sahagún reports that the city also had beggars (only crippled people were allowed to beg), thieves and prostitutes. At night, in the dark alleys one could find scantily clad ladies with heavy makeup (they also painted their teeth), chewing tzicli (chicle, the original chewing gum) noisily to attract clients. There seems to have been another kind of women, ahuianis, who had sexual relations with warriors. The Spaniards were surprised because they did not charge for their work, so perhaps they had other means of support.

Bernal was amazed to find latrines in private houses and a public latrine in the tianquiztli and main streets. Small boats went through the city collecting garbage, and excrement was collected to be sold as fertilizer. About 1,000 men were dedicated to cleaning the city's streets.

For public purposes, and to be able to set the pace of official business, trumpets were sounded from the tops of the temples six times a day: at sunrise, later on in the morning, at midday, again in the mid-afternoon, after sunset, and at midnight.

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History

Image:Mexico-Maya Statue.jpg

see also Siege of Tenochtitlan

Many different tribes came and went from the shores of the lake without establishing a permanent, important culture. It was not until the arrival of the Aztecs, a tribe of people who came in from Aztlán, a settlement from the deserts in Northern or Western Mexico of which no modern remains have been identified, that the area acquired its importance.

The Aztecs migrated following an ancient legend that prophesied that they would find the site for their new city in a place where they would see a mythical vision fulfilled: an eagle eating a snake while perched atop a cactus. The Aztecs eventually came across this vision on what was then a small swampy island in Lake Texcoco, and the vision is now immortalized in Mexico's coat of arms, which is shown in the Mexican flag. Not deterred by the unfavourable terrain, they invented the chinampa system to dry the land by setting up small plots in which they produced all the food they required. When enough land was dry they would begin to build there. Tenochtitlan (the Nahuatl language name for the city) was founded in 1325.

A thriving culture developed, and the Aztec empire came to dominate other tribes all around Mexico. The small natural island was perpetually enlarged as an artificial island as Tenochtitlan 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.

After a flood of Lake Texcoco, the city was rebuilt in a style that made it one of the grandest ever in Mesoamerica under Emperor Auitzotl.

Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés arrived in Tenochtitlan on November 8, 1519. At this time it is believed that the city was one of the largest in the world; in Europe, only Paris, Venice and Constantinople were larger. The most common estimates put the population at around 60,000 to 130,000 people. Aztec ruler Moctezuma II, thinking Cortés to be the returning god Quetzalcoatl, welcomed him with great pomp. Some of the conquistadores had traveled as widely as Venice and Constantinople, and many said that Tenochtitlan was as large and fine a city as any they had seen.

Cortés and his men, aided by local tribes, eventually conquered the city on August 13, 1521, after a siege that lasted months in which much of the city was destroyed. The rest of the city was either destroyed, dismantled or buried as Mexico City was built on top of it.

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