![]() Tlatelolco boasted the principal market for the greater urban district. The two islands were separated by a narrow waterway (today the site of the Lagunilla market). Just north of Tenochtitlán lay Tlatelolco, originally an independent Mexica settlement but conquered by Tenochtitlán in 1473. ![]() Flood control, another major problem, was partly solved by means of a system of dikes. Causeways to the west and the south linked the city to the mainland an aqueduct brought fresh water from Chapultepec because the lake water was too saline for drinking. Toward the city's outskirts, raised fields, or chinampas, provided a local source of fresh vegetables and flowers. These served as administrative units for taxation and military draft each had its own temple and schools. Within each residential sector lay a variable number of Calpulli, or "big houses," neighborhood units tending toward endogamy and occupational specialization. The basic layout of the city comprised four sectors, separated by major canals, surrounding the central political-ceremonial precinct (now the zócalo), where the rulers had their palaces and the major deities their temples-most notably the Great Temple of Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc. At the time of the Spanish invasion it was the largest city in Mesoamerica, with a probable population of 125,000 or more.Ī "Venice of the New World," Tenochtitlán was crisscrossed by canals that served for canoe transportation moveable wooden bridges allowed for pedestrian passage. ![]() As the Mexica gained political power, eventually dominating what is now called the Aztec Empire, they were able to commandeer building supplies and labor and Tenochtitlán grew in size and population. The Mexica developed this marginal property by trading ducks, fish, and other edible lake products for wood and stone from the mainland. They were led by their god Huitzilopochtli to a spot where an eagle perched atop a prickly pear cactus, or tenochtli Tenochtitlán means "By the Prickly Pear Fruits." This divinely ordained site was a marshy island in Lake Texcoco east of Chapultepec. According to native histories, the Mexica founded Tenochtitlán in 1325. Tenochtitlán, capital city of Aztec Empire, center of present-day Mexico City.
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