Every visitor to modern Mexico City will inevitably come across traces of the culture and religion of the mechikas, a people of excellent engineers and artisans who later became known as the Aztecs. The remains of buildings and temples remind of the majestic Tenochtitlan - the capital of the Aztecs, buried under the modern capital of Mexico.
Town
In 1519, the Spaniards who arrived in Mesoamerica saw not settlements from huts, but a city with streets, dams, bridges and huge temples. The number of its inhabitants numbered from 150 to 200,000 thousand or even more. It was a city where art, literature and music flourished. The capital of the empire was located on an island in a valley rich in lakes. To expand the city, the Aztecs made mounds at the bottom of the lake. By erecting dams, they connected the island to the coast and built a whole network of canals.
But such harmony seemed completely incompatible with the religion of the Aztecs. What he saw amazed the conquistadors. Its inhabitants believed that their gods needed human hearts and blood to preserve their power. The victims were captured members of the tribes at war with them, which caused panic in the latter.
The name Tenochtitlan means "rock rising out of the water." But it is likely that the name comes from the name of the legendary mythological hero Tenoch. It was from this city, founded around 1325, that the empire began to spread, reaching what is now Guatemala.
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Short history
The official date of the founding of Mexico City - August 13, 1521 - is the date of the fall of the great Tenochtitlan. The rule of a powerful empire stretching all the way to the Gulf of Mexico did not last long - only a hundred years. In a relatively short time, the conquistadors removed the gold and destroyed the cities.
Extant attractions
One of the most famous sights - Templo Major ("Big Temple") - today is the remains of a giant pyramid that once towered over the city. The nearby museum contains a rich collection of Aztec times, telling about the religious life of the ancient tribes.
Xochimilco - an area with many canals and islands, preserved from the time of the Aztecs, boats still sail on it.
The Museum of Anthropology houses a large collection of finds, the most famous of which is the Stone of the Sun. It illustrates how the Aztecs envisioned the structure of the world.
If you choose Mexico City as a place to spend your vacation, be sure to go on an excursion program, this will allow you to enrich your knowledge about the history of the peoples of Mesoamerica, get new impressions, emotions that you will bring with you to your native land.