How Mexico City Engulfed Lake Texcoco, From 16th Century to 2000
Jun 30, 2021
For centenaries, the Valley of Mexico was filled with a range of rainwater lakes. The Aztecs built their capital Tenochtitlan on an island in the midst of one of those lakes — Lake Texcoco. They built causeways and channels and floating gardens. The Aztec capital was like the Venice of Mesoamerica.
When Spaniards looted Tenochtitlan, they reconstructed a modern city with a grid. However, this new metropolis would regularly flood, eventually leading to efforts to drain the former lakes of the basin. Little by little, the Tenochtitlan city drained the lakes and extended out over the dry lakebed.
