Mexico City history

Lake Texcoco

One can trace the roots of Mexico City history to March 19, 1325 when the city (known back then as Mexico-Tenochtitlan) was founded by the Mexican tribe called the Nahua Aztec people. An interesting fact about Mexico City history is that the city was built back then on an island within Lake Texcoco and expanded by degrees by the Nahua Aztec empire. Actually, many calsadas (or main avenues) in present-day Mexico City are based on the infrastructure created by the Nahua Aztecs. The freshwater rivers that flowed into Lake Texcoco were separated from salty lake waters by Aztec dams, so that the freshwater could be used by city residents. It was the Spanish conquistador named Hernan Cortes who contributed to the destruction of this ancient city.

Flooding of Mexico City

After the useful dams built by the Aztecs were destroyed by Cortes and his conquistadores, flooding of Mexico City became quite a common aspect of Mexico City history. Severe flooding of Mexico City was experienced in years 1604 and 1607. By 1629, more severe flooding of Mexico City occurred even though Heinrich Martin had spearheaded construction of a drain to reduce the flooding caused by Lake Texcoco. For five years in Mexico City history from year 1629, Mexico City had to contend with the floods. The flooding of Mexico City was so severe that Spanish leaders even contemplated completely relocating the city (but didn’t.) It was only in the 20^th century (relatively late in Mexico City history) that the flooding was controlled though negative effects resulted.