Tenochtitlan

Also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Tenochtitlan was a large Mexican altepetl, or city-state, built on an island in what was then Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico, in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of its founding is unclear, but 13 March 1325 was chosen in 1925 to mark the 600th anniversary. It was the capital of the expanding Aztec Empire in the fifteenth century until it was captured by the Tlaxcaltec and the Spanish in 1521, and at its peak it was the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas. It then became a cabecera of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Its ruins lie beneath the historic center of the Mexican capital, and the World Heritage Site of Xochimilco preserves what remains of the water, boats and floating gardens of the Mexica capital. Tlatelolco was the other Mexica altepetl on the island.