Week 12: Early Americans IDs

Tenochtitlan

Compare with growth of cities in other civilizations

It was said that the Aztecs would come to a land where an eagle was perched on a cactus eating a snake. This was to be the place they settled. This place was Tenochtitlan. Tenochtitlan was the capital of the Aztec Empire. It was built on an island in Lake Texcoco, in what is now Central Mexico. At the cities greatest height it was one of the largest cities in the world with over 200,000 inhabitants, and many of the invading conquistadores said it was just as big as Constantinople or Venice. Spanish Conquistadores basically destroyed the entire city when they invaded in 1521.

The city was very advanced sanitarily as well. There were often latrines in private households, as well as public latrines open for use by the general public on many of the main streets. Small boats went through the city and collected garbage and refuse, which was then sold to be used as fertilizer. There were about 1,000 men in all whose daily lives were dedicated to keeping the city clean. Water was even brought into the city from mountain streams along aqueducts which was meant to be used for cleaning and bathing, as most of the citizens bathed twice a day.

It is considered to have been the largest and most powerful of the Meso-American civilizations. Trade routes were developed around it that stretched to the Gulf of Mexic, the Pacific Ocean, and possibly even the Incan Empire.