State · c. 1325 CE
Tenochtitlan is founded
Tenochtitlan (Mexico City, Mexico)
According to their tradition, the Mexica settled where they saw an eagle with a snake in its beak perched on a cactus, on a swampy island in Lake Texcoco, traditionally in 1325. They enlarged the island with chinampa farm plots and joined it to the mainland with causeways, and after defeating Azcapotzalco in 1428 Tenochtitlan allied with Texcoco and Tlacopan in the Triple Alliance.
By 1519 the city had over 200,000 people, and the empire it dominated covered most of central Mexico.
Why it mattered
Tenochtitlan was the heart of the Aztec Empire until Spanish and Tlaxcalan forces besieged and destroyed it in 1521, and today's Mexico City stands on its ruins.
Related
- The world in 1300: The Mongol Peace chapter
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