Transcript La cultura de México

La cultura de México
Xochimilco
Xochimilco
Xochimilco
Mainly a commercial and tourist center, it is
famous for its canals lined with poplars and
flowers ( Xochimilco is a Native American word
meaning “plantation of flowers” ). In preHispanic times the Aztecs built ( chinampas )
in Lake Xochimilco on which they grew
vegetables and flowers to be shipped to
Tenochtitlan on the canals. Boating on the
canals is popular among tourists and city
residents.
Xochimilo is approximately 28 kilometers
outside of Ciudad de México.
Tenochtitlan
Tenochtitlan
An ancient city in the central valley of
Mexico. The capital of the Aztec , it was
founded (c.AD 1345) on a marshy island in
Lake Texcoco. It was a flourishing city (with
an estimated population of between 200,000
and 300,000), connected with the mainland
by three great causeways. These ran along
massive dike constructions erected to
prevent the salty floodwaters of the eastern
lake from mingling with the freshwater
surrounding the island city. The dikes
thereby protected the unique system of lake
agriculture known as chinampas.
Tenochtitlan
Canals within the chinampas served to convey
traffic throughout the city, including to and from
the bustling, highly organized market at Tlatelolco.
The ceremonial precinct contained many
structures, including a great pyramid sacred to the
Aztec war god Huitzilopochtli . It was to
Tenochtitlán and the court of Montezuma that
Hernán Cortés came and it was from Tenochtitlán
that the Spanish fled on the night of June 30,
1520, under heavy Aztec attack—the so-called
noche triste. Cortés returned in 1521, took the city
after a three-month siege, razed it, and captured
the ruler, Cuauhtémoc , successor to Montezuma.
The Spaniard founded present-day Mexico City on
the ruins.
Mexico City
Mexico City
The city has been the metropolis of Mexico since
even before New Spain was created. It is built on
the ruins of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlán , which
was begun by the Aztecs c.1345 and razed by
Hernán Cortes in 1521. During the colonial period
Mexico City served as the capital of the viceroyalty
of New Spain and was for a time the cultural and
social center of North and South America. It was
taken in 1847 by Winfield Scott's American army,
after an inland march from Veracruz in the Mexican
War . The French army captured Mexico City in
1863, and Emperor Maximilian, crowned in 1864,
did much to beautify it before it w as recaptured
by Mexicans under Benito Juárez .