The biggest city in North America isnโt New York or Los Angeles, itโs Mexico City.
Mexico City is also the oldest capital city in the entire Americas and the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world.
Today, this enormous metropolis is home to over twenty million people. But its story began centuries ago, long before the arrival of the Spanish, when it was an island city built by the Aztecs in the middle of a vast lake.
In this episode of Thinking in English, weโre going to explore the incredible history of Mexico City from its origins as the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlรกn, to its destruction and rebirth under Spanish rule, and finally, to its rise as a vibrant and dynamic modern city.
At the same time, we will learn some new and useful English vocabulary and practice our listening comprehension at the same time!
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Vocabulary
- Aztec (adj): Relating to the indigenous people who built an empire in central Mexico.
- The Aztec city of Tenochtitlรกn was built on an island in a lake.
- metropolis (n): A very large and important city.
- Mexico City is a bustling metropolis with over 20 million people.
- causeway (n): A raised road or path built across water, wet ground, or low land.
- The Aztecs connected their island city to the mainland using long causeways.
- colonial (adj): Related to the period when a country was controlled by a foreign power.
- Many colonial buildings in Mexico City were built on top of old Aztec temples.
- independence (n): Freedom from control by another country or authority.
- Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821.
- revolution (n): A major political or social change, often involving conflict or uprising.
- The Mexican Revolution fought for land and rights for ordinary people.
- resilience (n): The ability to recover quickly from difficulties or adapt to change.
- Mexico City has shown great resilience after earthquakes and floods over the centuries.
The Aztecs
Before Mexico City, there was Tenochtitlรกn, the [00:04:00] magnificent capital of the Aztec Empire. But who were the Aztecs? And how did they come to build one of the most impressive cities in the ancient world?
The Aztecs were a Mesoamerican civilization. “Mesoamerican Civilization” refers to a group of ancient cultures that developed in the region now known as Mexico and Central America, before the arrival of Europeans.
These civilizations included the Olmec, the Maya, Zapotec and the Aztec. They built cities, temples, and pyramids, and they developed their own writing systems and calendars and farming techniques.
The Aztecs were not originally from the Valley of Mexico. According to their own legends, they came from a distant, possibly mythical homeland called Aztlรกn. The word [00:05:00] Aztec actually means “the people from Aztlรกn.”
The Aztecs also included a number of different groups of people, including the Mexica, who later gave their name to the city, Mexico City, and the country Mexico.
Around the 14th century, the Aztecs migrated into the Valley of Mexico. This is a high altitude basin surrounded by mountains and lakes. A high altitude basin is a large, flat area of land that is surrounded by mountains and is located high above the sea level.
According to Aztec legend, their gods told them to build a city where they see an eagle eating a snake while standing on a cactus. When the Aztecs saw this vision on a small island in the middle of Lake Texcoco, they had [00:06:00] found the place to build a city.
And that image of an eagle and a snake is now in the middle of Mexico’s national flag.
Origins as an Aztec City (Tenochtitlรกn)
The Aztecs called their new city Tenochtitlรกn, and it was founded in 1325.
And I have to apologize if I am pronouncing any of these Aztec words incorrectly. I’m not the best with my pronunciation of other languages.
The Aztecs transformed the island in the center of the lake. It was connected to the mainland by long causeways. Causeways are raised roads or paths built across water, wet ground, or low land.
The Aztecs built canals for transportation. And they filled the city with impressive temples, palaces, and marketplaces. They even created floating gardens, which allowed them to grow crops on the [00:07:00] surface of the lake.
At its height, Tenochtitlรกn may have had a population of more than 200,000 people. This would make it one of the largest and most advanced cities in the entire world, at that time. Life there revolved around religion, trade, and agriculture.
They also had a complex social hierarchy that organized society into nobles, warriors, priests, and farmers.
When I said the city was one of the most advanced in the world, I meant it. The Aztecs built things that were not common really anywhere else in the world at that time. They had drinkable water brought into the city by aqueducts. They had a really advanced drainage system, and they had paved streets that were wide and open, almost like you get in [00:08:00] modern cities today.
Tenochtitlรกn was also the center of the Aztec Empire. Just before the Spanish arrived in the Americas, the Aztec empire stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.
Tenochtitlรกn was a great city, at the heart of an empire, and built on an island in the middle of a lake. It was really impressive.
The Spanish Conquest (1519โ1521)
By the early 1500s, Tenochtitlรกn and the Aztec Empire were at the heights of their power. But across the ocean, another empire had begun to explore and conquer new lands. Spain.
In 1519, a Spanish conquistador named Hernรกn Cortรฉs arrived on the coast of modern day Mexico.
At that time, the Aztec Empire ruled over many smaller peoples in Central Mexico. These groups often [00:09:00] resented the more powerful Aztecs because they were forced to pay heavy tributes, like taxes, and sometimes even provide people for human sacrifices.
Cortรฉs used this to his advantage. As he marched towards the capital, he made alliances with the enemies of the Aztecs.
The Aztec Emperor at the time, Moctezuma II, had heard rumors of strange men arriving on the coast. According to some accounts, he believed the Spanish might be connected to a returning God from Aztec mythology. Because of this, he chose to welcome Cortรฉs and Cortรฉs’ men when they entered his city.
When the Spanish reached Tenochtitlรกn, they were amazed. The city was larger and more beautiful than anything they had seen in Europe. [00:10:00] It was full of clean streets and canals and marketplaces.
But the Spanish were also shocked by Aztec religious practices, especially human sacrifice. And the Spanish were really just hoping to find some gold.
Moctezuma was taken hostage and violence broke out in the city. The Aztecs rebelled, forcing the Spanish and their allies to flee.
But Cortez did not give up. He regrouped, gathered more indigenous allies and returned to Tenochtitlรกn in 1521. The Spanish cut off supplies of food and water to the city. Diseases, especially smallpox, which was brought from Europe, spread through the city, killing thousands.
Eventually the Aztec defenses collapsed. The once great city of Tenochtitlรกn was [00:11:00] destroyed. Its temples were burned and its canals were filled in.
Colonial Mexico City (1521โ1821)
After the fall of Tenochtitlรกn, Hernรกn Cortรฉs began rebuilding the city as the capital of a new Spanish colony called New Spain. He called his new city, La Ciudad de Mรฉxico or Mexico City.
The Spanish literally built on top of the Aztecs. Stones from Aztec temples were used to construct churches and palaces and government buildings. The Great Temple at the center of Tenochtitlรกn was replaced by the Metropolitan Cathedral. In fact, the Metropolitan Cathedral is still there. It still stands in the center of Mexico City, in its main square.
From Mexico City, Spanish officials ruled a large colony that stretched from California in the north to Central America in the [00:12:00] south.
And lots of wealth came into the city. There was silver from Mexican mines. Goods from Asia, brought by ships across the Pacific. And European products imported from Spain.
But this wealth was not shared equally. Spanish born elites controlled most of the power and money. People of mixed heritage, usually Spanish and indigenous mixed, formed a growing middle class. While indigenous people and enslaved Africans usually lived in poverty and faced harsh discrimination.
Despite these inequalities, the city did become a place of learning and culture. The University of Mexico was one of the first universities in the entire Americas, and the city was now filled with monasteries and colonial mansions.
Mexico city, however, did face frequent [00:13:00] floods. If you remember, the Aztecs had built their city on top of a lake. And they had constructed a unique drainage system that worked amazingly well for hundreds of years.
The Spanish had destroyed the Aztec drainage system and filled in the Aztec canals. This meant that the city would flood a lot more often. Earthquakes were another danger. And also diseases regularly spread through the crowded population.
Still, Mexico City remained a symbol of Spanish power in the New World, and for 300 years it was the center of Spanish colonial life in the Americas.
Independence and Modernisation (19th Century)
But by the early 19th century, the idea of independence began to spread. Inspired by the Enlightenment and by revolutions in America and France, people in Mexico began demanding [00:14:00] change.
In 1810, a Catholic priest named Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla gave a famous speech known as “the Cry of Dolores“, calling for independence from Spain. His speech sparked a long and bloody war that lasted over a decade.
Finally, in 1821, Mexico achieved independence, and Mexico City became the capital of the new Mexican nation. Independence did not bring peace or stability. The young country faced economic problems, political chaos, and foreign invasions. Leaders came and went. Power often changed hands through violence rather than elections.
In the mid 1800s, a series of reform movements tried to modernize Mexico. These reforms aim to reduce the power of the Catholic Church, and [00:15:00] create some fairer laws and try to modernize education and the economy.
Then in the 1860s, Mexico was invaded by France. The French installed their own emperor Maximilian of Habsburg, who ruled Mexico for just a few short years. His empire collapsed in 1867 and Maximilian was executed.
By the late 19th century under the rule of Porfirio Dรญaz, Mexico entered a period of modernization and growth. Railways and factories, European style buildings transformed Mexico City. The streets were redesigned, public parks were built, and electricity and street cars appeared.
From the outside, the capital looked modern and prosperous, but inequality and poverty grew worse. The wealth [00:16:00] and the progress was mainly concentrated in the hands of a small elite, while most Mexicans remained poor and powerless.
Revolution and Urban Growth (20th Century)
In 1910, the Mexican revolution began. It was one of the most important social revolutions of the 20th century. The revolution was a complex conflict involving peasants, workers, rebels, and intellectuals, all demanding change.
Famous revolutionary leaders like Pancho Villa in the North fought to give land and rights back to the ordinary people. The fighting lasted for a decade, destroying much of the country, but it also changed Mexico’s future.
After the revolution, Mexico City remained the capital of a slightly more democratic and nationalistic Mexico. The government promoted education and workers’ [00:17:00] rights.
Then in the 1920s and 1930s, Mexico City had somewhat of a Golden Age, especially in terms of art and culture. You may have heard of painters like Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Rivera’s huge murals on public buildings told the story of Mexico’s indigenous roots, colonial past, and revolutionary struggles.
In 1968, Mexico City hosted the Olympic Games. This was a sign that Mexico City was considered a modern and successful city.
But that same year, political tensions erupted in the tragic Tlatelolco massacre, when government forces killed student protestors.
As the 20th century continued, Mexico City expanded rapidly. People from across the [00:18:00] country moved to the capital looking for jobs and better lives. The city’s population exploded from around 1 million people in the 1940s to more than 10 million by the 1980s.
Modern Mexico City (21st Century)
Today, Mexico City is one of the largest urban areas in the world, home to over 20 million people in its metropolitan region.
Aztec ruins lie beneath skyscrapers. Colonial churches stand beside contemporary museums. And traditional markets operate alongside luxury shopping centers.
The city faces many challenges. Traffic congestion and air pollution are constant problems. Its location in a former lake makes it vulnerable to earthquakes and flooding. And social inequality remains visible with wealth concentrated in some areas, [00:19:00] while other neighborhoods struggle with poverty.
But the city is also a center for music, art, and food. Mexico’s cuisine, Mexico’s City’s cuisine, is seen as one of the best in the entire world.
And the city attracts millions of visitors every year. There are festivals, murals, markets, that all celebrate Mexico’s heritage, while technology and businesses and innovation are pushing the city towards the future.
From a small settlement to the Aztec capital to the capital of New Spain and now the capital of Mexico. It has been destroyed and reshaped numerous times, but the city has adapted through centuries of change.โ
Final Thought
So here is today’s final thought.
I have never visited Mexico City, but it [00:20:00] is somewhere I would love to visit. In fact, I was invited by a friend last year, but it was just too expensive for me to fly over for a few days.
I was inspired to record this episode after listening to a few podcasts on the Aztec Empire, and also noticing the large Mexican audience that listen to my show and have requested this episode numerous times.
Mexico City’s story is a story of transformation. It is a city built on water. That was conquered, rebuilt, expanded, and modernized. It is now capital of a large and economically important part of the Americas.
So, I’m curious what you think. What do you think makes a city great? Is it its size, its history, or its culture? Would you like to visit Mexico City? And what city should I discuss next in this series?
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