The death of Aztec Tenochtitlan, the life of Mexico City

Resource Information

The work The death of Aztec Tenochtitlan, the life of Mexico City represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in European University Institute. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

The death of Aztec Tenochtitlan, the life of Mexico City

Statement of responsibility

Barbara E. Mundy

Creator

• Mundy, Barbara E

Contributor

• JSTOR (Organization)

Subject

• Aztecs -- Mexico | Mexico City -- History
• Mexico City (Mexico) -- Environmental conditions
• Mexico City (Mexico) -- History -- 16th century
• Mexico City (Mexico) -- History -- To 1519
• Mexico City (Mexico) -- Social life and customs
• Nahuas -- Mexico | Mexico City -- History
• Power (Social sciences) -- Mexico | Mexico City -- History
• Sacred space -- Mexico | Mexico City -- History
• Water-supply -- Mexico | Mexico City -- History
• Architecture -- Mexico | Mexico City -- History

Language

eng

Summary

The capital of the Aztec empire, Tenochtitlan, was, in its era, one of the largest cities in the world. Built on an island in the middle of a shallow lake, its population numbered perhaps 150,000, with another 350,000 people in the urban network clustered around the lake shores. In 1521, at the height of Tenochtitlan's power, which extended over much of Central Mexico, Hernando Cortés and his followers conquered the city. Cortés boasted to King Charles V of Spain that Tenochtitlan was "destroyed and razed to the ground." But was it?Drawing on period representations of the city in sculptures, texts, and maps, The Death of Aztec Tenochtitlan, the Life of Mexico City builds a convincing case that this global capital remained, through the sixteenth century, very much an Amerindian city. Barbara E. Mundy foregrounds the role the city's indigenous peoples, the Nahua, played in shaping Mexico City through the construction of permanent architecture and engagement in ceremonial actions. She demonstrates that the Aztec ruling elites, who retained power even after the conquest, were instrumental in building and then rebuilding the city. Mundy shows how the Nahua entered into mutually advantageous alliances with the Franciscans to maintain the city's sacred nodes. She also focuses on the practical and symbolic role of the city's extraordinary waterworks—the product of a massive ecological manipulation begun in the fifteenth century—to reveal how the Nahua struggled to maintain control of water resources in early Mexico City.--

Member of

• Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long series in Latin American and Latino art and culture

Assigning source

Provided by Publisher

Cataloging source

NhCcYBP

Government publication

government publication of a state province territory dependency etc

Illustrations

• illustrations
• maps

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

• dictionaries
• bibliography

Series statement

• Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long series in Latin American and Latino art and culture
• JSTOR eBooks