COYOACN

delegacin, central Distrito Federal, central Mexico. It is a large residential area south of central Mexico City, on the La Magdalena River (now channeled underground). Coyoacn was built on the site of a pre-Columbian settlement from which the Spanish conquistador Hernn Corts launched his attack on Tenochtitln, the Aztec capital (now Mexico City), and was the first capital of New Spain. The name is from Nahuatl, meaning place of coyotes. The most notable surviving colonial buildings are the San Juan Bautista Church (1583) and the Dominican monastery (1530). Ciudad Universitaria, the campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (founded 1551), is at nearby Alvaro Obregn. Pop. (1990 prelim.) 640,006.