MEXICO CITY

The early period Origins The Aztecs arrived in the Valley of Mexico in the 13th century. According to tradition, they founded Tenochtitln (Place of the High Priest Tenoch) after much wandering when they saw on an island in Lake Texcoco the sign that their god Huitzilopochtli had indicatedan eagle perched on a cactus, eating a serpent. Tenochtitln quickly spread over the island, marshes, and swamps. As it developed into a city, it was divided into calpulli, or districts, each with communal lands and schools. When the Spaniards led by Hernn Corts arrived in 1519, Tenochtitln had about 100,000 inhabitants. The island was connected to the mainland by three causewaysTepeyac to the north, Ixtapalapa to the south, and Tacuba to the westwhich converged on the ceremonial centre near the main temple and the emperor's palace. The colonial city Corts razed Tenochtitln in 1521 and constructed a Spanish city on its ruins. The conquerors divided the central area among themselves and relegated the defeated to the periphery. The city was chartered and its cabildo, or town council, recognized in 1522; it was given leadership over other cabildos of New Spain in 1535. It soon became the most important city of the Americas, with jurisdiction extending well into the present United States and as far south as Panama. Mexico City continued as a lakeside centre until constant floods necessitated the filling of the lakes of the valley floor. During the 17th century the capital comprised a well laid-out assemblage of homes, public buildings, churches, and convents. In their execution of European designs, the colonists and Indian artisans employed local tezontle, a light and porous volcanic rock, to create elaborate facades. This Baroque style reached its ultimate expression in the 18th century, the golden age of architecture in New Spain, after which Neoclassical ideas were introduced by the sculptor and architect Manuel Tols. Spanish Mxico, or Ciudad de Mxico, ancient (Nahua, or Aztec) Tenochtitln city, capital of the Federal District (q.v.) and of Mexico. The city, which is one of the oldest metropolises in the Western Hemisphere, is the political and economic centre of the country and has been a focus of Latin-American culture since the 16th century. In the late 20th century it was the world's largest city proper and one of the world's fastest-growing metropolitan areas. Located in the southern part of the Valley of Mexico, Mexico City occupies an ancient plain (once a lake) that is surrounded by mountains. The small islands in the lake were gradually unified through land reclamation to form one large island, a process that began after the Aztecs settled there. Constant flooding later necessitated filling and draining the lakes of the valley floor until the city merged with the mainland. This accounts for the soft, silt subsoil that underlies the city and that has proved quite unstable during earthquakes such as the one in 1985, which killed 9,500 people. Mexico City's expansion is limited by mountains on all sides. The mountains block the circulation of air past the city; the resultant trapping of automotive exhaust, industrial smoke, and airborne dust has made air pollution a serious health problem. The greater metropolitan area has spread beyond the original limits of the Federal District of Mexico into the neighbouring state of Mexico. Although the area is overwhelmingly urban, some places in the south remain agricultural. Mexico City's tropical, high-elevation (7,350 feet ) climate lacks a winter season. The weather is cool and dry, except in the MaySeptember rainy season; the annual median temperature is 64 F (18 C). Mexico City dominates the national economy, generating about one-third of all industrial production. Major city industries include construction; the manufacture of chemicals, plastics, cement, and yarns and textiles; and tourism. Most major finance, mortgage, and insurance companies are based in the city, which is also headquarters for Mexico's stock exchange and banking establishments. At the centre of the original Aztec city of Tenochtitln, the Spaniards created a planned town, placing the main public buildings around the former ceremonial city centre, now called the Zcalo (officially, Plaza de la Constitucin). The Zcalo remains the hub of Mexico City's life. The great Metropolitan Cathedral stands nearly on the spot of the former main Aztec temple, and the viceroy's palace (now the National Palace) was built over the ruins of the palace of Montezuma. Running southwestward and then westward from the old colonial city centre is the city's main thoroughfare, the Paseo de la Reforma, while the Avenida Insurgentes is the city's main north-south street. Mexico City gradually expanded, but until 1930 its growth was haphazard; after that year a series of planning commissions reorganized the metropolis. Despite wholesale destruction of many parts of the old city, plazas such as that of Santo Domingo preserve their original atmosphere. The predominant part of the population is mestizo (of mixed European and American Indian descent), living in the poorer northern sections, in slum districts called ciudades perdidas (lost cities), or in colonias (neighbourhoods) of the capital. Continued migration from rural areas has given the city a more Indian character, however. Most of the middle- and high-income groups, which are usually of European parentage, live in the western part of the city or in newly developed suburbs to the south. Mexico City's population continues to grow at a rapid rate. The National Autonomous University of Mexico (founded 1551) and the National Polytechnic Institute (1936), the College of Mexico (1940), Metropolitan Autonomous University (1973), and Ibero-American University (1943) are the outstanding institutions of higher learning. Museums include the remarkable National Museum of Anthropology. An inexpensive service of collective taxis called peseros and an efficient subway system help alleviate the highly congested local bus and automobile traffic. Mexico City is the hub of the nation's transportation network. An extensive railway network radiates from the capital, and major highways lead to the United States, the Guatemalan frontier, Atlantic ports, and the Pacific coast. The Benito Jurez International Airport lies in the eastern suburbs. Area city and Federal District, 571 square miles (1,479 square km); metropolitan area, 883 square miles (2,286 square km). Pop. (1990) city, 8,235,744; (1989 est.) metropolitan area, 19,400,000. The National Palace on the eastern side of the Zcalo, Mexico City. The official seat of the Spanish Mxico, or Ciudad de Mxico, ancient (Nahua, or Aztec) Tenochtitlan city, capital of Mexico. It is located in the central Mexican plateau, in the Valley of Mexicomore properly a basinjust north of the Neo-Volcnica Range. Although in 1970 Mexico City was officially equated with the Federal Districtthe area designated as the nation's capitalthe term Mexico City continues to be used for the entire metropolitan area, which goes beyond the Federal District's boundaries to the north and falls well short of them to the south. The Federal District has an area of 571 square miles (1,477 square kilometres). By the 1980s the rapidly growing metropolitan area extended over about 425 square miles, of which only some 212 square miles were within the Federal District. Founded in the 14th century by the Aztecs, who named it Tenochtitlan, the future Mexico City soon became the centre of the largest empire in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Modern Mexico City is the centre of the country's political, economic, and cultural life. Although it was once called the City of Palaces and was said to have the world's most transparent air, rapid population growth and industrial development have led to overcrowding, pollution, and social tensions. Still, the city retains considerable charm and has notable examples of colonial and modern architecture, as well as exceptional museums and parks. The historic centre of the city and the nearby floating gardens at Xochimilco were collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987. Additional reading General works Detailed maps of the city are provided in Atlas de la ciudad de Mxico (1981), published by the Departamento Del Distrito Federal. Brantz Mayer, Mexico as It Was and as It Is, 3rd rev. ed. (1847), is a classic. Modern guidebooks include Loraine Carlson and Neil Carlson, The TraveLeer Guide to Mexico City, 2nd ed. (1981); and Fodor's Mexico City and Acapulco, 1985 (1985). Brief summaries are found in such pictorial works as Bob Schalkwijk and J.M. Cohen, Mexico City, Mxico (1965); and Albert Moldvay and Erika Fabian, Photographing Mexico City & Acapulco (1980). Contemporary developments are discussed in Salvador Novo, New Mexican Grandeur (1967, originally published in Spanish, 5th ed., 1967); Humberto Muoz, Orlandina De Oliveira, and Claudio Stern, Mexico City: Industrialization, Migration, and the Labour Force, 19301970 (1982); Lourdes Benera and Martha Roldn, The Crossroads of Class & Gender: Industrial Homework, Subcontracting, and Household Dynamics in Mexico City (1987); Wayne A. Cornelius, Politics and the Migrant Poor in Mexico City (1975); and Alan Gilbert and Peter M. Ward, Housing, the State, and the Poor: Policy and Practice in Three Latin American Cities (1985). History The artifacts of local history as preserved in Mexico City's museum collections are described in H.B. Nicholson and Eloise Quiones Keber, Art of Aztec Mexico: Treasures of Tenochtitlan (1983); Doris Heyden and Luis Francisco Villaseor, The Great Temple and the Aztec Gods (1984); and Elizabeth Hill Boone (ed.), The Aztec Templo Mayor (1987). A comprehensive history is provided in Fernando Bentez, La ciudad de Mxico, 13251982, 3 vol. (198182). For early history, see Hernn Corts, Letters from Mexico, trans. from Spanish by Anthony Pagden (1971, reissued 1986); and Bernal Diaz Del Castillo, Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva Espaa (1632; new ed. by Miguel Len-Portilla, 2 vol., 1984). On the colonial city, see Francisco Cervantes De Salazar, Mxico en 1554, 3rd ed. (1964); and John E. Kicza, Colonial Entrepreneurs, Families, and Business in Bourbon Mexico City (1983). For the period from the 17th to the 19th century, see Luis Gonzlez Obregn, Mxico viejo, 10th ed. (1980); Jos Mara Marroqui, La ciudad de Mxico, 3 vol. (190003, reissued 1969); Jess Galindo Y Villa, Historia sumaria de la ciudad de Mxico (1925, reissued 1970); Silvia Marina Arrom, The Women of Mexico City, 17901857 (1985); and William H. Beezley, Judas at the Jockey Club and Other Episodes of Porfirian Mexico (1987). Sergio Sarmiento Fernando Bentez Cultural life Because of its ethnic and regional diversity, as well as the socioeconomic divisions within the population, Mexico is culturally heterogeneous. Among rural peoples there are strong regional affinities and allegiances, often referred to as patria chica (small homeland), which help to perpetuate cultural diversity. The large number of Indian languages and customs still extant, especially in the south, also accentuate cultural differences. In an attempt to unite the nation culturally by identifying a uniquely Mexican culture, the government has supported indigenous folk arts and crafts as well as the European-inspired classical arts. Since the 1930s, indigenismo, or pride in the Indian heritage, has been a major unifying theme of the country. The arts Mexican writers and artists have received worldwide acclaim for their creativity and innovativeness. Within their work both a folk and classical tradition have been strong. The country's best-known writers have gained their reputations by dealing with questions of universal significance, as did Samuel Ramos, whose philosophical speculations on man and culture in Mexico influenced post-1945 writers in several genres. The prolific critic and cultural analyst Octavio Paz is considered by many to be the foremost poet of Latin America. The novels of Carlos Fuentes are honoured throughout the world, Gustavo Sainz is a leader in Spanish-language literature, and Juan Jos Arreola's fantasies are widely admired. Among dramatists, Rodolfo Usigli has been extremely influential, and Luisa Josefina Hernndez and Emilio Carballido have made important contributions. Perhaps the most widely recognized Mexican art form is the mural, and the Mexican Muralist school counted among its members the most powerful figures of the genre. The murals created by Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, depicting aspects of the Mexican Revolution, the nation's modernization, and class struggle, have become legendary, and, among others, Rufino Tamayo and Juan Soriano have achieved stature. Perhaps the most popular of Mexico's folk artists is Jos Clemente Orozco, whose animated plaster-of-paris skeleton characters are both satirical and lifelike. Mexican popular music, especially ranchero and mariachi music, has attracted a wide following throughout the Spanish-speaking world, and Mexico City has become one of the major recording centres for the Americas. The country's motion-picture and television industries are among the largest in Latin America, producing films and programs that circulate throughout the region.