Tenochtitlan and Mexico City – Aztecs, Empire and Legacy 

The Legacy of Tenochtitlan can be found in the spaces it has been preserved in, layering its existence in the architecture and landscapes of the city. Lacing memories in spaces that act as stepping stones for understanding Tenochtitlan then and Mexico City now. Spaces are a part of the historiography of the region; they shed light on both the pre-colonial Tenochtitlan and post-colonial Mexico City. Spaces in this history can be thought of as prophecies, not just for realising Mexico City’s understanding of itself, but also for historians to conceptualise space as a way of guiding historical enquiries. 

Social order within Aztec culture was tied to spaces. Girls and boys from birth had their place in society dictated to them, through the burial of their umbilical cords. Boys were expected to grow into soldiers, so the burial of the umbilical cord on the battlefield was in hope that it would call them to their destiny. Girls had theirs buried in their home garden, tying them to the domestic duties they were expected to fill as women. This tying of peoples to the spaces they were expected to occupy signifies that spaces in Aztec culture were sites of connection between people and their role in society. The burial site of the umbilical cord was a space that made tangible the expectations that the child had to fulfil. In this sense, spatial sites were the birthplaces of legacies yet to be fulfilled. 

Similarly, these two specific spatial sites are examples of the rituals that took place after birth, emphasising the importance of creating spiritual spaces that layered the land, the person, and the life they would lead all together in the hope of solidifying Aztec social order. In a more abstract sense, the passing of the umbilical cord from mother to earth suggests that the fulfilling of a child’s designated place in society is natural and under the protection of the landscape around them. The umbilical cord gives life to the children in the womb, but in the ground gives the child a guided journey to the one they must complete. It is as if the site (of burial) prophesied the life of that child; still today in Mexico City, we see that historical sites are thought to prophesy national identity, acting as spaces to memorialise Tenochtitlan’s history whilst at the same time providing spaces to intertwine the legacy of the Aztecs with those of Mexico City now. 

The Aztec people operated in a “watery world”; their city was built around how architecture and ways of life would interact with water. Water for the Aztecs helped define who they were; it was an ever-changing space that the people worked with to build one of the most complex and influential Mesoamerican civilisations. The companionship with water that the Aztecs had was altered in 1521 with the fall of the city and the rise of Spanish power in the area; Spanish colonists wanted drier land and set about changing the landscape to fit their needs as conquistadors. Water changes direction, speed, and position all the time, making it difficult to understand and difficult to tame. Not only was it difficult to tame itself, but it also became a site for the memory of Tenochtitlan, a spiritual place that could connect peoples to their past; which would threaten how the Spanish could rule. During the shift to Spanish colonial rule in the 16th century, there was persistent altering of landscape and architecture to create what Barbara Mundy calls “historical amnesia”; sites like the Temple Mayor became cathedrals, and the water that ran through the city was regarded as a “poison.” The altering of the historical narrative by the Spanish leaves the realisation that memories are trapped in multiple spaces, and whilst memory can seem to be altered, often it is layered. This leaves spaces in a unique position in Tenochtitlan’s history as a limbo between pre- and post-colonial memory, a site where the past is realised at the same time as the present legacy of Tenochtitlan is reconstructed. 

In 1964, Mexico’s Museum of National Anthropology was opened (the MNA); it has since undergone refurbishments in line with the idea of reconstructing the roots of Mexico City’s legacy. A model of Tenochtitlan was created by Ignacio Marquina that would be housed in the MNA; its aim was to recreate the view of Díaz del Castillo, a Spanish conquistador, when he first saw Tenochtitlan in 1519. Spaces are places where feelings are evoked; feelings connect people and, by doing so, help foster a sense of national identity. In the same way that the burying of the umbilical cord prophesied a child’s place in society, this model continues to prophesy how Mexico City and its people identify themselves. The model needed a grand place to sit that would “perfectly encapsulate the union of the marvellous ancient capital city with the absolute best modern Mexico City.” Hence, the MNA was reconstructed in line with Aztec inscriptions and Tenochtitlan’s layout. Sunstone was used as it had been for the calendar stone to represent the rebirth of Tenochtitlan’s greatness, and the maps of the ancient city were used by architects to reconfigure the museum, where at the centre the new model would sit. The MNA as “Tenochtitlan restaged” has anchored Mexico City in its past and continues to operate as a space that glorifies its pre-colonial heritage, whilst also understanding that its post-colonial history is what has driven a desire for understanding whose legacy Mexico City today is part of. 

Tenochtitlan and Mexico City can be woven together through spaces. Spaces have become a way of grounding Mexico City and its people in a shared memory, evoking pride in the legacy from which they descend. Spaces are the traceable legacy of Tenochtitlan, and they are stepping stones into the memories that founded Mexico City. 

Bibliography: 

Cosentino, Delia, and Adriana Zavala, Resurrecting Tenochtitlan: Imagining the Aztec Capital in Modern Mexico City (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2023). 

Mundy, Barbara E., The Death of Aztec Tenochtitlan, the Life of Mexico City, 1st edn (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015). 

Rojas, José L. de, Tenochtitlan: Capital of the Aztec Empire (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2012). 

Sheppard, Si, Tenochtitlan 1519–21: Clash of Civilizations (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2018).