Culhuacan

Culhuacan was an ancient Nahua city-state on the southern shore of the lakes of the Basin of Mexico, beneath the Cerro de la Estrella. Its rulers claimed a prestigious Toltec heritage, and the community was already old when the Mexica arrived in the valley. The lakeshore offered fertile ground for gardens and cultivation among canals and shallow water.

Relations between Culhuacan and the Mexica were remembered in stories of alliance and conflict before the founding of Tenochtitlan. As Mexica power grew, Culhuacan became part of the changing political order of the basin. After the Spanish conquest, Augustinian friars established the monastery of San Juan Evangelista here. Its inhabitants continued to identify their community as an altepetl in Nahuatl documents, even as the colonial authorities described it as a pueblo.

The later city of Tláhuac lies nearby.