Tenōchtitlan

For its first century the city paid tribute to the Tepanec lords of Azcapotzalco. When a usurping Tepanec king turned on the Mexica in 1426, Tenōchtitlan joined Texcoco and Tlacopan against him, and Azcapotzalco fell in 1428. The victors bound themselves in the Triple Alliance, in which Tenōchtitlan soon became the leading partner, and the island city grew to match its power. In 1449 a dike some 16 kilometres long, designed by Nezahualcoyotl of Texcoco, was finished to keep the fresh spring water around the city apart from the brackish lake.

On 8 November 1519 Moctezuma II received Hernán Cortés on the great causeway. The Spaniards' killings at a Mexica festival soon turned the city against them, and after a siege of some three months that brought famine and disease, Tenōchtitlan fell on 13 August 1521. Cortés had it levelled and founded Mexico City on its ruins, tearing down the Templo Mayor to build the new centre.