In a basin high in the
Sierra Madre there was once an immense
playa lake. In
1350 the wandering
Mexica tribe, sometimes called the
Aztec, founded their city
Tenochtitlan on an island in the lake. The city soon spread out into the lake, forming a city of floating gardens on small islands criscrossed by canals.
In
1519 came
Hernan Cortez and his
conquistadores. Tenochtitlan was renamed the City of
Mexico and became the capital of
New Spain. Eventually, the city filled in the lake entirely. There appear to be small remnants, but
Lake Texcoco does not exist anymore.
Mexico City's foundation, literally on shifting sands, has been the cause of much tragedy, as evidenced by the
1985 earthquake: The quake
liquefied the soil, causing shock waves to travel laterally back and forth across the lake bed. In places where waves cancelled out, there was little or no damage. In places where they added to each other, shaking was doubled, causing large buildings to collapse, with much loss of life.