Research Catalog

The death of Aztec Tenochtitlan, the life of Mexico City

Title: The death of Aztec Tenochtitlan, the life of Mexico City / Barbara E. Mundy.
Author: Mundy, Barbara E.
Publication: Austin : University of Texas Press, 2015.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.	Text	Use in library	JFF 15-1047	Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description

ix, 246 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps; 29 cm

Summary

"The capital of the Aztec empire, Tenochtitlan, was, in its era, one of the largest cities in the world. Built on an island in the middle of a shallow lake, its population numbered perhaps 150,000, with another 350,000 people in the urban network clustered around the lake shores. In 1521, at the height of Tenochtitlan's power, which extended over much of Central Mexico, Hernando Cortes and his followers conquered the city. Cortes boasted to King Charles V of Spain that Tenochtitlan was 'destroyed and razed to the ground.' But was it? Drawing on period representations of the city in sculptures, texts, and maps, The Death of Aztec Tenochtitlan, the Life of Mexico City builds a convincing case that this global capital remained, through the sixteenth century, very much an AmerIndian city. Barbara E. Mundy foregrounds the role the city's indigenous peoples, the Nahua, played in shaping Mexico City through the construction of permanent architecture and engagement in ceremonial actions. She demonstrates that the Aztec ruling elites, who retained power even after the conquest, were instrumental in building and then rebuilding the city. Mundy shows how the Nahua entered into mutually advantageous alliances with the Franciscans to maintain the city's sacred nodes. She also focuses on the practical and symbolic role of the city's extraordinary waterworks--the product of a massive ecological manipulation begun in the fifteenth century--to reveal how the Nahua struggled to maintain control of water resources in early Mexico City"--
"In 1325, the Aztecs founded their capital city Tenochtitlan, which grew to be one of the world's largest cities before it was violently destroyed in 1521 by conquistadors from Spain and their indigenous allies. Re-christened and reoccupied by the Spanish conquerors as Mexico City, it became the pivot of global trade linking Europe and Asia in the 17th century, and one of the modern world's most populous metropolitan areas. However, the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan and its people did not entirely disappear when the Spanish conquistadors destroyed it. By reorienting Mexico City-Tenochtitlan as a colonial capital and indigenous city, Mundy demonstrates its continuity across time. Using maps, manuscripts, and artworks, she draws out two themes: the struggle for power by indigenous city rulers and the management and manipulation of local ecology, especially water, that was necessary to maintain the city's sacred character. What emerges is the story of a city-within-a city that continues to this day"--

Series Statement

Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long series in Latin American and Latino art and culture

Uniform Title

Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long series in Latin American and Latino art and culture.

Alternative Title

Aztec Tenochtitlan

Subject

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-234) and index.

Contents

A Note on Spelling and Translations -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- Chapter 2: Water and the Sacred City -- Chapter 3: The Tlatoani in Tenochtitlan -- Chapter 4: The City in the Conquest's Wake -- Chapter 5: Huanitzin Recenters the City -- Chapter 6: Forgetting Tenochtitlan -- Chapter 7: Place-Names in Mexico-Tenochtitlan -- Chapter 8: Axes in the City -- Chapter 9: Water and Altepetl in the Late Sixteenth-Century City -- Chapter 10: Remembering Tenochtitlan.

Call Number

JFF 15-1047

ISBN

9780292766563 (cloth : alkaline paper)
0292766564 (cloth : alkaline paper)

LCCN

2014026617

OCLC

892701235

Author

Mundy, Barbara E., author.

Title

The death of Aztec Tenochtitlan, the life of Mexico City / Barbara E. Mundy.

Publisher

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2015.

Edition

First edition.

Type of Content

text

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long series in Latin American and Latino art and culture

Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long series in Latin American and Latino art and culture.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-234) and index.

Chronological Term

To 1599

Sudoc No.

Z UA380.8 M923de txdocs

Research Call Number

JFF 15-1047

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