| The Valley of Mexico nestles in a depression 2,500 meters above sea level and is surrounded by lofty hills whose summits are inverted cones, thus revealing their volcanic ancestry. It was originally a basin, almost completely covered by a series of five lakes, the largest being Lake Texcoco. Today the minor lakes no longer exist, while Lake Texcoco has almost disappeared. But in ancient times they supplied important plants and animal foodstuffs for their local inhabitants, and were dotted with islands. The major island from the fourteenth century onwards was Tenochtitlan. In 1521, this little island covered 10 square kilometers and had 200,000 inhabitants. |
