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With over 21 million people, Mexico City is the most populated metropolitan area in the Americas.
Mexico City doesn’t just have more people than any other city in Mexico. It has more of everything – more museums, sports arenas, art galleries, parks, TV stations, theaters, and jobs. It is the nation’s center for government, culture, industry, and transportation. Being so big also causes some major headaches – more traffic and air pollution.
How did Mexico’s capital get supersized? As modern farm machinery reduced the need for farmhands, many rural workers lost their jobs and poverty became an everyday reality. Better-paying industrial jobs were available in Mexico City. Educational opportunities were also much better there.
The city’s climate drew people as well. It is warm but not too hot, because it sits in a valley in the high plateaus of central Mexico, about 7,500 feet above sea level.
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▲ Mexico City has many modern buildings, but its foundations are ancient. The capital sits on top of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. In the 1970s, workers digging a hole for an electrical cable discovered the remains of a great pyramid complex. Above is a model of the complex.
▲ In 1790, workers digging a basement in the Zócalo area discovered a 24-ton disk covered with markings. It was this Aztec calendar stone. Symbols carved on the stone describe the history of the world according to the Aztec religion.
▲ Air pollution is a serious problem in densely populated Mexico City. That’s partly because mountains and volcanoes surround the city. They trap the polluted air, which causes heavy smog to often settle over the city. Happily, the smog is not as bad as it used to be, thanks to many steps the government has taken to improve the air.
▲ Mexico’s president has his office here, at the National Palace, the seat of the federal government. The bell that Father Hidalgo rang in 1810 hangs from the front of the building.
▲ Mexico City’s central plaza, or square, is officially called the Plaza de la Constitución. But everyone calls it the Zócalo, which means the base or the foundation. It has been a public square since the time of the Aztecs. The National Cathedral (above) was built over three centuries, beginning in 1572.
This famous Mexico City square is known as the Plaza of Three Cultures. Here, buildings from Indian, Spanish, and modern Mexican culture stand side by side. ▶
▲ Long ago, water gardens filled Aztec Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City. Today, only this garden remains, a living relic from the past.
