Tenochtitlan was the island capital of the Aztec Empire, a city which flourished until its destruction by the Spanish under Cortes in 1519. The island was a virtual new world Venice, with dozens of canals linking together smaller plots of land. These chinampas, or floating gardens, were planted with flowers as well as with the crops that would feed the residents of the community.

The city had been built originally on floating beds of waterplants that were caked with fertile muds from the bottom of the lake and eventually planted with crops. In time the area grew in size as more people settled on the Island. By the late Post classic (1400's) the city may have held over 300,000 inhabitants.

The island was originally two Nahua settlements, Tlatelolco, a smaller settlement on the north, and the Aztec tribal city Tenochtitlan, in the southern end. Eventually Tenochtitlan absorbed the smaller twin city under their sixth king Axayacatl (1469-1481). The city's power expanded and was linked to the mainland via three causeways. The eventual Aztec conquest of the Mexican Valley, made Tenochtitlan the center of their empire, with the sacred precint as the political and ceremonial heart of their kingdom.

The Aztecs used the canals as transportation, and erected thousands of small footbridges between the separate chinampas. The old central part of the city supported temples made of heavy stone, and the outlying areas were covered with dozens of small farms and thatch and adobe houses. Today all that remains of the great city is the base of the Templo Mayor.