Ever been to Mexico City?

"Into Mexico City swarms the travel stream, mostly Americans. . ."This is the oldest big city in the Western hemisphere," volunteers a professor of history, slyly pocketing a guidebook.  When the Spaniards first came they found here a rich city of perhaps 300,000 people, with an emperor's court, luxurious palaces, lawsuits, poetry, music."  So Mr. Frederick Simpich begins the next article in the July, 1930, issue of National Geographic Magazine, "North America's Oldest Metropolis: Through 600 Melodramatic Years, Mexico City Has Grown in Splendor and Achievement."

(Personal: This is SO fun!  I never look ahead so I never know where I'll be going next!)

The Spaniard who conquered Mexico City was Senor Cortez in 1519.  Try to "imagine into what excitement the whole world would be plunged today were it possible to discover a new continent, with a new language, a new race, and an emperor living in the splendor of Montezuma!" (p. 48).

The first Christian church, a cathedral, was completed in 1667. In a large open area in front of the church is Constitution Plaza.  "Here, in 1325, the Aztecs first saw the symbolic snake and eagle and built their first temples.  Here, in 1521, was staged one of the most bloody of all combats between Aztec and Spaniard, when prisoners of war were sacrificed to the idols.  Undoubtedly more people were executed here than any other spot on earth.  More than 100,000 skulls were found in one temple, and it is estimated that at least 20,000 men, women, and children were sacrificed here each year" (p. 53). 

In the old city the Aztecs traded animal skins, live animals, cloth gold, silver, fruit and vegetable and Indian slaves.  The same type of items were available in 1930 with exception of Indian slaves.  Mexicans, like the Spanish, love their bullfights!

Mexico City is built on a swamp which would flood regularly.  The Indians worked on flood control for centuries but the problem was not solved until the 30-mile Canal de Desague was finished.  Mr. Simpich considered this "easily the most spectacular engineering feat from the Roosevelt Dam to the Panama Canal" (p. 59).  Still, the city is sinking due to its swamp soil; some buildings were leaning in 1930.

The Arts and Crafts of Mexico City from the Indian era to 1930 were extremely fine, pictured in color on pages in this article.  I can almost hear the 'click-click' of flamenco dancers!