Mexico City (often shortened as CDMX) is the capital and largest city of Mexico, as well as the most populous city in North America. It is one of the world's leading cultural and financial centers and, according to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network's 2024 ranking, is classified as an Alpha world city. Located in the Valley of Mexico on the high Mexican Central Plateau, the city sits at an altitude of 2,240 meters (7,350 feet). It is divided into 16 boroughs, or alcaldías, which are further subdivided into neighborhoods, or colonias.
According to the 2020 census, Mexico City proper had a population of 9,209,944 and a land area of 1,495 square kilometers (577 square miles), making it Mexico's primate city and the second-largest Spanish-speaking city proper in the world after Lima. Under the most recent definition agreed upon by the federal and state governments, Greater Mexico City had a population of 21,804,515, making it the world's 15th-largest metropolitan area and the second-largest urban agglomeration in the Western Hemisphere, after São Paulo. In 2011, Greater Mexico City had a GDP of $411 billion, making it one of the world's most productive urban areas. The city accounted for 15.8% of Mexico's GDP, while the metropolitan area accounted for about 22%. If it were an independent country in 2013, Mexico City would have been the fifth-largest economy in Latin America.
Mexico City is the oldest capital city in the Americas and one of only two founded by Indigenous peoples. It began as Tenochtitlan, a Mexica city built around 1325 on islands in Lake Texcoco. After the 1521 siege of Tenochtitlan, it was nearly destroyed and then rebuilt according to Spanish urban standards. In 1524, the municipality of Mexico City was established as México Tenochtitlán, and from 1585 onward it was officially known as Ciudad de México. During the Spanish colonial period, the city was a major political, administrative, and financial center. After Mexico became independent, the territory surrounding the city was organized in 1824 as the country's new and only federal district (Spanish: Distrito Federal or DF).
After years of demands for greater political autonomy, residents won the right to elect both the head of government and the members of the unicameral Legislative Assembly in 1997. Since then, left-wing parties, first the Party of the Democratic Revolution and later Morena, have controlled both offices. The city has also adopted several progressive policies, including legal abortion, a limited form of euthanasia, no-fault divorce, same-sex marriage, and legal gender change. On 29 January 2016, the Federal District was officially renamed Ciudad de México, or CDMX. These reforms granted the city greater autonomy and changed aspects of its government and political structure, though a constitutional clause still prevents it from becoming a state while it remains Mexico's capital.
Nicknames and mottos
Up until 2013, it was common to refer to the city by the initialism
"DF" from Distrito Federal de México (Federal District). Since 2013, use of the abbreviation "CDMX" has become more common. The city is also colloquially referred as just "México" when used in a local geographic context. This denomination is also used in road signs and highway names.
The informal demonym for Mexico City residents is chilango. Chilango was historically used pejoratively by people living outside Mexico City to "connote a loud, arrogant, ill-mannered, loutish person". For their part those living in Mexico City designate insultingly those who live elsewhere as living in la provincia ('the provinces', 'the periphery') and many proudly embrace the term chilango. Residents of Mexico City are formally called capitalinos (in reference to the city being the capital of the country), but "perhaps because capitalino is the more polite, specific, and correct word, it is almost never utilized".
Mexico City was traditionally known as La Ciudad de los Palacios ("the City of Palaces"), a nickname attributed to Baron Alexander von Humboldt. When visiting the city in the 19th century, he wrote a letter back to Germany, saying that Mexico City could rival any major city in Europe. English politician Charles Latrobe wrote the following: "... look at their works: the moles, aqueducts, churches, roads—and the luxurious City of Palaces which has risen from the clay-built ruins of Tenochtitlan...", on page 84 of the Letter V of The Rambler in Mexico.
During the colonial period, the city's motto was "Muy Noble e Insigne, Muy Leal e Imperial" (Very Noble and Distinguished, Very Loyal and Imperial). During Andrés Manuel López Obrador's administration (2000-2005) a political slogan was introduced: la Ciudad de la Esperanza (lit. 'The City of Hope'). This motto was quickly adopted as a city nickname but has faded since the new motto, Capital en Movimiento ("Capital in Movement"), was adopted by the administration headed by Marcelo Ebrard; this latter motto is not really treated as a nickname.
History
The oldest signs of human occupation in the area of Mexico City are those of the "Peñón woman" and others found in San Bartolo Atepehuacan (Gustavo A. Madero). They were believed to correspond to the lower Cenolithic period (9500–7000 BC). However, a 2003 study placed the age of the Peñon woman at 12,700 years old (calendar age), one of the oldest human remains discovered in the Americas. Studies of her mitochondrial DNA suggest she was either of Asian or European or Aboriginal Australian origin.
The area was the destination of the migrations of the Teochichimecas during the 8th and 13th centuries, people that would give rise to the Toltec, and Mexica (Aztecs) cultures. The latter arrived around the 14th century to settle first on the shores of the lake.
Aztec period
The city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan was founded by the Mexica people in 1325 or 1327. The old Mexica city that is now referred to as Tenochtitlan was built on an island in the center of the inland lake system of the Valley of Mexico, which is shared with a smaller city-state called Tlatelolco. According to legend, the Mexicas' principal god, Huitzilopochtli, indicated the site where they were to build their home by presenting a golden eagle perched on a prickly pear devouring a rattlesnake.
Between 1325 and 1521, Tenochtitlan grew in size and strength, eventually dominating the other city-states around Lake Texcoco and in the Valley of Mexico. When the Spaniards arrived, the Aztec Empire had reached much of Mesoamerica, touching both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean.
Spanish conquest
After landing in Veracruz, Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés advanced upon Tenochtitlan with the aid of many of the other native peoples,
arriving there on 8 November 1519. Cortés and his men marched along the causeway leading into the city from Iztapalapa (Ixtapalapa), and the city's ruler, Moctezuma II, greeted the Spaniards; they exchanged gifts, but the camaraderie did not last long. Cortés put Moctezuma under house arrest at his father's palace, hoping to rule through him.
Tensions increased until, on the night of 30 June 1520 – during a struggle known as "La Noche Triste" – the Aztecs rose up against the Spanish intrusion and managed to capture or drive out the Europeans and their Tlaxcalan allies. Cortés regrouped at Tlaxcala. The Aztecs thought the Spaniards were permanently gone, and they elected a new king, Cuitláhuac, but he soon died; the next king was Cuauhtémoc. Cortés began a siege of Tenochtitlan in May 1521. For three months, the city suffered from the lack of food and water as well as the spread of smallpox brought by the Europeans. Cortés and his allies landed their forces in the south of the island and slowly fought their way through the city. Cuauhtémoc surrendered in August 1521. The Spaniards practically razed Tenochtitlan during the final siege of the conquest.
Cortés first settled in Coyoacán, but decided to rebuild the Aztec site to erase all traces of the old order. He did not establish a territory under his own personal rule, but remained loyal to the Spanish crown. The first Spanish viceroy arrived in Mexico City fourteen years later. By that time, the city had again become a city-state, having power that extended far beyond its borders. Although the Spanish preserved Tenochtitlan's basic layout, they built Catholic churches over the old Aztec temples and claimed the imperial palaces for themselves. Tenochtitlan was renamed "Mexico" because the Spanish found the word easier to pronounce.
Growth of colonial Mexico City
The city had been the capital of the Aztec Empire and in the colonial era, "Mexico" became the capital of New Spain. The viceroy of Mexico or vice-king lived in the viceregal palace on the main square or Zócalo. The Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral, the seat of the Archbishopric of New Spain, was constructed on another side of the Zócalo, as was the archbishop's palace, and across from it the building housing the city council or ayuntamiento of the city. A late seventeenth-century painting of the Zócalo by Cristóbal de Villalpando depicts the main square, which had been the old Aztec ceremonial center. The existing central plaza of the Aztecs was effectively and permanently transformed to the ceremonial center and seat of power during the colonial period, and remains to this day in modern Mexico, the central plaza of the nation. The rebuilding of the city after the siege of Tenochtitlan was accomplished by the abundant indigenous labor in the surrounding area. Franciscan friar Toribio de Benavente Motolinia, one of the Twelve Apostles of Mexico who arrived in New Spain in 1524, described the rebuilding of the city as one of the afflictions or plagues of the early period:
The seventh plague was the construction of the great City of Mexico, which, during the early years used more people than in the construction of Jerusalem. The crowds of laborers were so numerous that one could hardly move in the streets and causeways, although they are very wide. Many died from being crushed by beams, or falling from high places, or in tearing down old buildings for new ones.
Preconquest Tenochtitlan was built in the center of the inland lake system, with the city reachable by canoe and by wide causeways to the mainland. The causeways were rebuilt under Spanish rule with indigenous labor. Colonial Spanish cities were constructed on a grid pattern, if no geographical obstacle prevented it. In Mexico City, the Zócalo (main square) was the central place from which the grid was then built outward. The Spanish lived in the area closest to the main square in what was known as the traza, in orderly, well laid-out streets. Indigenous residences were outside that exclusive zone and houses were haphazardly located. The Zócalo was a center of commerce for indigenous people, making Spanish efforts to keep the area segregated difficult to enforce. At intervals Zócalo was where major celebrations took place as well as executions. It was also the site of two major riots in the seventeenth century, one in 1624, the other in 1692.
The city grew as the population did, coming up against the lake's waters. As the depth of the lake water fluctuated, Mexico City was subject to periodic flooding. A major labor draft, the desagüe, compelled thousands of indigenous over the colonial period to work on infrastructure to prevent flooding. Floods were not only an inconvenience but also a health hazard, since during flood periods human waste polluted the city's streets. By draining the area, the mosquito population dropped as did the frequency of the diseases they spread. However, draining the wetlands also changed the habitat for fish and birds and the areas accessible for indigenous cultivation close to the capital. The 16th century saw a proliferation of churches, many of which can still be seen today in the historic center.
Economically, Mexico City prospered as a result of trade. Unlike Brazil or Peru, Mexico had easy contact with both the Atlantic and Pacific worlds. Although the Spanish crown tried to completely regulate all commerce in the city, it had only partial success.
The concept of nobility flourished in New Spain in a way not seen in other parts of the Americas. Spaniards encountered a society in which the concept of nobility mirrored that of their own. Spaniards respected the indigenous order of nobility and added to it. In the ensuing centuries, possession of a noble title in Mexico did not mean one exercised great political power, for one's power was limited even if the accumulation of wealth was not. The concept of nobility in Mexico was not political but rather a very conservative Spanish social one, based on proving the worthiness of the family. Most of these families proved their worth by making fortunes in New Spain outside of the city itself, then spending the revenues in the capital, building churches, supporting charities and building extravagant palatial homes. The craze to build the most opulent residence possible reached its height in the last half of the 18th century. Many of these palaces can still be seen today, leading to Mexico City's nickname of "The city of palaces" given by Alexander Von Humboldt.
The Grito de Dolores ("Cry of Dolores"), also known as El Grito de la Independencia ("Cry of Independence"), marked the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence. The Battle of Guanajuato, the first major engagement of the insurgency, occurred four days later. After a decade of war, Mexico's independence from Spain was effectively declared in the Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire on 27 September 1821. Agustín de Iturbide is proclaimed Emperor of the First Mexican Empire by Congress, crowned in the Cathedral of Mexico.
The Mexican Federal District was established by the new government and by the signing of their new constitution, where the concept of a federal district was adapted from the United States Constitution. Before this designation, Mexico City had served as the seat of government for both the State of Mexico and the nation as a whole. Texcoco de Mora and then Toluca became the capital of the State of Mexico.
Battle of Mexico City in the U.S.–Mexican War of 1847
During the 19th century, Mexico City was the center stage of all the political disputes of the country. It was the imperial capital on two occasions (1821–1823 and 1864–1867), and of two federalist states and two centralist states that followed innumerable coups d'états in the space of half a century before the triumph of the Liberals after the Reform War. It was also the objective of one of the two French invasions to Mexico (1861–1867), and occupied for a year by American troops in the framework of the Mexican–American War (1847–1848).