- Texcoco, Mexico State
Texcoco is a "municipio" (municipality) of
Mexico State , located in theValley of Mexico to the east of the national capital,Mexico City . The municipality's main settlement, the city officially known as Texcoco de Mora, is also commonly referred to as "Texcoco". The city is built on the foundations of the original Texcoco, which in the Late Postclassic period ofMesoamerican chronology was one of the majorcity-state s of thepre-Columbian Aztec Empire , and one of the founders of theAztec Triple Alliance . The city stands at about 2,250 meters above sea level. The city was originally founded on the eastern bank of theLake Texcoco but is now well within the boundaries ofGreater Mexico City . In the census of 2005 Texcoco de Mora had a population of 99,260 people and Texcoco municipality had a population of 209,308. The municipality has an area of 418.69 km² (161.66 sq mi) and includes numerous smaller communities besides Texcoco de Mora. The largest of these areSan Miguel Coatlinchán ,Tulantongo , andSantiago Cuautlalpan . Historically, the name of the city has sometimes been rendered as Tezcuco or Tetzcoco.The city also has impressive
Spanish Colonial Style architecture, including a largeconvent and thecathedral built atop the base of apre-Columbian pyramid.History
By the time of the
Spanish conquest of Mexico , Texcoco was the one of the largest and most prestigious cities in the central Mexican plateau region, second only to theAztec capital,Tenochtitlan . A survey ofMesoamerica n cities estimated that pre-Conquest Texcoco had a population of up to 24,000 and occupied an area of 450hectare s. [Smith (2005), p. 411.] It was here that the first european school in the American continent was founded byPedro de Gante in the first half of the 16th century.Notes
References
* [http://www.inegi.gob.mx/est/contenidos/espanol/sistemas/conteo2005/localidad/iter/ Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005]
Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI)
* es icon* |year=2005 |title=City Size in Late Post-Classic Mesoamerica |url=http://www.public.asu.edu/%7Emesmith9/1-CompleteSet/MES-05-CitySize.pdf |format=
PDF |journal=Journal of Urban History |volume=31 |issue=4 |pages=pp.403–434 |doi=10.1177/0096144204274396External links
*es icon [http://www.texcoco.gob.mx/ Texcoco municipal government official website]
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