Everything about Tlatelolco totally explained
Tlatelolco is an area in
Mexico City, centered on the
Plaza de las Tres Culturas, a square surrounded on three sides by an excavated
Aztec site, the
17th century church
Templo de Santiago, and the modern office complex of the Mexican foreign ministry.
The Templo Mayor (main temple) of Tlatelolco, one of the excavated buildings recently saw a discovery, a
pyramid inside the visible Templo that's more than 700 years old. This indicates that the site is older than previously thought, according to
Instituto Nacional de Archeología y Humanidades (National Institue of Archaeology and Humanities. Because it has design features similar to
Tenayuca and
Tenochtitlan, it may prove to the the first mixed
Aztec and
Tlatelolca construction found.
History of the area
Originally it was an independent
Aztec city, but it was absorbed by Tenochtitlán. During the
Aztec rule, it was the market district of the Aztec capital
Tenochtitlán, probably one of the largest in the Americas.
According to
Conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo, it was larger than the city of Sevilla and larger than any market any of the
Spaniards had seen, even those of
Venice and
Constantinople, with about 20,000 to 40,000 people trading.
When the conquistadors led by
Hernán Cortés lay siege to Tenochtitlán, they conquered and razed it district by district. The surrounding Aztec cities surrendered to Cortés, but the Tlatelolcas remained with the Aztec (Tenochcas). The Aztecs, led by
Cuauhtemoc, were finally confined to Tlaltelolco, where they made their last stand, and were defeated beside the Tlatelolcas and slaughtered by the conquistadors.
Over 40,000 Aztec men, women, and children perished at Tlatelolco on
August 13,
1521.
The Nonoalco-Tlatelolco housing project, built in the
1960s, is served by
Metro Tlatelolco. It is also home to the pyramid-shaped
Banobras building, which houses a 47-bell
carillon. At 125 meters, this is the world's tallest carillon tower. There is also a building covered with white marble that was home of the
Foreign Relations Secretariat (SRE).
In
1967, the
Treaty of Tlatelolco was opened for signature, with the aim of establishing a
nuclear weapons-free zone throughout
Latin America and the
Caribbean. Since then, all the region's countries have signed and ratified the treaty.
On
October 2,
1968, ten days before the start of the
1968 Summer Olympics the plaza was the scene of the
Tlatelolco massacre, in which more than 300 student protesters were killed by
army and
police.
On
September 19,
1985, many housing buildings were destroyed or suffered damages due to
an earthquake which affected Mexico City. One structure, the "Nuevo León" building, became a symbol of the Mexican people's solidarity during the disaster, represented in a small square in the spot where the building collapsed. Among others,
Plácido Domingo labored there to help to rescue survivors.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Tlatelolco'.
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