Lake Texcoco

The lake Texcoco is old a Lac salted Mexico, located in the Vallée of Mexico City, with more than 2.000 meters of altitude. It was a closed lake, without emissary river, and formed with the lakes Xaltocan, Zumpango, Chalco and Xochimilco a large basin Endoréique of a surface of approximately 2.000 km ².

It was drained in order to counter the problem of the Inondation S and there remains today of the lake Texcoco only a saline Marais of a few km ² and some small lakes in the areas of Xochimilco, Chalco, and Zumpango.

Time précolombienne

Agriculture around the lake would go back to more than 7.000 years. One finds then the traces of several villages précolombiens dated between 1100 and 1700 av. J. - C. such as for example the archeological site from Cuicuilco located at the south from the lake. This important arts center would have reached its apogee in 800 av. J.C, i.e. in the preclassical time of Mésoamérique, and would have been destroyed by the volcanos Xitle in the neighborhoods of 200 av J.C This destruction could be at the origin of the rise to power of Teotihuacan located a little more at north.

After the fall of Teotihuacan between 600 and 800 a. J.C., several other cities appeared around the lake, like Xoloc, Azcapotzalco, Tlacopan, Coyohuacan, Culhuacán, Chimalpa and Chimalhuacán of influence Toltèque and Chichimèque. They coexisted, more or less in peace, during several centuries and none really prevailed. This period is described like the golden age in the Aztec history.

Towards 1300, the city Tépanèque of Azcapotzalco would then have started to dominate the area.

Tenochtitlan

Towards 1325, the Aztèque S based Tenochtitlán on small a small island in the west of the lake Texcoco. They also created several Barrage S which enabled them to control the water level and to obtain in the same time of drinking water thanks to the separation of rainwater and salt water of the lake.

It also created around the central island, a system of channels and artificial islands, the Chinampa S, which enabled them to practice agriculture and which also took part in the control of the floods.

When Hernán the Cortes arrived and made the head office of Tenochtitlan, it destroyed these stoppings. This is why for the colonial period at the 17th century, the town of Mexico City was subjected to many floods.

Modern time

From the 18th century, one started to drain the lake via channels and of a tunnel in direction of the river of Pánuco. This did not dam up the floods immediately because the major part of the city was then located under the phreatic level.

But one stopped really the floods only as from the 20th century and of the contruction of the Drenaje Profundo . Indeed, in 1967 began the construction of a network of several hundred kilometers of tunnels, between 30 to 250 meters of depth. The central tunnel has a diameter of 6,5 meters and evacuates rainwater out of the valley.

However, the ecological consequences of the draining are enormous and Mexico City suffers from now on from a lack of water. Moreover, with its development (just like of many cities of Mexico) and the pumping of in-depth drinking water, the city is inserted little by little in the ground by Subsidence, several centimetres each year.

See too

Quoted lake
the town of Texcoco
Return to the lake city

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