Mexico City

Why it's the capital

The Mexica founded Tenochtitlan on an island in Lake Texcoco in 1325 or 1327, and it became the capital of the Aztec Empire. After the Spanish took the city in 1521, it became the capital of New Spain. When Mexico became independent, the area around the city was made the country's federal district in 1824.

Fun facts

1. Mexico City is the oldest capital city in the Americas and one of only two founded by Indigenous peoples.
2. The city stands on the clay bed of the drained Lake Texcoco, and pumping out groundwater has made some areas sink by as much as 9 m since the early 1900s.
3. In Xochimilco, visitors ride boats called trajineras along canals; Xochimilco and the historic centre were declared a World Heritage Site in 1987.