Tenochtitlan

High school (ages 12+)
Geography

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Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/tenochtitlan

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. Where is Tenochtitlan?Island in Lake Texcoco, Valley of Mexico; modern-day Mexico City
2. When was Tenochtitlan built?Circa 1325 CE by the Mexica people
3. What is the capital of?The Aztec Empire (Triple Alliance)
4. How did the Mexica grow food in the city?They built chinampas, artificial islands made of mud and plants, to grow crops and feed the growing population.
5. How did people travel around Tenochtitlan?They used canals and causeways—raised roads—to move between parts of the island and to the mainland.

Mexica: The Nahuatl-speaking people who founded Tenochtitlan and formed the core of the Aztec Empire.
Chinampas: Highly productive artificial agricultural islands constructed by the Aztecs on Lake Texcoco.
Causeways: Elevated earthen roads built to connect the island city of Tenochtitlan to the mainland.
Templo Mayor: The principal temple complex in Tenochtitlan's sacred precinct, a center of religious and political life.