1843 print ZOCALO, MEXICO CITY, #35

Description: Mexique_35 1843 print ZOCALO, MEXICO CITY, #35 Print from steel engraving titled Place de Mexico, published in a volume of L'Univers, Histoire et description de tous les peuples, Paris, approx. page size is 20.5 x 12.5 cm, approx. image size is 14.5 x 9 cm. Mexico City, Spanish MÉXICO, or CIUDAD DE MÉXICO, ancient (Nahua, or Aztec) TENOCHTITLÁN, city, capital of the Federal District (q.v.) and of Mexico. The city, which is one of the oldest metropolises in the Western Hemisphere, is the political and economic centre of the country and has been a focus of Latin-American culture since the 16th century. In the late 20th century it was the world's largest city proper and one of the world's fastest-growing metropolitan areas. Located in the southern part of the Valley of Mexico, Mexico City occupies an ancient plain (once a lake) that is surrounded by mountains. The small islands in the lake were gradually unified through land reclamation to form one large island, a process that began after the Aztecs settled there. Constant flooding later necessitated filling and draining the lakes of the valley floor until the city merged with the mainland. This accounts for the soft, silt subsoil that underlies the city and that has proved quite unstable during earthquakes such as the one in 1985, which killed 9,500 people. Mexico City's expansion is limited by mountains on all sides. The mountains block the circulation of air past the city; the resultant trapping of automotive exhaust, industrial smoke, and airborne dust has made air pollution a serious health problem. The greater metropolitan area has spread beyond the original limits of the Federal District of Mexico into the neighbouring state of Mexico. Although the area is overwhelmingly urban, some places in the south remain agricultural. Mexico City's tropical, high-elevation (7,350 feet [2,240 m]) climate lacks a winter season. The weather is cool and dry, except in the May-September rainy season; the annual median temperature is 64 F (18 C). At the centre of the original Aztec city of Tenochtitlán, the Spaniards created a planned town, placing the main public buildings around the former ceremonial city centre, now called the Zócalo (officially, Plaza de la Constitución). The Zócalo remains the hub of Mexico City's life. The great Metropolitan Cathedral stands nearly on the spot of the former main Aztec temple, and the viceroy's palace (now the National Palace) was built over the ruins of the palace of Montezuma. Running southwestward and then westward from the old colonial city centre is the city's main thoroughfare, the Paseo de la Reforma, while the Avenida Insurgentes is the city's main north-south street. Mexico City gradually expanded, but until 1930 its growth was haphazard; after that year a series of planning commissions reorganized the metropolis. Despite wholesale destruction of many parts of the old city, plazas such as that of Santo Domingo preserve their original atmosphere. The predominant part of the population is mestizo (of mixed European and American Indian descent), living in the poorer northern sections, in slum districts called ciudades perdidas ("lost cities"), or in colonias ("neighbourhoods") of the capital. Continued migration from rural areas has given the city a more Indian character, however. Most of the middle- and high-income groups, which are usually of European parentage, live in the western part of the city or in newly developed suburbs to the south. Mexico City's population continues to grow at a rapid rate. The National Autonomous University of Mexico (founded 1551) and the National Polytechnic Institute (1936), the College of Mexico (1940), Metropolitan Autonomous University (1973), and Ibero-American University (1943) are the outstanding institutions of higher learning. Museums include the remarkable National Museum of Anthropology.

Price: 25 USD

Location: Zagreb, HR

End Time: 2024-11-26T16:48:29.000Z

Shipping Cost: 8.5 USD