Lake Chalco
Lake Chalco was an endorheic lake formerly located in the Valley of Mexico and was important for human development in central Mexico. The lake was named after the city of Chalco on its eastern shore.
Lake Chalco and the other Mexican great lakes (the brackish lakes Texcoco, Zumpango and Xaltocan and the freshwater Xochimilco) formed the ancient Basin of Mexico lake system. These lakes were home to many Mesoamerican cultures including the Toltecs and the Aztecs.
Lake Chalco itself had a fresh water hydrologic structure due in large part to the artesian springs lining its south shore. This allowed extensive chinampa beds to be cultivated through the Aztec era. After the Spanish conquest of Mexico these beds fell into disuse and were largely abandoned.
Starting during the Aztec era and continuing into 20th century, efforts were made to drain Lake Chalco and her sister lakes in order to avoid periodic flooding and to provide for expansion. The only one of these lakes still in existence is a diminished Lake Xochimilco.
Chalco
Chalco may refer to:
See also
Chalco de Díaz Covarrubias
Chalco de Díaz Covarrubias (/ɕaɫko/ sh-al-ko) is a city that is municipal seat of the surrounding municipality of Chalco. It lies in the eastern part of the State of Mexico just east of the Federal District of Mexico and is considered part of the Mexico City metropolitan area.
Chalco name is Nahuatl, comes from Challi: "lake edge", and Co: "place" therefore both words together mean "on the edge of the lake".
The municipal head, bears the surname of Diaz Covarrubias, in honor of Juan Díaz Covarrubias, one of the practitioners of medicine who was heroically shot in Tacubaya in 1859.
History
The first group of Native Americans to reach the region of Chalco was "the acxotecas" coming from Tula, the famous and ancient homeland of the Toltecs, and the first town they settled was called Chalco. Later asecond group of people arrived, this were the Mihuaques. By 1160 A.D arrived teotenancas and chichimecas from the valley of Toluca, through Tláhuac. Around the lake there were other groups, including cuixocas, temimilolcas and ihuipanecas, which formed a congregation of tribes with Chalcas.
Chalco (altépetl)
Chālco [ˈt͡ʃaːɬko] was a complex pre-Columbian Nahua altepetl or confederacy in central Mexico. It was divided into the four sub-altepetl of Tlalmanalco/Tlacochcalco, Amaquemecan, Tenanco Texopalco Tepopolla and Chimalhuacan-Chalco, which were themselves further subdivided into altepetl tlayacatl, each with its own tlatoani (king). Its inhabitants were known as the Chālcatl [ˈt͡ʃaːɬkat͡ɬ] (singular) or Chālcah [ˈt͡ʃaːɬkaʔ] (plural).
In the 14th and early 15th centuries, flower wars were fought between the Chalca and the Aztecs. Serious war erupted in 1446. According to the Amaqueme historian Chimalpahin, this was because the Chalca refused a Mexica demand to contribute building materials for the temple of Huitzilopochtli. Chalco was finally conquered by the Aztecs under Moctezuma I in or around 1465, and the kings of Chalco were exiled to Huexotzinco. The rulerships were restored by Tizoc in 1486, who installed new tlatoque. Chalco paid more tribute to Tenochtitlan in the form of food than any other region in the Valley of Mexico, probably because of its fertile soil and location.
Podcasts:
