USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Huitzilopochtli directed them to build where they saw an eagle perched on a cactus, eating a snake. When they saw this exact scene on an island (located in what was once Lake Texcoco), they interpreted it as a sign from their god and founded Tenochtitlan on that island.

Detailed explanation-2: -Most of the construction in Tenochtitlan took place during the reigns of four Aztec kings beginning in the 1470s. Built largely upon land reclaimed from Lake Texcoco, the city was laid out on a grid, inspired by the still visible ruins of the ancient city of Teotihuacan of a thousand years earlier.

Detailed explanation-3: -It once was widely believed that the Aztecs first thought Cortés was Quetzalcoatl, a mythical god prophesied to return to Mexico-coincidentally in the same year Cortés landed and from the same direction he came.

Detailed explanation-4: -Huitzilopochtli told the Aztecs that when they found the eagle it would be the signal that they had reached the land where they would build the most powerful empire in Mesoamerica, Middle America.

Detailed explanation-5: -It is said that the Aztecs chose the site of their capital, Tenochtitlan, because of the presence of a bird perched on a cactus and eating a snake. In this lesson, students will learn about that ancient Aztec legend and about how Tenochtitlan became the site of modern-day Mexico City.