Mexico City is the capital of Mexico, and its biggest metropolis. The city is located in the valley that was inhabited by several indigenous groups from 100 to 900 A.D. It has a fascinating history. 

The Mexicas – who were later known as the Aztecs – believed that their god would show them where to build a great city by providing a sign, an eagle eating a snake while perched atop a cactus. 

When this vision came true on an island in Lake Texoco, they decided to build a city there. They expanded the island artificially by dumping soil into the lagoon. Then a beautiful city and fortress called Tenochtitlan was built on this island. 

Later, the Spaniards erected a second Mexico City atop the ruins of Tenochtitlan. 

Today, Mexico City is the country’s economic and cultural hub, as well as home to the offices of the federal government, museums and historic monuments. 

Latin America’s biggest cathedral: the Catedral Metropolitana, is located in the Mexico City. It is also at the heart of the world’s largest Catholic diocese. Due to the fact that Mexico was built on the former Lake Texcoco, the cathedral is slowly sinking and scaffolding in the interior of the building attests to the efforts to try to stabilize it. 

In front of the Cathedral are numerous merchants that sell all sorts of handicrafts to the tourists. The wide-open public space in front of the church is called the Zócalo and it is said to be the second largest public square in the world, after Red Square in Moscow. 

To the left side of the cathedral is the Palacio Nacional which today houses the offices of Mexico’s president. 

The Angel de la Independencia, is a monument erected in 1910 to commemorate independence from Spain, on the Paseo de la Reforma. The Paseo de la Reforma is an almost 4 km long tree-lined boulevard, connecting the centre of the city with the Bosque de Chapúltepec. Various monuments adorn its glorietas, or traffic circles. 

the Bosque de Chapúltepec, was a former sacred ground for the Pre-Colombian cultures and now Mexico City’s biggest park. 

Castillo de Chapúltepec was originally built in the 1760s, but is most well-known for having being the residence of the unfortunate Austrian-born emperor Maximillian, and his wife Princess Charlotte, who only governed Mexico for a few short years until 1866 when he found an unfortunate end by firing squad.