Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the Mexica Empire, was a city-state founded in 1325 on an island -- the largest city in the pre-Columbian world.With its population of 200-300,000, only Paris, Venice, and Constantinople were larger.

Hernán Cortés and his men werein awe of the splendid city and wondered if they were a dream. Two double aqueducts constructed during the reign of Montezuma I provided the city with fresh spring-fed water – good for baths twice a day!

​Bernal Díaz del Castillo said in The Conquest of New Spain: “When we saw so many cities and villages built in the water and other great towns on dry land, we were amazed and said that it was like the enchantments.... I do not know how to describe it, seeing things as we did that had never been heard of or seen before, not even dreamed about.”