Tenochtitlan / Mexico City

Timeline

1. 1521Tenochtitlan · Valley of MexicoAfter months of siege with water and food cut off, the Aztec emperor Cuauhtémoc was captured, most of Tenochtitlan's buildings were destroyed, and the Aztec Empire ended as a political entity.
2. c. 1522–1524Mexico City · MexicoThe Spanish colonists laid out European-style grid streets on the original site, filled in the lake to create land, demolished Aztec stone to build churches and government offices, renamed the city Mexico City, and made it the administrative center after the conquest.
3. 1527–1530Mexico City · New SpainAfter the audiencia of New Spain was established in Mexico City in 1527, the city became the colonial judicial and administrative hub; by around 1530 its status as the largest metropolis in Spanish America was already taking shape.