60 Fun Facts About Mexico City

Mexico City began as Tenochtitlan, built by which people around 1325?

It rose on islands in Lake Texcoco and became the largest city of the pre-Columbian Americas.

According to Aztec prophecy, the site for their great city would be marked by an eagle doing what?

The image is on the Mexican flag today; the cactus was said to have grown from the heart of Copil.

Mexico City is described as the oldest capital city in the Americas and one of only two founded by whom?

The other is Quito; the Spanish name 'Mexico' replaced Tenochtitlan simply because it was easier to pronounce.

On which date did Cortes and his men first enter Tenochtitlan and meet Moctezuma II?

The Aztecs drove the Spanish out on La Noche Triste in June 1520; the final siege ended with Cuauhtemoc's surrender in August 1521.

Who was the last Aztec ruler, who surrendered to Cortes in August 1521?

Cuitlahuac had succeeded Moctezuma but soon died, probably of smallpox; the Spaniards practically razed the city.

After the conquest, why did Cortes decide to rebuild on the ruins of Tenochtitlan rather than elsewhere?

He had first settled south of the city; the Spanish kept the basic layout but built churches over the temples.

At what altitude does Mexico City sit?

The thin air helped Bob Beamon's 8.90 m long jump at the 1968 Olympics; surrounding volcanoes top 5,000 m.

Into how many boroughs, or alcaldias, is Mexico City divided?

They are subdivided into neighbourhoods called colonias; the Federal District was renamed Ciudad de Mexico, CDMX, in 2016.

Greater Mexico City is the Western Hemisphere's second-largest urban area after which city?

The city proper has 9.2 million, second only to Lima among Spanish-speaking cities.

Why is Mexico City sinking?

The city rests on the drained Lake Texcoco; the Palacio de Bellas Artes alone has sunk about four metres.

The Federal District surrounding the city was renamed Ciudad de Mexico on what date?

Until 2013 locals called it 'DF'; CDMX has since taken over.

The Zocalo's formal name is what?

The 240-by-240-metre square holds a giant flag raised and lowered daily and was the Aztec ceremonial centre.

The Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zocalo was built in sections between which dates?

It rose around the first post-conquest church, and sinking has put it on the World Monuments Fund's endangered list.

The Templo Mayor, the Aztecs' main temple, was rediscovered in 1978 by whom?

They hit a huge stone disc of the goddess Coyolxauhqui; the temple was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli and the rain god Tlaloc.

The name Chapultepec means what in Nahuatl?

The 866-hectare park holds the zoo, the castle and the National Museum of Anthropology.

Chapultepec Castle was the residence of Maximilian I during which period?

With Iturbide Palace it is one of only two royal palaces in North America ever inhabited by monarchs; it has been the National Museum of History since 1939.

The cadets who died defending Chapultepec Castle against US troops in 1847 are remembered as what?

The storming of the castle ended the Battle for Mexico City; the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in the north of the city.

Paseo de la Reforma was modelled by Emperor Maximilian on which Paris avenue?

The golden Angel of Independence on the avenue is the city's most recognisable icon.

Why does the Angel of Independence have more steps than the nine it had in 1910?

Built for the independence centennial, the column had already collapsed once during construction in 1906.

The Palacio de Bellas Artes has a stage curtain made of nearly a million pieces of glass by which firm?

The 24-ton stained-glass curtain is the only one of its kind in any opera house; the building opened in 1934.

The Torre Latinoamericana, opened in 1956, is famous for surviving what undamaged?

It was Mexico's tallest building for 27 years and the city's first skyscraper.

The great earthquake that struck Mexico City at 7:19 am in 1985 fell on which date?

At least 5,000 died; the epicentre was 350 km away off Michoacan, and the soft lake bed amplified the shaking; another quake hit on the same date in 2017.

The Mexico City Metro opened in which year?

Every station has a pictogram, a boon for riders who could not read; the 225.9 km network is Latin America's largest.

Each Metro station is identified by a minimalist logo designed by whom?

The pictograms helped riders who could not read; Guadalajara and Monterrey copied the system.

Visitors to Xochimilco ride the canals in colourful boats called what?

About 170 km of canals wind between artificial islands, and the area is a World Heritage Site.

What is a chinampa?

Sometimes called floating gardens, they were built by weaving reeds and stakes into underwater fences and filling them with soil.

Which critically endangered salamander, famous for regrowing limbs, is native to the lakes of Xochimilco?

Perhaps 50 to 1,000 adults survive in the wild, squeezed by invasive tilapia and carp; captive colonies number in the many thousands.

The Frida Kahlo Museum in Coyoacan is nicknamed La Casa Azul because of what?

She was born and died in the house and lived there with Diego Rivera; Trotsky was murdered nearby in 1940.

Which exiled Russian revolutionary was murdered in his Coyoacan house in 1940?

He had first been given asylum with Rivera and Kahlo; the house is now a museum.

The name Coyoacan means what?

A fountain of two bronze coyotes stands in the borough's central plaza.

About how many pilgrims visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe each year?

Nine million come around 12 December; the image is said to have appeared on Juan Diego's cloak in 1531.

Mexico City has about 170 of what, placing it in the world's top ten?

Plus 100 art galleries and 30 concert halls; most museums are free on Sundays.

Which famous artefact is housed in the National Museum of Anthropology in Chapultepec?

Opened in 1964, it is Mexico's largest and most visited museum; the headdress is in Vienna.

Which two Mexico City clubs shared the Azteca with the national team from 2018 to 2024?

Their derby is the Clásico Joven; before its pre-2026 renovation the stadium seated 91,653, the most on the continent south of the US.

The Estadio Azteca was the first stadium to host what twice?

Brazil won there in 1970 and Argentina in 1986, the year of Maradona's Hand of God against England.

Mexico City became the first city to host an NFL regular-season game outside the US in which year?

It was played at the Azteca; the city also hosts the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

The 1968 Mexico City Olympics were the first held where?

They beat bids from Buenos Aires, Lyon and Detroit, and were the first Games with an all-weather track and all-electronic timing.

Which two US sprinters raised black-gloved fists on the podium at the 1968 Games?

The 200 m gold and bronze medallists were banned from the Olympics for life; silver medallist Peter Norman wore a badge in support.

In which Mexico City district did the army fire on student protesters ten days before the 1968 Olympics opened?

Estimates of the dead range from 44 documented to 300-400; the Games went ahead as scheduled.

Bob Beamon's long jump at the 1968 Games beat the world record by how much?

His 8.90 m leap in the thin air stood as the record for nearly 23 years; Dick Fosbury debuted his flop at the same Games.

The Alameda Central in Mexico City is recognised as what?

Chapultepec, by contrast, is Latin America's second-largest city park after Santiago's.

Teotihuacan, with its Pyramids of the Sun and Moon, lies how far from Mexico City?

The Aztecs gave it its name centuries after it fell around 550 CE; at its peak it may have been the sixth-largest city on Earth.

Which university in Mexico City is the largest on the continent, with more than 300,000 students?

It carries out half of Mexico's scientific research; its predecessor was the third-oldest university in the Americas.

In the 1990s Mexico City was infamous for what, before becoming a model for fixing it?

By 2014 sulphur and nitrogen dioxide were a third of 1992 levels, though ozone remains 2.5 times WHO limits.

According to Wikipedia, what ended snowfall in Mexico City for good?

Flurries fell in 1907 and a snowstorm in 1967 coincided with the deep drainage system that finished off the lake.

In which year did UNESCO inscribe Mexico's Day of the Dead as intangible heritage?

The Pixar film Coco popularised the idea of a giant parade, which the city has since staged for real.

Which city is the only Spanish-speaking city proper larger than Mexico City?

Mexico City proper had 9.2 million people in 1,495 square kilometres at the 2020 census.

Which Italian architect was awarded the original design of the Palacio de Bellas Artes?

Work stalled for about twenty years; Federico Mariscal finished the Art Deco interior in 1934.

Why was the Palacio de Bellas Artes planned in the first place?

The old National Theater was demolished in 1901 to make way for the more opulent Gran Teatro de Ópera.

Which representative persuaded the new republic to make Mexico City the capital rather than Querétaro?

Querétaro was geographically closer to the country's centre, but Mexico City was the centre of its population and history.

In 1854 which president enlarged Mexico City almost eightfold to secure the mountain passes to the south?

The city grew from about 220 to 1,700 square kilometres by annexing rural and mountainous districts.

The Museo Soumaya holds the largest private collection outside France of which sculptor's originals?

Named after Carlos Slim's wife, it also shows a large collection of Dalí sculptures.

Which Beat author wrote his 1959 poetry collection Mexico City Blues while living in the city?

Fellow Beat William S. Burroughs lived in Colonia Roma, where he fatally shot his wife in 1951.

Roughly what share of Mexico's GDP does Mexico City proper produce?

It is also the country's biggest contributor to service-sector GDP, at about a quarter.

Mexico City is home to the largest population of Americans living outside the US; estimates run as high as?

The US Bureau of Consular Affairs had already counted over 440,000 American citizens there in 1999.

The 'Hoy No Circula' programme restricts what in Mexico City?

The name means 'Today Does Not Run'; the city had more than 4.5 million private cars by 2016.

Mexico City's Metrobús bus rapid transit opened its first line in which year?

It has since grown to seven routes, running along avenues such as Paseo de la Reforma and Insurgentes.

Mexico City's Ecobici is the second-largest system of its kind in North America. What is it?

The city government runs it to promote sustainable transport alongside the 12-line Metro.

Which wholesale market in Iztapalapa, a self-contained mini-city, supplies most of Mexico City's produce?

It covers an area equivalent to several dozen city blocks.

Chapultepec Zoo, in the park's first section, opened in which year?

It is one of three zoos in the city, alongside San Juan de Aragón and Los Coyotes.