Texcoco
Texcoco is a city in Mexico State, Mexico, located at 19.52°N, 98.88°W, to the east of Mexico City. The city is about 2,250 above sea level. In 2003 Texcoco had an estimated population of about 109,000 people.
Historically, the name of the city has sometimes been rendered as Tezcuco.
The city has some impressive Spanish colonial era architecture, including a large convent and the cathedral built atop the base of a Pre-Columbian pyramid.
History
Texcoco was founded in the 12th century. It wan independent Nahuatl city state. It allied itself with Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City) early on, and became the second most important city politically in the Aztec Empire, by agreement receiving two-fifths of the tribute collected by the Empire. The city was known as a center of learning within the Empire, and had a famed library including books from older Mesoamerican civilizations.
King Nezahualcoyotl was a noted poet, philosopher, and patron of the arts. He also had a large botanical and zoological garden, with examples plants and animals from throughout the Empire and more distant lands which they traded with.
Nezahualcoyotl's son King Nezahualpilli continued the tradition of patronizing the arts.
In 1520 the troops of Hernán Cortés occupied the city and killed the last independent king Cacamatzin. From then through 1521 the Spaniards made Texcoco his base for planing the conquest of Tenochtitlan.
