Veduta of Tenochtitlán

Hand-coloured image of Tenochtitlan (today's Mexico City), the centre of the Aztec empire. The illustration comes from the famous atlas of the world's cities by geographer Georg Braun and engraver Franz Hogenberg. Although it is a rather simplified view of the Mexican capital, the authors have correctly attempted to show the access roads leading across Lake Texcoco and the mountains that surround the site. The depiction of the indigenous inhabitants next to the name cartouche, and especially the idol standing in the middle of the temple precinct, suggest that Braun and Hogenberg are presenting the city here as a still Aztec Tenochtitlan, as yet unconquered by the Spaniards and their allies from the enslaved Indian tribes.