Figure 1.--Santa Cecilia was the Aztec center of Acatitlan meaning in Nahuatl, 'place among the reeds'. It is now very arid, located about northwest of Mexico City. It was located on the northwest shore of the Lake Texcoco at the heart of the Valley of Mexico. The ruins of the Acatitlan pyramid can be seen in the background in the postcard image, probably taken in the 1930s or 40s.

The Mexico Valley Basin or Valley of Mexico is a highlands plateau in central Mexico. It is now occupied by Mexico City, one of the largest metropolitn cities in the world. It is a large internally-drained basin which is surrounded by towering volcanic mountains, some of which reach exceed 3,000 meters in elevation. The Valley is part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. It is a completely enclosed elevated valley. Despite the elevation, there is no natural outlet for water to flow out if the valley system. This is what attracted Native Americans, the resulting watershed and Lake Texcoco with its abundant water supply. There is a gap in the mountains to the north where there is a high mesa but no mountain peaks. Lake Texcoco was the largest of five now-extinct lakes, which was located in the southernmost and largest of the four sub-basins. There was also a piedmont and the mountainsides that collected the precipitation that flowed to the lake area. Archeologists reoport himan inhabitation for at least 12,000 years, meaning from a fairly early period after the arival of humann crossing the Bearing Sea ice bridge. Native Americans were attracted by the mild, healthy cliamate as a result of the elevatin and the plentuful water. This meant abundant game and the ability to conduct intensive agriculure on a large-scale. The Valley was a center of several pre-Columbian civilizations, most notably Teotihuacán, the Toltec, and the Aztec civilization. The Aztecs called it Anahuac (Land Between the Waters). The Mexica or Aztec civilization was the last Native American civilization to occupy the Valley. Their civiization was based around Lake Texcoco at the heart of the Valley.

Created: 4:35 AM 9/5/2012
Last updated: 4:35 AM 9/5/2012