What is Tenochtitlan?
[[File:Templo Mayor in Mexico-Tenochtitlan 16th century (illustration 1900).jpg|thumb|375px|Drawing of what part of Tenochtitlan may have looked like]] '''Tenochtitlan''' was the [[capital city]] of the [[Aztec Empire]]. The [[Aztec]]s built Tenochtitlan around 1325, right on a [[lake]] called Lake Texcoco.<ref name=lm>Marty, Lisa (2006). Ancient Aztecs. Lorenz Educational Press. p. 9. {{ISBN|978-0787783259}}.</ref> As the Empire grew, so did Tenochtitlan. By the early [[16th century|1500s]], at least 200,000 people lived in the city. This made Tenochtitlan the largest city in the Americas before [[Christopher Columbus]] arrived.<ref name=prehx/> ==Center of the Aztec Empire== {{See also|Aztec Empire}} Tenochtitlan was the center of the Aztec [[government]] and [[Aztec mythology|religion]]. It was also a very big [[trade|trading]] center. When the Spanish arrived in 1519, they guessed that 60,000 people came to the market in Tenochtitlan every day.<ref name=prehx>{{cite book |author=Fagan, Brian; Durrani, Nadia |date=2015 |title=People of the Earth: An Introduction to World Prehistory |url= |location= |publisher=Routledge |page=443-447 |isbn=978-1317346821}}</ref> People bought and sold many things there, including [[slave]]s ([[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] from states the Aztecs had taken over).<ref name=tb>{{cite web |url=http://www.ushistory.org/civ/11d.asp |title=Central and South American Empires: 11d. The Aztec World |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2014 |website=Ancient Civilizations Online Textbook |publisher=The Independence Hall Association |accessdate=April 17, 2016 |quote=}}</ref> The entire city was decorated with [[art]], [[architecture]], and [[stone]] [[sculpture]]s. ==The Great Temple== The city had a huge [[pyramid]] called the [[Templo Mayor]] (Great Temple). At the top of the Temple, there were two small rooms. In these rooms, the Aztecs [[human sacrifice|sacrificed people]] to two of their most important gods: ''[[Huitzilopochtli]]'', the god of [[war]] an