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ARTHIST 335 Tenochtitlan and the City of Mexico

Studies Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Mexica (Aztec) empire, and the transformation of Tenochtitlan into the City of Mexico after the Spanish invasion in the 16th century. 2021 marks 500 years since the fall of the Mexica empire on August 13, 1521.

What is an annotation?

Write at minimum two annotations, one responding to something in the reading (5-7 sentences) and one responding to a peer’s annotation (2-3 sentences). Due Wednesdays at 10am 

Biography of an Object or Building

You will be assigned a Mexica monument or building that was transformed after the conquest. Please write about what your work is, and explore the physical and conceptual transformations of the thing or building in the 16th century or later

Gather all the information you can about your object or building 

  • date or approximate date
  • medium - what are the materials used?
  • context - why was it created? where? 
  • are there similar works?
  • detail physical and conceptual transformations

Primary sources and scholarly secondary sources

Each student will be assigned a 16th-century map or manuscript for a place in or around Mexico City.

Primary sources are firsthand accounts of events, recorded or produced by witnesses or recorders who were present at the time of the event or experienced the conditions being documented. Primary sources are characterized by their content, regardless of whether they are available in original, microfilm/microfiche, digital format, or published format. 

A secondary source is a work that interprets or analyzes an historical event or phenomenon. It is generally at least one-step removed from the event. Examples include scholarly or popular books and articles, reference books, and textbooks.

Travel Guide

Write a travel guide about a particular area of Mexico City, striving to capture the layers of its history and the place in the present.  Use internet sources (google maps, flickr, social media, etc) to learn about the place today. 7-8 pages plus images