Geography

The Aztec Empire is located in the central and southern regions of Mexico. It grew during the 15th and 16th centuries to stretch from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. The empire was made up of separate city-states. The capital city is Tenochtitlan, which is located on Lake Texcoco.
When the Aztecs were trying to find a place to build their city they saw an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its talons. They took that as a sign to build their city in the marshy lands near there. The city of Tenochtitlan is suurrounded by two of Mexico's highest mountains, Iztaccihuatl, and an active volcano, Popcatepetl. Lake Texcoco is made up of fresh water and swampy lands, so to create their city the Aztecs dug up through the swampy fresh lakes and placed mud on top of itself to create islands, canals, and drained fields called chinampas. This created really fertile land to plant gardens and create foundations for the city.
The climate is very hot and humid. To keep the city clean, the Aztecs kept the canals full of fresh water from the mountain springs. Sometimes there were periods of low rain and water so Tenochtitlan would ask neighboring city-states, like Tlaxcala and Huejotzingo to open their canals and let fresh water flow. This could be dangerous. Once when my mother was young the canals and lake systems were unpredictable and filled with water. the while city flooded and everyone had to evacuate.