The Dike That Saved Tenochtitlan: Aztec Flood Control

Tenochtitlan was built on an island in a shallow, salty lake — a recipe for disaster when heavy rains came. In the mid-15th century, a catastrophic flood devastated the city, prompting the Aztec emperor Moctezuma Ilhuicamina and his ally Nezahualcoyotl of Texcoco to embark on an ambitious engineering project: the Albarradón, a massive dike stretching nearly 16 kilometers across Lake Texcoco. This episode explores how the dike worked, separating fresh and salt water to protect the city's chinampas and prevent future floods. We discuss the collaboration between the two city-states, the labor of thousands of macehualtin commoners, and the ecological consequences of the project. We also look at the dike's failure during the Spanish siege of 1521 and its eventual destruction. Along the way, we consider what the Albarradón tells us about Aztec state capacity, urban planning, and resilience in the face of natural disaster. #Aztec #Tenochtitlan #Albarradon #Nezahualcoyotl #Texcoco #MoctezumaIlhuicamina #chinampas #LakeTexcoco #floodcontrol #Mesoamerica #engineering #macehualtin #Mexica #Tlaloc #Cemanahuac #history #FexingoHistory #episode83 Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo