Historical Timeline of Mexico City

The Historical Timeline of Mexico City on the following pages is intended to help international visitors with little or no familiarity with the Valley of Mexico to better understand its long history.

Emphasis is placed on physical and geographical places in and near to the City. But the Timeline will give you a better idea of the overall sweep and scale of the region, its people, and identity.

• Prehistory – Events prior to the rise of Teotihuacan and Cuicuilco
• The Ancient Period (245 – 1427 CE) – The eruption of the Xitle Volcano through the triumph of the Mexica of Tenochtitlan.
• The Triple Alliance Period (1427 – 1519) – The peak of the Tenochtitlan civilization, and the most splendid capital city the world had ever seen.
• New Spain: The Colonial Period (1521 – 1810) – The fall to the Spanish, and the long Viceroyalty
• Independence Movement (1810 1821)- A stirring ten-year struggle for autonomy.
• Independent Mexico (1822 – 1875) – A 19th century of change, foreign intervention, and religious reform.
• The Porfiriato (1876 -1910) – An autocratic flourishing of European ideas and innovations
• The Mexican Revolution (1910 – 1921) – A ten-year struggle toward democracy and land reform.
• The 20th Century (1922 – 1999) – The repercussions of a profound revolution and the emergence of the “Mexican Miracle”
• 21st-Century Mexico City (2000 – present) – The events of a new century of change, growth, and deepening understanding.