Lake Chalco was an

endorheic An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

lake formerly located in the

Valley of Mexico The Valley of Mexico ( es, Valle de México) is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with present-day Mexico City and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico w ...

, and was important for

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica ...

n cultural development in central

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The lake was named after the ancient city of Chalco on its former eastern shore.

Geography

Lake Chalco and the other Mexican great lakes (the

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estu ...

lakes Texcoco,

Zumpango Zumpango is a municipality located to northeastern part of the state of Mexico in Zumpango Region. It lies directly north of the Mexico City within the Greater Mexico City urban area. The city of Zumpango lies near Lake Zumpango, the last of the f ...

and

Xaltocan Xaltocan was a pre-Columbian city-state and island in the Valley of Mexico, located in the center of Lake Xaltocan, part of an interconnected shallow lake system which included Lake Texcoco; this place is now inside the village of San Miguel J ...

and the freshwater

Xochimilco Xochimilco (; nci, Xōchimīlco, ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') of Mexico City. The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in th ...

) formed the ancient Basin of Mexico lake system. These lakes were home to many

Mesoamerican Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. Withi ...

cultures including the

Toltecs The Toltec culture () was a Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula (Mesoamerican site), Tula, Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoam ...

and the Aztecs. Lake Chalco itself had a fresh water

hydrologic Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is calle ...

structure due in large part to the artesian springs lining its south shore. This allowed extensive beds to be cultivated through the Aztec era. After the

Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, also known as the Conquest of Mexico or the Spanish-Aztec War (1519–21), was one of the primary events in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. There are multiple 16th-century narratives of the eve ...

, these beds fell into disuse and were largely abandoned.

History

Starting during the

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

era and continuing into the 20th century, efforts were made to drain Lake Chalco and her sister lakes in order to avoid periodic flooding and to provide for expansion. The only lakes that are still in existence are a diminished Lake Xochimilco and the Lake of Zumpango. Lake Chalco and Lake Xochimilco were the original habitat of the

axolotl The axolotl (; from nci, āxōlōtl ), ''Ambystoma mexicanum'', is a paedomorphic salamander closely related to the tiger salamander. Axolotls are unusual among amphibians in that they reach adulthood without undergoing metamorphosis. I ...

, an amphibian that is critically endangered due to urban destruction. A land speculator's draining of the lake in the late 1860s led to a

tenant farmer A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...

(''campesino'') revolt organized by

Julio López Chávez Julio López Chávez led a peasant rebellion in the late 1860s. He was a follower of Greek proto-anarchist Plotino Rhodakanaty, who moved to Mexico to organize peasants. When a land speculator drained Lake Chalco, López Chávez led up to 1,500 ...

that was eventually put down by the federal government.

References

Lakes of Mexico Former lakes of North America Valley of Mexico Geography of the State of Mexico Geography of Mesoamerica Endorheic lakes of North America Landforms of the State of Mexico Aztec sites {{México-geo-stub

Geography

History

See also

References