In the pre-Hispanic period, this area was under a very shallow area of Lake Texcoco and uninhabited. After the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlan, and soon after the Spanish retraced this island city into Mexico City, the area proved to be too small for the growing population. Various projects were begun to start draining Lake Texcoco and claim more land from the former lakebed starting in 1545 under viceroy Antonio de Mendoza. The first areas to dry sufficiently for habitation were north and west of the city, where Colonia Santa María, Colonia Guerrero and others are now. New streets and neighborhoods were eventually constructed such as Calzada de Tabaqueros (Tobacco Road) which is now Ribera de San Cosme. These lands did not become part of Mexico City, rather they became farms and lands associated with monasteries. The colonia's land was part of a hacienda called Hacienda de la Teja. In the mid 19th century, especially under Benito Juárez, haciendas and church lands were confiscated by the government and eventually broken into smaller farms and ranches. The colonia then was part of a farm called Rancho de Santa María. In the late 19th century, many of these same smaller farms and ranches were broken up again into housing subdivisions as Mexico City began to grow outside of its traditional confines.