page_title: History of Mexico City
section_title: Size
hierarchical_section_title: History of Mexico City / Colonial period 1521–1821 / Population of Mexico City / Size
context_page_description: The city now known as Mexico City was founded as Mexico Tenochtitlan in 1324 and a century later became the dominant city-state of the Aztec Triple Alliance, formed in 1430 and composed of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. At its height, Tenochtitlan had enormous temples and palaces, a huge ceremonial center, residences of political, religious, military, and merchants. Its population was estimated at least 100,000 and perhaps as high as 200,000 in 1519 when the Spaniards first saw it.
  During the final stage of the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, Tenochtitlan was besieged and essentially razed. Hernán Cortés understood the strategic and symbolic importance of the Aztec capital and founded the Spanish capital of Mexico City on the site, and in particular rebuilt the Aztec ceremonial and political center as the main square, the Plaza Mayor, usually called the Zócalo. Some of the oldest structures in Mexico City date from the early conquest era. Many colonial-era buildings remain standing and have been re-purposed government buildings and museums.
context_section_description: Population figures for the city are inexact for Spaniards, mixed-race castas, and indigenous.  Some idea of the indigenous can be discerned from tribute records. In 1525, the city had perhaps 22,000 indigenous inhabitants, dropping precipitously starting around 1550. A figure for Tenochtitlan tributaries in 1562 is 12,971. The estimates of the European population in Mexico City is also imprecise, with figures coming from a variety of sources.  In 1525 there were 150 households occupied by Spaniards, with the European population increasing steadily during the entire colonial period.  The highest estimate for the colonial era is by Alexander von Humboldt, who estimated ca. 1802 that there were 67,500 whites in Mexico City.
  The size of Mexico City's population and its demographic contours have been enduring questions for crown officials as well as modern scholars.  There were major epidemics that affected the population, starting with the smallpox epidemic of 1520 that was a factor in the Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire, but there were other major epidemics throughout the colonial period.  There were estimates taken in the late seventeenth century, with the largest and most detailed census mandated by Viceroy Revillagigedo in 1790. In 1689, there was an estimate of 57,000 residents. An estimate for 1753 based on a partial census mandated by the Audiencia put the population at 70,000. In the period between 1689 and 1753, there were at least nine epidemics. The Revillagigedo census of 1790 counts 112,926 residents, a significant increase. This might be due to migration to the city accelerating.  An 1811 census done by the ‘'Juzgado de Policía'’ put the number even higher, at 168,811, which might well reflect displacement from the countryside from the insurgency of Miguel Hidalgo and his successors. The census of 1813 done by the city government (Ayuntamiento) shows a significant decrease to 123,907, perhaps showing the return of short-term migrants to their home communities following the waning of the insurgency, but also possibly "fevers" that affected the population.
caption: A single-canvas painting showing the casta system in eighteenth-century Mexico. Spaniards were at the top of the system with mixed-race men and women consigned to the bottom ranks, with both engaging in manual labor.
exif: {}