Valley of Mexico
The Valley of Mexico (Valle de México, Anahuac) is a highlands plateau in central Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations including Teotihuacan, the Toltec, and the Aztec Empire. The valley used to contain five interconnected lakes called Lake Zumpango, Lake Xaltocan, Lake Xochimilco, Lake Chalco and the largest, Lake Texcoco, covering about of the valley floor. When the Spaniards arrived in the Valley of Mexico, it had one of the highest population concentrations in the world with about one million people. After the conquest of the Aztec Empire, the Spaniards rebuilt the largest and most dominant city, Mēxihco Tenōchtitlan, renaming it Ciudad de México (Mexico City) and over time began to drain the lakes' waters to control flooding. The Valley of Mexico is located in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The valley contains most of the Mexico City Metropolitan Area, as well as parts of the State of Mexico, Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, and Puebla. The Basin of Mexico covers approximately in the NNE-SSW direction with length to width dimensions of approximately to The Valley of Mexico can be subdivided into four basins, but the largest and most-studied is the area that contains Mexico City. This section of the valley in particular is colloquially referred to as the "Valley of Mexico". The valley has a minimum elevation of above sea level and is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes that reach elevations of over . It is an enclosed valley with no natural outlet for water to flow to the sea although there is a gap to the north where there is a high mesa but no high mountain peaks. Within this vulnerable watershed all the native fishes were extinct by the end of the 20th century. Hydrologically, the valley has three features. The first feature is the lakebeds of five now-extinct lakes, which are located in the southernmost and largest of the four sub-basins. The other two features are piedmont, and the mountainsides that collect the precipitation that eventually flows to the lake area.