At the Freedom Tower on Wednesday, March 11 from 6:30 to 8:00 PM for an engaging edition of the Kislak Talks series, Becoming Mexico City: Early Maps of the Oldest Continuous Metropolis in the Americas featuring Dr. Delia Cosentino, Professor of History of Art and Architecture at DePaul University in Chicago.
This talk features a series of maps made during the first 100 years of Spanish colonial rule to show how the capital city of Mexico has taken shape, both in terms of urban planning and in the imagination. Cartography by both native and European artists demonstrates how the capital of the Aztec Empire, called Tenochtitlan, provided the literal foundations for the early modern Spanish capital that replaced it following the European invasion in the 1520s.
The maps showcase Aztec migration and mythology, the incursion of Hispanic elements into native spaces, and other intriguing aspects of the oldest continuous metropolis in the Americas. |
![Image: Hernán Cortés (c. 1485-1547), Praeclara Ferdina[n]di Cortesii de noua maris oceani Hyspania narratio sacratissimo....,1524, Book. Jay I. Kislak Collection of the Early Americas, Exploration and Navigation, MDC PC 2018.1.12](https://premierguidemiami.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/IMG_2745-569x364.jpeg)