In the first chapter of the book, the history of Mexico City is told via the names of the metro stops.

Map of the Mexico City metro, "Sistema de Transporte Colectivo: Red de Metro." © Sistema de Transporte Colectivo. Ciudad de México.

The Codex Aubin is an indigenous history, written in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. These pages include a count of six years represented by the red squares spanning the conquest. For indigenous people, their history didn’t end with the conquest.

Unknown creator, the death of Cuitlahua and the Conquest's aftermath, Codex Aubin, fol. 44v–45r, ca. 1576. © Trustees of the British Museum.

The city of Tenochtitlan was an island city, connected to the mainland by narrow causeways. It may have had as many as 150,000 people at the time of the Conquest.

Map of the Valley of Mexico, by Olga Vanegas.

This manuscript map of shows the Tenochtitlan at its foundation. Within the blue square divided by an X, ten of the early leaders of the city are pictured. The eagle at center was sent by the Aztec deity, Huitzilopochtli, as a sign to settle at the spot.

Unknown creator, The foundation of Tenochtitlan, Codex Mendoza, fol. 2r, ca. 1542. Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, Ms. Arch. Selden A1.

This is one of the most famous images of Tenochtitlan. It shows the island city before its conquest, with the central temple precinct prominently featured.

Unknown creator, map of Tenochtitlan and the Gulf Coast, from Hernando Cortés's Second Letter, Praeclara Fernandi Cortesii de Noua Maris Oceani Hyspania Narratio... (Nuremberg, 1524). Courtesy of the Newberry Library, Chicago, Ayer 655.51.C8 1524d.

Evidence for the vibrancy of indigenous rule is found on this manuscript, which shows the, celebrations in honor of the jura, or oath of loyalty, to Philip II in 1557. In the upper two registers are Spanish officials; below indigenous rulers and the costumed dancers they sponsored appear.

Codex Tlatelolco, sec. 7, ca. 1565. Biblioteca Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.

This imagined view of Mexico City, painted in the 20th century, captures something of the magnificence witnessed by the conquistador, Bernal Diáz del Castillo, in 1519.

Luis Covarrubias (Mexico, 1919–1987), View of the Valley of Mexico, ca. 1955. Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.

This detail from a post-conquest map shows the indigenous leaders of the city. At top, don Diego de Alvarado Huanitzin, one of the early post-conquest rulers is seated on the throne of Aztec rulers; at bottom, the Spanish Viceroy Luis de Velasco (left) engages in a standing parley with don Esteban de Guzmán (right).

Unknown creator, detail, Beinecke Map, ca. 1565, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.