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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1997
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1992-09-02
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839b
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Capital, and industrial (iron, steel,
chemicals, textiles) and cultural centre of
Mexico, 2,255 m/7,400 ft above sea level on
the southern edge of the central plateau;
population (1986) 18,748,000. It is thought
to be the most polluted city in the world.
Notable buildings include the 16th-century
cathedral, the national palace, national
library, Palace of Justice, and national
university; the Ministry of Education has
murals 1923-27 by Diego Rivera. The city
dates from about 1325, when the Aztec capital
Tenochtitlan was begun on an island in Lake
Texcoco. This city was levelled 1521 by the
Spaniards, who in 1522 founded a new city on
the site. It was the location of the 1968
Summer Olympics. In 1984, the explosion of a
liquefied gas tank caused the deaths of over
450 people, and in 1985, over 2,000 were
killed by a earthquake.