From what I read Mexica arrived late to those territories and simply couldn’t get better land. In the end they got lucky. They were not able to grow enough food on the island so fish, birds and eggs formed big part of their diet. This made their warriors better at doing warrior things for reasons we’re not sure about. Maybe it was because they were not tied to farming calendar as much or maybe it was the extra protein. They eventually conquered all the neighboring tribes and built a nice city on that island.
"Bro, CLEARLY this is a sign from the gods to build our capital in a swamp!"
Submitted 3 weeks ago by PugJesus@piefed.social to historymemes@piefed.social
https://media.piefed.social/posts/0Z/T5/0ZT5PQ14mHlOjrW.jpg
Comments
ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 2 weeks ago
Mulligrubs@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
My favorite civilization, you cannot be more metal than ancient Mexico.
They had priests walking around in suits made of human skin, the entire skin of a person, like some macabre handie/footie pajamas. And those were the nice ones. Towers of thousands of skulls, historians thought it had to be a Spanish exaggeration until they found it. Thousands of people would be sacrificed for one “holiday” (and eaten). Unbelievably brutal. Also, best God pantheon hands down.
Spacehooks@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
That guy from golden kamuy making outfits from human skin really would have fit in.
Bohne93@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Berlin is also build on a swamp, whats going on here?
mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
They made it work!
The Spaniards, not so much.
robottoaster@mander.xyz@mander.xyz 3 weeks ago What is it with ancient civilizations and letting birds decide where to build cities? I guess Rome was lucky they got a hill.
PugJesus@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
tbf, a lot of swampy terrain around Rome too. Malaria was killer (literally) in the city for that very reason.
CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
DC is also a swamp, literally and figuratively
samus12345@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago 
TallonMetroid@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago IIRC, the best part is that DC is where it is specifically because it was a bribe to get the slave states on board, since previously the federal government had been based in Philadelphia. So yeah, the US doesn’t even have the excuse of divine revelation for setting up the capital in a swamp, but because somehow that was enough to appease white slavers.
mangaskahn@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Listen, lad. I built this kingdom up from nothing. When I started here, all there was was swamp. Other kings said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show ‘em. It sank into the swamp. So, I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So, I built a third one. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp, but the fourth one… stayed up! And that’s what you’re gonna get, lad: the strongest castle in these islands.
PugJesus@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenochtitlan#History
Tenochtitlan was the capital of the Mexican civilization of the Mexica people, founded in 1325. The state religion of the Mexica civilization awaited the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy: the wandering tribes would find the destined site for a great city whose location would be signaled by an eagle with a snake in its beak perched atop a cactus (Opuntia), which had grown from the heart of Copil.[24][25]
The Mexica saw this vision on what was then a small swampy island in Lake Texcoco, a vision that is now immortalized in Mexico’s coat of arms and on the Mexican flag. Not deterred by the unfavourable terrain, they set about building their city, using the chinampa system (misnamed as “floating gardens") for agriculture and to dry and expand the island.
Not so sure about the health conditions of living in a swamp, but it is metal af symbolism.
massive_bereavement@fedia.io 2 weeks ago Plus their origin and how they decided to flay their host's daughter has always made the Mexicas/Aztecs my favorite evil empire.
IncogCyberSpaceUser@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
How did they decide to flay?
jpablo68@infosec.pub 2 weeks ago
We choose to build over a swamp and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard