1572 Mexico Regia et Celebris Hispaniae Novae Civitas | Cusco, Regni Peru in Novo Orbe

By: Georg Braun & Frans Hogenberg Date: 1572 (published) Cologne Dimensions: 10.5 x 18.25 inches (26.7 x 45.5 cm) Remarkable pair of views of Tenochititlan and Cusco, the Capital cities of the Aztec and Inca Empires. This pair of maps were the only two cities of the Western Hemisphere, or the New World to be included in the landmark work of Braun & Hogenberg "Civitates Orbis Terrarum," published in 1572. Tenochtitlan, now the home of Mexico City was built on an island in what was then Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico and was home to the great and ever expanding Aztec Empire. At its time of great prosperity and success, Tenochititlan was by far the largest city in the Americas, some have said it to have been larger than Paris. It had many large and small streets, canals, public buildings, palaces, and marketplaces, some of which that are estimated to have served more than 20,000 people daily and nearly double that on days of feast or human sacrifice.  Hernán Cortés and his m