Maps Erase Indigenous Urban Achievement

An early European map presented to readers a version of Tenochtitlan that emphasized destruction rather than the city's preexisting urban complexity. Visual depictions like this functioned as persuasive evidence for European viewers, simplifying a contested moment into a durable story of ruin and victory. — This matters because historic cartography is not neutral: early visual framing helped legitimize colonial rule and continues to shape modern understandings of non‑European civilizations.