Zócalo

About

Zócalo is the common name of the main square in central Mexico City. Prior to the conquest by Spain, it was the main ceremonial center in the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The plaza used to be known simply as the Plaza Mayor ('Main Square') or Plaza de Armas ('Arms Square'), and today its formal name is Plaza de la Constitución ('Constitution Square').

This name does not come from any of the Mexican constitutions that have governed Mexico but from the Cádiz Constitution, which was signed in Spain in the year 1812. Even so, it is almost always called the Zócalo today. Plans were made to erect a column as a monument to independence, but only the base, or zócalo (meaning 'plinth'), was built. The plinth was buried long ago, but the name has lived on. Many other Mexican towns and cities, such as Oaxaca, Mérida, and Guadalajara, have adopted the word zócalo to refer to their main plazas, but not all.