[4] Over the colonial and post-independence periods, most of Lake Texcoco was drained and the city is no longer on the shore and much of the municipality is on lakebed.

[3] Numerous Aztec archeological finds have been discovered here, including the 125 tonne stone statue of Chalchiuhtlicue, which was found near San Miguel Coatlinchán and now resides at the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.

The most important annual festival is the Feria Internacional del Caballo (International Fair of the Horse), which showcases the area's mostly agricultural economic base.

[9] The Paleontological Museum in Tocuila displays part of one of the richest deposits of Late Pleistocene fauna in the Americas, found in an ancient river mouth that used to flow into Lake Texcoco.

The most notable rulers of Acolhuacan, who resided in Texcoco were Nopaltzin, Tlotzin Pochotl, Quinatzin Tlaltecatzin, Techotlalatzin, Ixtlixochitl El Viejo, Nezahualcoyotl, Nezahualpilli and Cacamatzin.

[10] In 1551, indigenous leader Fernando Pimentel y Alvarado petitioned to have Texcoco recognized as a city by the Spanish Crown.

From 1827 to 1830, Texcoco was the second capital of the State of Mexico, until it was moved to San Agustín de las Cuevas, today Tlalpan.

Today, the statue stands in front of the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City; the local population resisted the relocation of the sculpture, even sabotaging the vehicles which came for it.

[5] In 2003, archeologists sponsored by the National Geographic, University of Michigan and the Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo discovered a number of pre-Hispanic artifacts in an area which has been proposed for building an airport.

[6] In 2005, traditional crafts vendors blocked the main roads of the historic center of Texcoco to demand that they not be relocated away from the city cathedral.

[11] In 2006, there were outbreaks of violence among merchants and farmers versus police in Texcoco and neighboring San Salvador Atenco, blocking the Texcoco-Lechería highway.

The merchants were from the Belisario Dominguez market in Texcoco who have been denied public space in which to sell their merchandise, mostly flowers.

Supporters of the flower sellers from San Salvador Atenco have intervened in both the talks and the blocking of roads in protest.

Most agriculture is based on family farms which produce avocados, plums, apples and pears as well as corn, beans, barley, wheat, maguey and nopal.

[17] In the early 1970s, an idea emerged to create a regional fair to represent Texcoco to the rest of Mexico, exhibiting its agriculture and livestock.

[18] The Feria occurs at the end of March and includes musical shows, cockfights, open-air theatre and expositions of livestock, commerce and crafts, with one of the main events being bullfighting.

[20][21] Artists which have appeared at the event include Los Hermanos Carrión, Roberto Jordan and José Luis Rodríguez "El Puma."

In 2008, the festival had its first international participants, with Filippa Giorgano coming from Italy and the group Los Bunkers from Chile.

According to tradition, the chapel was named for an apparition of Christ which supposedly occurred on the rocks that border the Cuxcahuaco which crosses this property.

[22] The historic center of the city contains the palace of Nezahualcoyotl, the Cathedral and the Chapel of Gante as well as a Casa de Cultura, which contains a small museum.

[23] The palace had at least 300 rooms, five courtyards, a Mesoamerican ball court and an area called Tleotlapan (land of gods) which was a shrine with a nine-story pyramid.

Puerto de Bergantines is the location where Hernán Cortés built brigantines and set sail from to attack Tenochtitlan by water in 1521.

[25][26] The site has suffered damage from vandalism and graffiti, including a portion called the Patio of the Gods, where ceremonies to mark the spring equinox and the birthday of Nezahualcoyotl (August 28) are still held.

Violent protests erupted in Texcoco in 2001 and 2002 with threats against public officials,[28][29][30] which garnered much national and international press coverage.

[8] Just south of the city limits is the Texcoco's most notable institution of higher education the Chapingo Autonomous University.

In the old hacienda chapel, which is now the University Ceremonies Room is a mural by Diego Rivera called “Tierra Fecundada” (Fertile Land).

This work was produced during his last year at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas (ENAP) of UNAM and depicts the agriculture of Mexico in both the past and the present.

The collection has about 4,000 objects relating to technology, agronomy including farming implements and photographs by Hanz Gutmann.

[35] Other educational institution located in the city include the Centro Universitario UAEM Texcoco[36] and the Universidad del Valle de Mexico.

[14] Fragments of the portal, the Latin cross layout of the temple and the open chapel are all that is left of the original 16th century monastery.