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This vibrant and highly stylized road map by Matías Santoyo captures the southern lakes region of the Valley of Mexico, extending from Texcoco Lake and the new Central Airport in the north to the swamps of Mixquic and dry bed of Lake Chalco in the south, and from Chalco in the east to San Jerónimo and Milpa Alta in the west. It was designed to guide tourists through the dramatic and historically rich landscape stretching beyond Mexico City’s southern suburbs, with hand-drawn vignettes marking everything from Aztec canals to bullfights, colonial churches, archaeological ruins, and open-air theaters.
Santoyo organizes the region’s network of roads with a helpful color key in the upper left, distinguishing between paved, all-weather, and rain-sensitive routes. A compass rose anchors the center. Key locations include the floating gardens of Xochimilco, the old Aztec causeway to Chalco, and a chain of colonial and pre-Columbian monuments: the pyramid of Cuicuilco, the colossal idol at Coatlinchán, the Franciscan church at Santiago, and the ring of carved stones on the hill above Santa Cruz Calpixca.
Santoyo (1905–1975), a Mexican artist trained in New York, was best known for his 1927 New Yorker magazine cover before turning to mapmaking in the 1930s. The map blends modernist illustration with nationalist themes to encourage regional exploration by automobile. Though it was likely printed in considerable numbers, it is scarce today.
