Pre-Columbian history Archeologists date human settlement around Lake Chalco from about 2400 B.C, but major settlement occurred at approximately 1240 B.C., when the first tribe to call itself
Chalca migrated to the region. This tribe was followed by others, ethnically and linguistically diverse, who added the name Chalca to their own. By 1410 the Chalca territory had developed into a loose confederation, divided into four, semi-sovereign domains. In the early 14th century the Mexica tribe of the Aztecs settled in nearby territory and began to build their city of
Tenochitlan, now Mexico City. Over time, the Chalcas and Mexicas engaged in a number of ritual wars, known as
Xōchiyaoyōtl or
Flower Wars. During the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, the Chalca allied themselves with
Hernán Cortés and his troops.
Modern history Under the presidency of
Porfirio Díaz, much of the drained lake bed formed part of a
latifundia, the Hacienda de Xico. Following the
Mexican Revolution, land ownership was reformed into the
ejido system of communal ownership, and was utilized primarily for dairy farming by the communal owners, or
ejidatarios. This began to change near the end of the 1970s, as hundreds of homesteaders, generally from Mexico City and adjacent urbanized areas, descended upon the region. Most purchased their homestead plots illegally from
ejidatarios. The new settlement grew despite the lack of basic infrastructure, such as potable water, sewers, electricity, public transport, medical services and schools. It was only with the initiation of the Programa Nacional de Solidaridad, in 1988, that the federal government began to install basic services and, ultimately, regularize the tenancy of 77,000 homesteads. During the decades of the 1980s and 1990s, Valle de Chalco expanded dramatically in population; by 1995 the city had 287,073 residents. Growth has since slowed, as undeveloped land becomes less available; in 2005, there were 332,279 residents. By the 2010 census it had grown to 357,645. ==Towns and villages==