 Preventing periodic and destructive flooding in Mexico City during the colonial era nearly forced the move of the capital to the mainland of the interior lake system.Instead, the Spanish crown invested millions pesos and mobilized tens of thousands of indigenous men in compulsory labor to build a tunnel and then an open cut trench to drain waters out of the Basin of Mexico.The Spanish facilitated a series of practices, which would eventually lead to ecological destruction, including constructing dams, burning woodlands, and diverting water from lakes and canals.