Plaza de la Constitución (Ciudad de México)

Mexico City’s main square was named Plaza de la Constitución in honor of the Constitution of Cádiz, the liberal Spanish charter sworn in 1812 while Mexico was still part of the Spanish Empire — not for any of Mexico’s own constitutions.

Its nickname ‘Zócalo’ (plinth or base) comes from a 19th-century plan for a monument to independence: only the base was ever built, and people began calling the whole square after it.