This paper reviews the epistemological planning and the different approaches that, starting with Humboldt, have approached the study of landscape in the disciplinary field of human geography. Then, the transformation of the natural environment of the Basin of Mexico is addressed, starting with the organization of the economic and social life of the peoples who have inhabited it, covering a long time span that allows us to understand the impact of the actions of men at small and large scales, in the scenario of a basin of great physiographic and biological contrasts. Past legacies and contemporary dynamics merge in the landscapes that the inhabitants of one of the most populated regions in the world today look at, enjoy, suffer and, in any case, give them identity roots and are part of their individual and collective memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]