Cortés subsequently besieged Tenochtitlan for 75 days, causing the inhabitants utter famine,[7] directed the systematic destruction and leveling of the city,[26] and began its rebuilding, despite opposition, with a central area designated for Spanish use (the traza). The outer Indian section, now dubbed San Juan Tenochtitlan, continued to be governed by the previous indigenous elite and was divided into the same subdivisions as before.[27]