Central America · Mesoamerican civilizations
Teotihuacan
c. 100 BC – AD 750
Teotihuacan, in the Basin of Mexico about 50 km northeast of modern Mexico City, was the largest city of the pre-Columbian Americas. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, at its apogee (c. 500 CE) it "encompassed some 8 square miles (20 square km) and supported a population estimated at 125,000–200,000," though archaeologist George Cowgill offered a narrower estimate of roughly 85,000–125,000 people by around AD 200.
- Existed
- c. 100 BC – AD 750
- Shown on the map
- AD 1–704
- Peak area
- 6k km²
- Region
- Central America
Overview
Teotihuacan, in the Basin of Mexico about 50 km northeast of modern Mexico City, was the largest city of the pre-Columbian Americas. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, at its apogee (c. 500 CE) it "encompassed some 8 square miles (20 square km) and supported a population estimated at 125,000–200,000," though archaeologist George Cowgill offered a narrower estimate of roughly 85,000–125,000 people by around AD 200. Its name is Nahuatl ("the place where the gods were created"), bestowed centuries later by the Aztecs, who revered its ruins as the birthplace of the current cosmic era; the city's original name and the ethnicity and language of its builders remain unknown — a major historiographical puzzle. The city was laid out on a rigid grid oriented around the Avenue of the Dead, anchored by the Pyramid of the Sun (built c. 200 AD, roughly 65 m tall and among the largest structures in Mesoamerica), the Pyramid of the Moon, and the Temple of the Feathered Serpent within the enclosed Ciudadela (c. 150–250 AD). Per the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "the sacrifice of an estimated 200–260 individuals, 137 of them archaeologically documented, was carried out before construction of the [Feathered Serpent] pyramid began." Teotihuacan pioneered the talud-tablero architectural style and housed most of its population in multi-family apartment compounds decorated with vivid murals.
Decline and legacy
Teotihuacan was a cosmopolitan trade and manufacturing hub, dominating obsidian production and exchanging goods across Mesoamerica; it exerted profound influence over the distant Maya region (most famously in the 378 AD "entrada" at Tikal, which installed a Teotihuacan-linked dynasty). Notably, no clear evidence of individual dynastic monarchy has been found — no royal portraits or king-lists comparable to the Maya — and scholars actively debate whether the city was ruled by a powerful king, an oligarchy, or a collective/corporate form of government. Its major monuments were sacked and deliberately burned around 550 AD, concentrated on the ceremonial core along the Avenue of the Dead, and the city declined thereafter. Proposed causes for the collapse include internal revolt or elite factional conflict, drought, resource exhaustion, and the global climate disruptions of 535–536; the balance of evidence increasingly favors internal upheaval.
Common questions
- What was Teotihuacan?
- Teotihuacan, in the Basin of Mexico about 50 km northeast of modern Mexico City, was the largest city of the pre-Columbian Americas. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, at its apogee (c. 500 CE) it "encompassed some 8 square miles (20 square km) and supported a population estimated at 125,000–200,000," though archaeologist George Cowgill offered a narrower estimate of roughly 85,000–125,000 people by around AD 200.
- When did Teotihuacan exist?
- Teotihuacan existed c. 100 BC – AD 750. On this map it is drawn AD 1–704.
- How large was Teotihuacan?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Teotihuacan covered about 6,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
- How did Teotihuacan end?
- Teotihuacan was a cosmopolitan trade and manufacturing hub, dominating obsidian production and exchanging goods across Mesoamerica; it exerted profound influence over the distant Maya region (most famously in the 378 AD "entrada" at Tikal, which installed a Teotihuacan-linked dynasty).
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each polity and for the key figures and events as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, EBSCO Research Starters and academic sources. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Teotihuacan en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teotihuacan
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
See Teotihuacan in its world
Open the atlas at AD 353 and every neighbour, rival and successor is on screen with it — then drag the slider and watch what happens next.
Open the map at AD 353 →