Teotihuacan

Around 2400 years ago, the Valley of Teotihuacan was occupied by various rural communities with approximately 5,000 inhabitants. Toward 200 B.C., part of the population from the Southern Basin of Mexico migrated north of Lake Texcoco and formed a new population center in the valley, creating the first planned urban settlement in Mesoamerica. From its beginning, the city was carefully organized with streets and blocks structured around two great perpendicular roadways, the Avenue of the Dead and the East-West Avenue, and it had drainage and sewage systems in residential units, buildings, and public plazas. Its official architectural style was characterized by the talud-tablero form. The temples and palaces along the Avenue of the Dead were political-administrative and civic-religious areas, the residential units of the upper classes were located nearby, and common people lived on the outskirts. At its height, between 450 and 650 A.D., the city covered about 23 square kilometers and reached about 175,000 inhabitants, bringing economic development and advances in the arts and sciences, but also great social differences. Religion was the principal element of government, and priests controlled not only the Valley of Teotihuacan but also neighboring valleys of the Basin of Mexico. The city grew for nine centuries, leaving visible remodelings and superimposed buildings from different stages, until its fall around 700 to 750 A.D. After its abandonment, the Toltecs and the Aztecs regarded the ancient city as sacred and reoccupied some areas. The ancient city's true name is unknown; the current name is in Nahuatl and comes from the Aztecs, meaning "the place where men become gods."

State of Mexico · Mexico