Teotihuacan

View of Teotihuacan from the Pyramid of the Sun; photo by Ed Dawson

Teotihuacan was built around 200BC and lasted to 600 AD. The first real city in Mesoamerica(Krupp,1996), it was discovered looted and in ruins by the Aztecs while they were passing through to the Valley of Mexico in the 12th century. In fact, it was the Aztecs who named the city Teotihuacan, or "City of the Gods", so obviously the ruins were still awesome enough to overwhelm them. Covering 20 square km (8 square miles), Teotihuacan at its peak supported 125,000 to 200,000 people - one of the largest and probably the largest city of pre-Aztec Mesoamerica. No one is sure exactly who the Teotihuacans were. The area did no experiece an urban boom until 100BC when refugees from Cuicuilco flooded the area after a volcanic eruption. Some people have attributed the city to the early Toltecs. Next