State · c. 100–550 CE
Teotihuacan, metropolis of Mesoamerica
Teotihuacan, near Mexico City (Mexico)
Teotihuacan grew explosively in the first centuries CE into the largest city in Mesoamerica, laid out along the Avenue of the Dead with the Pyramid of the Sun, about 65 m high, completed by around 100 CE. At its height around 450 CE it may have housed about 100,000 people, though estimates range from 25,000 to well over that.
Its ruling-class buildings were burned around 550 CE and the city declined; the Aztecs, who revered its ruins centuries later, gave it the Nahuatl name by which we know it.
Why it mattered
Teotihuacan's power reached far beyond central Mexico: in 378 CE a warlord linked to the city took over the Maya city of Tikal and installed a new king, showing how one metropolis could shape politics across Mesoamerica.
Related
- The world in 100: Trajan's Rome, Han China chapter
- Buddhism reaches China previous moment · 1st–2nd century CE
- Cai Lun improves papermaking next moment · 105 CE