Origins

The Teotihuacan Valley 2,400 years ago was occupied by small villages with a population of approximately 5,000. Later, towards the year 200 a. C., some settlers from the south of the Basin of Mexico, migrated to the northern part of Lake Texcoco, thus forming the first planned city in Mesoamerica.

The initial planning of the city was cautious. The outlines of the streets and blocks of the housing complex were governed by two large axes perpendicular to each other: the Calzada de los Muertos and the East-West Calzada.

From the beginning, the city had a very sophisticated drainage and sewage system in its housing units, buildings, and public squares. Its architectural style is characterized by its inclined wall slope and the vertical wall board, which can be seen in its buildings.

For their part, the temples and palaces that delimit and make up the Calzada de los Muertos, were spaces dedicated to political, administrative, civic and religious practices, surrounded by the housing units of the upper classes. While ordinary people lived on the outskirts of the city.

Teotihuacan in its years of splendor, 450 to 650 AD. c., the city covered an approximate extension of 23 km2 and reached a population of about 170 thousand inhabitants, which led to a prosperous economic development, the strengthening of sciences and arts. However, there were also strong social differences.

Religion was a fundamental element for the governance of Teotihuacan, for which its priests had control not only of the inhabitants of the Valley, but also of the neighbors of the basin of Mexico.

From what can be observed in the remodeling and overlapping of the buildings, it allows us to appreciate the growth of Teotihuacan for 900 years, since its architecture allows us to decipher the different stages of growth until its fall in 700 to 750 AD. C, approx.

After the abandonment of the Teotihuacan city, the Toltecs and Mexicas or Aztecs were impressed with the grandeur of the ancient city and considered it sacred, reoccupying some spaces to carry out part of their religious and political activities.