Central Mexico · Classical Era
Teotihuacan
Mesoamerica's largest city, builder unknown
100 BCE – 550 CE · 650 years
One of the largest cities in the pre-Columbian Americas, whose founding civilization's identity is still debated.
Where it sits on the calendar
Government
Theocracy
Writing system
Teotihuacan glyphs (limited, undeciphered)
Estimated peak population
125,000
How it ended
Internal political collapse
Traits
Monumental architecture Irrigation agriculture Standing army Long-distance trade Astronomical record-keeping Urban planning Bronze metallurgy Iron metallurgy Codified law Seafaring
How Teotihuacan ended
Core ceremonial structures show signs of deliberate burning, suggesting internal uprising rather than outside conquest.
See other civilizations that fell the same way →Notable for
- Pyramid of the Sun, one of Mesoamerica's largest structures
- A planned grid-based city layout
- Population larger than contemporary Rome-era estimates for the region
Who else was alive at the same time
8 other civilizations in this dataset overlap with Teotihuacan's 650-year span.
See every overlap involving Teotihuacan →