Teotihuacan's Construction: Circa 1st Century AD by Nahuatl-Speakers

The ancient city of Teotihuacan, in the Valley of Mexico, was founded around the 1st century AD (c. 100–200 CE).

• Builders: Likely Nahuatl-speaking peoples ancestral to the Aztecs (Mexica), though the city's ethnicity remains debated (Totonac, Otomi, or multiethnic).
• Peak: 150–450 CE — population 100,000–200,000; largest city in the Americas, 6th largest worldwide.
• Monuments: Pyramid of the Sun, Pyramid of the Moon, Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Avenue of the Dead.
• Decline: ~550–650 CE (internal unrest, drought, resource depletion).
• Legacy: Aztecs revered it as the "City of the Gods" (Teōtīhuacān in Nahuatl).

Teotihuacan's grid plan, monumental architecture, and cultural influence shaped all subsequent Mesoamerican civilizations.