Various competitors have been suggested as playing major roles in Teotihuacan's demise, including Cholula and Xochicalco. Military setbacks have been implicated in Teotihuacan's demise but the danger must have been diffuse and it was less important than the impeded flow of goods into the city.
What was the ending of Teotihuacan?
Period IV describes the time period between 650 and 750 CE. It marks the end of Teotihuacan as a major power in Mesoamerica. The city's elite housing compounds, clustered around the Avenue of the Dead, bear many burn marks, and archeologists hypothesize that the city experienced civil strife that hastened its decline.
What are the theories as to why Teotihuacan ended?
It's unclear why Teotihuacan collapsed; one theory is that poorer classes carried out an internal uprising against the elite. For Cowgill, who says more studies are needed to understand the lives of the poorer classes that inhabited Teotihuacan, the mystery lies not as much in who built the city or in why it fell.
When did the city of Teotihuacan become abandoned?
400 the city of Teotihuacan, located about 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, was a thriving metropolis, the biggest city in the Western Hemisphere and so influential that the Maya wanted to be, as one previous ASU News article recounted, “Teotihuacan hipsters.” By A.D. 750, the city had ceased to exist.
What probably caused the decline of Teotihuacan quizlet?
Teotihuacan collapsed around 750 CE. The collapse may have been caused by mismanagement of resources and conflict within the elite, or as a result of invasion.
Why didn’t the Spanish destroy Teotihuacan?
The Spanish did not destroy the pyramids of Teotihuacan because they were not present in the area at the time of the conquest. Teotihuacan is an ancient Mesoamerican city located about 30 miles northeast of modern-day Mexico City, and it was abandoned long before the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century.
What happens to Tenochtitlan?
The Spanish conquistadors, aided by an alliance of Indigenous peoples, laid siege to the Aztec capital for 93 days, until the Mexica surrendered on August 13, 1521. A great deal of Tenochtitlan was destroyed in the fighting, or was looted, burned, or destroyed after the surrender.
What were the Teotihuacan obsessed with?
In summary, new data indicate that the people of Teotihuacan were obsessed with capturing their cosmological ideas at a large scale through human sacrificial rituals and sacred warfare.
Did Teotihuacan have human sacrifice?
The Mesoamerican imperial capital of Classic period Teotihuacan (0 to 550 CE) in central Mexico is known for its dramatic ritual deposits of sacrificed animals and human beings and sheer monumentality (1), much like its later successor, the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (2).
Why did Teotihuacan end?
Was Teotihuacan abandoned?
In A.D. 750, nearly 700 years after it was established, the city of Teotihuacán was abandoned, its monuments still filled with treasures and artifacts and bones, its buildings left to be eaten by the surrounding brush.
What happened to Teotihuacan when it fell around 550 AD?
Somerville pointed to previous research indicating the population of Teotihuacan dropped 70-80% when the center of the city and all the temples were burned in what's referred to as the “Great Fire Event.” Shortly after the collapse, however, a neighborhood called Hacienda Metepec grew from 800-1,500 people to around …
What caused Teotihuacan decline in the seventh century?
What caused Teotihuacán's decline in the seventh century (600s CE)? Internal uprisings coupled with external rebellions likely contributed to the city's decline.
What killed more Aztec than the Spanish weapons?
Smallpox spread among the indigenous people and crippled their ability to resist the Spanish. The disease devastated the Aztec people, greatly reducing their population and killing an estimated half of Tenochtitlán's inhabitants. One of those who died was the Aztec emperor Cuitláhuac.
Why was the fall of Tenochtitlan?
The fall of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire, was an important event in the Spanish conquest of the empire. It occurred in 1521 following extensive manipulation of local factions and exploitation of pre-existing political divisions by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés.
Did Tenochtitlan get destroyed?
By the end, a few thousand Spaniards under the command of Hernando Cortés fighting alongside many times more Indigenous warriors from places like Tlaxcala and Huexotzinco had destroyed one of the greatest cities of the early modern world, the seat of the Aztec Empire.
What happened to Teotihuacan and the people who lived there?
It's unclear why Teotihuacan collapsed. Around 600 A.D., major buildings were deliberately burned and artworks and religious sculptures were destroyed, suggesting an uprising from the poor against the ruling elite.
Why did Aztec sacrifice humans?
For The Aztecs, Human Sacrifice Had Spiritual SignificanceThe keep the sun moving across the sky and preserve their very lives, the Aztecs had to feed Huitzilopochtli with human hearts and blood. Human sacrifice also served another purpose in the expanding Aztec empire of the 15th and 16th centuries: intimidation.
Was Teotihuacan abandoned by the year 750?
In A.D. 750, nearly 700 years after it was established, the city of Teotihuacán was abandoned, its monuments still filled with treasures and artifacts and bones, its buildings left to be eaten by the surrounding brush.
Why were the pyramids abandoned?
The topography of Luxor, which became the capital of Egypt during the New Kingdom (1550 to 1070 B.C.) may also have played a role in the decline of pyramid construction. The area is "far too restricted in space, with also lots of lumps and bumps," Dodson said.