Editing Teotihuacan (section)

===Origins and foundation===
[[File:Classic sites 1.png|thumb|right|300px|Teotihuacan and other important Classic Era settlements]]

The early history of Teotihuacan is quite mysterious, and the origin of its founders is uncertain. Around 300 BCE, people of the central and southeastern areas of Mesoamerica began to gather into larger settlements.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title = Worlds Together Worlds Apart Volume 1 Concise Edition|last1 = Pollard|first1 = Elizabeth|publisher = W.W. Norton & Company|year = 2015|isbn = 978-0-393-91847-2|location = New York|pages = 292|last2 = Rosenberg|first2 = Clifford|last3 = Tignor|first3 = Robert}}</ref> Teotihuacan was the largest urban center of Mesoamerica before the Aztecs, almost 1000 years prior to their epoch.<ref name=":0" /> The city was already in ruins by the time of the Aztecs. For many years, archeologists believed it was built by the [[Toltec]]. This belief was based on colonial period texts, such as the [[Florentine Codex]], which attributed the site to the Toltecs. However, the Nahuatl word "Toltec" generally means "craftsman of the highest level" and may not always refer to the Toltec civilization centered at [[Tula, Hidalgo]]. Since Toltec civilization flourished centuries after Teotihuacan, the people could not have been the city's founders.

In the Late Formative era, a number of urban centers arose in central Mexico. The most prominent of these appears to have been [[Cuicuilco]], on the southern shore of [[Lake Texcoco]]. Scholars have speculated that the eruption of the [[Xitle]] volcano may have prompted a mass emigration out of the central valley and into the Teotihuacan valley. These settlers may have founded or accelerated the growth of Teotihuacan.<ref>[[Secrets of the Dead]], episode ''Teotihuacan's Lost Kings'', PBS, 30 October 2018</ref>

Other scholars have put forth the [[Totonac]] people as the founders of Teotihuacan and have suggested that Teotihuacan was a multi-ethnic state since they find diverse cultural aspects connected to the [[Zapotec civilization|Zapotec]], [[Mixtec]], and [[Maya civilization|Maya]] peoples.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-americas/teotihuacan|title = Teotihuacan| date=23 June 2023 }}</ref> The builders of Teotihuacan took advantage of the geography in the Basin of Mexico. From the swampy ground, they constructed raised beds, called chinampas, creating high agricultural productivity despite old methods of cultivation.<ref name=":0" /> This allowed for the formation of channels, and subsequently canoe traffic, to transport food from farms around the city. The earliest buildings at Teotihuacan date to about 200 BCE. The largest pyramid, the [[Pyramid of the Sun]], was completed by 100 CE.<ref>Millon (1993), p. 24.</ref>