Political Landscape of the Classic Period (200-900 CE)
The sixth largest city in the world circa 500 CE, Teotihuacan's approximate area of direct political control is shaded in red on this map. The city's economic influence stretched to virtually every corner of Mesoamerica. Scholars continue to debate the nature and extent of Teotihuacan's military conquests. Multiple lines of evidence indisputably establish strong political ties to the Maya area by the Early Classic Period. Over time the influence of Teotihuacan ebbed and flowed, peaking twice more. The city burned before 600 CE. The adoption by the Maya of motifs associated with highland rulership continued even as the importance of Teotihuacan, once a city of 120,000 people—perhaps at its height closer to 200,000—diminished in the Late Classic. Evidence suggests that Monte Alban, the Zapotec capital (in yellow), might have been allied with Teotihuacan or was eventually conquered by it. Monte Alban dominated the southern Mexican highlands (Oaxaca).
The region dominated by Maya city-states during the Classic Period is shaded in plum. Maya kings—occasionally queens—and their city-states operated within an evolving set of alliance structures (i.e., hegemonies) dominated by two major polities: Tikal in modern Peten (on map), and Calakmul, located about 60 miles north of Tikal in modern Campeche. The ruins of Palenque in modern Chiapas (on map), and Copan in modern Honduras—both relatively small but important cities—are situated respectively along the western and southeastern boundaries of Mayadom.
Source: The History Atlas of South America (p. 22, c1998), with annotations by the author of this guide.