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158-446: 19°41′33″N 98°50′38″W / 19.69250°N 98.84389°W / 19.69250; -98.84389 Teotihuacan ( / t eɪ ˌ oʊ t iː w ə ˈ k ɑː n / ; Spanish : Teotihuacán , Spanish pronunciation: [teotiwa'kan] ; modern Nahuatl pronunciation ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico , which
316-524: A Pueblo con Encanto del Bicentenario (of the Bicentennial). It was chosen as representative of the history of the State of Mexico due to the archeological site and the historic buildings that are in the town proper. The origin of the modern town is marked by the former monastery of San Juan Evangelista, which was founded in 1548. The main entrance from the atrium contains decorated arches. The portal
474-601: A Spanish-based creole language called Chavacano developed in the southern Philippines. However, it is not mutually intelligible with Spanish. The number of Chavacano-speakers was estimated at 1.2 million in 1996. The local languages of the Philippines also retain significant Spanish influence, with many words derived from Mexican Spanish , owing to the administration of the islands by Spain through New Spain until 1821, until direct governance from Madrid afterwards to 1898. San Juan Teotihuac%C3%A1n Teotihuacán
632-497: A baptismal font. Inside the church is a finally sculpted wooden pulpit. Much of the old cloister area remains as well. Monday is market day and the town hosts one of the most traditional “ tianguis ” in the Valley of Mexico, where hundreds of stalls are set up between the archeological site and the old monastery. Most of the merchandise is foodstuffs and prepared dishes. The tianguis is known for its fruits and vegetables, as well as
790-575: A city. As of January 23, 2018, the name Teotihuacan has come under scrutiny by experts, who now feel that the site's name may have been changed by Spanish colonizers in the 16th century. Archeologist Verónica Ortega of the National Institute of Anthropology and History states that the city appears to have actually been named Teohuacan , meaning "City of the Sun" rather than "City of the Gods", as
948-568: A common ancestry with the Teotihuacanos, modifying and adopting aspects of their culture. The ethnicity of the inhabitants of Teotihuacan is the subject of debate. Possible candidates are the Nahua , Otomi , or Totonac ethnic groups. Other scholars have suggested that Teotihuacan was multi-ethnic , due to the discovery of cultural aspects connected to the Maya as well as Oto-Pamean people . It
1106-603: A considerable number of words from Arabic , as well as a minor influence from the Germanic Gothic language through the period of Visigoth rule in Iberia. In addition, many more words were borrowed from Latin through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. The loanwords were taken from both Classical Latin and Renaissance Latin , the form of Latin in use at that time. According to
1264-415: A dedication when buildings were expanded or constructed. The victims were probably enemy warriors captured in battle and brought to the city for ritual sacrifice to ensure the city could prosper. Some men were decapitated, some had their hearts removed, others were killed by being hit several times over the head, and some were buried alive. Animals that were considered sacred and represented mythical powers and
1422-522: A dramatic change in the pronunciation of its sibilant consonants , known in Spanish as the reajuste de las sibilantes , which resulted in the distinctive velar [x] pronunciation of the letter ⟨j⟩ and—in a large part of Spain—the characteristic interdental [θ] ("th-sound") for the letter ⟨z⟩ (and for ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ ). See History of Spanish (Modern development of
1580-554: A farming and livestock show, and a gastronomy and crafts fair. The 2010 event was dedicated to the Bicentennial of Mexico's Independence and featured a dirigible 44 meters long and the return of John Ninomiya, a man who is able to fly attached to a bunch of balloons . The event takes place at the “Globopuerto Volare, located on the Tulancingo-Teotihuacan highway. The Festival Musica para los Dioses (Music for
1738-482: A first language by Spaniards and educated Filipinos ( Ilustrados ). Despite a public education system set up by the colonial government, by the end of Spanish rule in 1898, only about 10% of the population had knowledge of Spanish, mostly those of Spanish descent or elite standing. Spanish continued to be official and used in Philippine literature and press during the early years of American administration after
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#17327654587861896-632: A group of Teotihuacanos organized a coup d'etat in Tikal, Guatemala. This was not the Teotihuacan state; it was a group of the Feathered-Serpent people, thrown out of the city. The Feathered-Serpent Pyramid was burnt, all the sculptures were torn from the temple, and another platform was built to efface the facade ... In 426, the Copán ruling dynasty was created with K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' as
2054-501: A large number of other birds, reptiles and insects. Most of the municipality's land is dedicated to agriculture, with forests coming second at around fourteen percent. Most agriculture is seasonal and tied to the annual rainy season. Main crops include alfalfa, oats, barley, beans, corn, wheat and prickly pears . There are orchards that produce pears, apples, tejocotes , peaches, apricots, plums and other fruits. Most livestock consists of pigs or domestic fowl kept on family plots. Most of
2212-478: A long history in the territory of the current-day United States dating back to the 16th century. In the wake of the 1848 Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty , hundreds of thousands of Spanish speakers became a minoritized community in the United States. The 20th century saw further massive growth of Spanish speakers in areas where they had been hitherto scarce. According to the 2020 census, over 60 million people of
2370-736: 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. Factors that also led to the decline of the city included disruptions in tributary relations, increased social stratification, and power struggles between the ruling and intermediary elites. Following this decline, Teotihuacan continued to be inhabited, though it never reached its previous levels of population. The early history of Teotihuacan
2528-458: A minimum of 125,000 inhabitants, and the city was among the largest cities in the ancient world, containing 2,000 buildings within an area of 18 square kilometers. It was also during this high period when Teotihuacan contained approximately half all people in the Valley of Mexico, becoming a kind of primate city of Mesoamerica. This period saw a massive reconstruction of buildings, and the Temple of
2686-553: A mural or a censer depicting gods like the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan or the Feathered Serpent . Censers would be lit during religious rituals to invoke the gods including rituals with human sacrifice . As evidenced from human and animal remains found during excavations of the pyramids in the city, Teotihuacanos practiced human sacrifice . Scholars believe that the people offered human sacrifices as part of
2844-425: A natural disaster that occurred prior to its population boom. At one point in time, Teotihuacan was rivaled by another basin power, Cuicuilco . Both cities, roughly the same size and hubs for trade, were productive centers of artisans and commerce. Roughly around 100 BCE, however, the power dynamic changed when Mount Xitle, an active volcano, erupted, and heavily affected Cuicuilco and the farmland that supported it. It
3002-491: A number of craft items. Here and at the permanent municipal market , one can try local dishes such as barbacoa , mixiote , quail and many preparations with nopal , which grows abundantly. The municipal market dates from the early 20th century. In 2005, when the market decided to install a new drainage system, INAH was called into do archeological work, as it is within the site's perimeter and no archeological surveys had been undertaken here before. The exploration discovered
3160-508: A primarily Hassaniya Arabic -speaking territory, Spanish was officially spoken as the language of the colonial administration during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Today, Spanish is present in the partially-recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as its secondary official language, and in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf ( Algeria ), where the Spanish language is still taught as
3318-617: A second language features characteristics involving the variability of the vowel system. While far from its heyday during the Spanish protectorate in Morocco , the Spanish language has some presence in northern Morocco , stemming for example from the availability of certain Spanish-language media. According to a 2012 survey by Morocco's Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES), penetration of Spanish in Morocco reaches 4.6% of
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#17327654587863476-531: A second language, largely by Cuban educators. The number of Spanish speakers is unknown. Spanish is also an official language of the African Union . Spanish was an official language of the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish administration in 1565 to a constitutional change in 1973. During Spanish colonization , it was the language of government, trade, and education, and was spoken as
3634-640: A source of controversy. INAH has classified much of the area into three sectors: A, B, and C. A includes the Calzada de los Muertos (Avenue of the Dead), pyramids and other structures within what is commonly thought of as the site. Sectors B and C are two peripheral rings around sector A. Each of these sectors have building and other land use restrictions, which depend on how far the center any given site is. These restrictions have come into conflict with development concerns. The largest of these controversies occurred in
3792-547: A structure ( talud ) is surmounted by a rectangular panel ( tablero ). Variants of the generic style are found in a number of Maya region sites including Tikal , Kaminaljuyu , Copan , Becan , and Oxkintok , and particularly in the Petén Basin and the central Guatemalan highlands. The talud-tablero style pre-dates its earliest appearance at Teotihuacan in the Early Classic period; it appears to have originated in
3950-501: A substation at km 110 of the Teotihuacan-Tulancingo highway, blacking out power to about 45,000 people in various municipalities. SME and the federal government have been at odds over the privatization of electricity in the country. In 2015, Teotihuacán was integrated to the " Pueblos Mágicos " program. The town has been named a Pueblo con Encanto (Town with Charm) by the government of the State of Mexico, as well as
4108-566: A wide variety of plants found in the deserts and arid grasslands of Mexico. Some of the plants include maguey , various palms, barrel cactus and other cacti. It is located next to the archeological site. The town has two main traditional festivals: the feast day of John the Baptist (the patron of the town) in late June and the feast of Christ the Redeemer in July, which runs concurrently with
4266-416: Is cognate to the root word of satisfacer ("to satisfy"), and hecho ("made") is similarly cognate to the root word of satisfecho ("satisfied"). Compare the examples in the following table: Some consonant clusters of Latin also produced characteristically different results in these languages, as shown in the examples in the following table: In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish underwent
4424-473: Is a municipality located in the State of Mexico . The municipal seat is the town of Teotihuacán de Arista. It is in the northeast of the Valley of Mexico , 45 km northeast of Mexico City and 119 km from the state capital of Toluca . Teotihuacan takes its name from the ancient city and World Heritage Site that is located next to the municipal seat. "Teotihuacan" is from Nahuatl and means "place of
4582-525: Is believed that Teotihuacan had a major influence on the Preclassic and Classic Maya. Architectural styles prominent at Teotihuacan are found widely dispersed at a number of distant Mesoamerican sites, which some researchers have interpreted as evidence for Teotihuacan's far-reaching interactions and political or militaristic dominance. A style particularly associated with Teotihuacan is known as talud-tablero , in which an inwards-sloping external side of
4740-419: Is believed that the later exponential growth of Teotihuacan's population was due to the subsequent migration of those displaced by the eruption. While this eruption is referenced as being the primary cause of the mass exodus, recent advancements of dating have shed light on an even earlier eruption. The eruption of Popocatepetl in the middle of the first century preceded that of Xitle, and is believed to have begun
4898-544: Is clear that many different cultural groups lived in Teotihuacan during the height of its power, with migrants coming from all over, but especially from Oaxaca and the Gulf Coast. After the collapse of Teotihuacan, central Mexico was dominated by more regional powers, notably Xochicalco and Tula . The city and the archeological site are located in what is now the San Juan Teotihuacán municipality in
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5056-515: Is considered to be the most important rock and camping fest in all of Mexico. The main attraction here is the Teotihuacan archeological site, which is a World Heritage Site. The center of the site is the Calzada de los Muertos or the Avenue of the Dead, which is almost four kilometres long. The city surrounds this avenue in mostly symmetrical form, which can best be seen at the Pyramid of the Moon at
5214-433: Is crowded with beer billboards, hotels, restaurants and dozens of stands selling souvenirs and up to hundreds of wandering vendors both inside and outside the archeological site. Within zones A and B of the site are 500+ wandering vendors, 240 souvenir shops, 32 restaurants, 10 billboards, a radio antenna, a hotel and a spa/water park. Most of these have been constructed since the 1980s on what used to be farmland. This farmland
5372-399: Is distinguished by four consecutive periods: Period I occurred between 200 - 1 BCE and marks the development of a distinctively urban area. During this period, Teotihuacan began to grow into a city as local farmers began coalescing around the abundant springs of Teotihuacan. Period II lasted between 1 CE to 350 CE. During this era, Teotihuacan exhibited explosive growth and emerged as
5530-454: Is estimated that about 486 million people speak Spanish as a native language , making it the second most spoken language by number of native speakers . An additional 75 million speak Spanish as a second or foreign language , making it the fourth most spoken language in the world overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi with a total number of 538 million speakers. Spanish is also
5688-761: Is heavily influenced by Venezuelan Spanish. In addition to sharing most of its borders with Spanish-speaking countries, the creation of Mercosur in the early 1990s induced a favorable situation for the promotion of Spanish language teaching in Brazil . In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill, signed into law by the President , making it mandatory for schools to offer Spanish as an alternative foreign language course in both public and private secondary schools in Brazil. In September 2016 this law
5846-524: Is located in the State of Mexico , 40 kilometers (25 mi) northeast of modern-day Mexico City . Teotihuacan is known today as the site of many of the most architecturally significant Mesoamerican pyramids built in the pre-Columbian Americas , namely the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon . Although close to Mexico City, Teotihuacan was not a Mexica (i.e. Aztec) city, and it predates
6004-403: Is of quarried stone which has been sculpted with ornamentation. The rest of the facade contains niches with statues of saints as well as Solomonic columns . The church bell tower includes an old bell gable topped by merlons is the form of cactus typical of the region. To the right of the main church is the open chapel which is fronted by six arches supported by Doric columns and contains
6162-506: Is pronounced [te.oːtiːˈwakaːn] in Nahuatl , with the stress on the syllable wa . By normal Nahuatl orthographic conventions, a written accent mark would not appear in that position. Both this pronunciation and the Spanish pronunciation [te.otiwaˈkan] are used; in Spanish and usually English, the stress falls on the final syllable. The original name of the city is unknown, but it appears in hieroglyphic texts from
6320-462: 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. Teotihuacan was the largest urban center of Mesoamerica before the Aztecs, almost 1000 years prior to their epoch. The city was already in ruins by the time of the Aztecs. For many years, archeologists believed it was built by
6478-732: Is related to Castile ( Castilla or archaically Castiella ), the kingdom where the language was originally spoken. The name Castile , in turn, is usually assumed to be derived from castillo ('castle'). In the Middle Ages , the language spoken in Castile was generically referred to as Romance and later also as Lengua vulgar . Later in the period, it gained geographical specification as Romance castellano ( romanz castellano , romanz de Castiella ), lenguaje de Castiella , and ultimately simply as castellano (noun). Different etymologies have been suggested for
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6636-844: Is spoken by very small communities in Angola due to Cuban influence from the Cold War and in South Sudan among South Sudanese natives that relocated to Cuba during the Sudanese wars and returned for their country's independence. Spanish is also spoken in the integral territories of Spain in Africa, namely the cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary Islands , located in the Atlantic Ocean some 100 km (62 mi) off
6794-813: Is the de facto national language of the country, Spanish is often used in public services and notices at the federal and state levels. Spanish is also used in administration in the state of New Mexico . The language has a strong influence in major metropolitan areas such as those of Los Angeles , Miami , San Antonio , New York , San Francisco , Dallas , Tucson and Phoenix of the Arizona Sun Corridor , as well as more recently, Chicago , Las Vegas , Boston , Denver , Houston , Indianapolis , Philadelphia , Cleveland , Salt Lake City , Atlanta , Nashville , Orlando , Tampa , Raleigh and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. due to 20th- and 21st-century immigration. Although Spanish has no official recognition in
6952-736: Is the source of the San Juan River. Channeling water from some of these sources is the San Agustín Actipan aqueduct. The climate is temperate and semi-arid with rains in the summer. Average year round temperature is 15.4 C with highs reaching up to the low 30sC. There can be frosts from October to March. Some areas of the municipality have small forests of cedar , pine, fir and other trees. In other area, dry climate vegetation such as cactus, maguey, grasses and other plants are prominent. Wildlife includes skunks, rabbits, moles, buzzards, hummingbirds, quail, rattlesnakes, frogs as well as
7110-1017: Is unclear how or from where the style spread into the Maya region. During its zenith, the main structures at Teotihuacan, including the pyramids, were painted in impressive shades of dark red, with some small spots persisting to this day. The city was a center of industry, home to many potters, jewelers, and craftspeople. Teotihuacan is known for producing a great number of obsidian artifacts. No ancient Teotihuacano non- ideographic texts are known to exist (or known to have once existed). Inscriptions from Maya cities show that Teotihuacan nobility traveled to, and perhaps conquered, local rulers as far away as Honduras . Maya inscriptions note an individual named by scholars as " Spearthrower Owl ", apparently ruler of Teotihuacan, who reigned for over 60 years and installed his relatives as rulers of Tikal and Uaxactun in Guatemala . Scholars have based interpretations of Teotihuacan culture on its archeology, murals that adorn
7268-416: Is writing, despite the city having a strong network of contact with the literate Maya. The laboring classes, themselves also stratified, consisted of farmers, skilled craftworkers, and the peripheral rural population. The city dwelling craftspeople of various specialties were housed in apartment complexes distributed throughout the city, known as neighborhood centers, and evidence shows that these centers were
7426-547: The Aztec Empire formed, and Teotihuacan was vassalized once more by the Acolhua . Archeological evidence suggests that Teotihuacan was a multi-ethnic city, and while the predominant language or languages used in Teotihuacan have been lost to history, Totonac and Nahua, early forms of which were spoken by the Aztecs, seem to be highly plausible. This apparent regionally diverse population of Teotihuacan can be traced back to
7584-607: The Iberian Peninsula of Europe . Today, it is a global language with about 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain , and about 600 million when including second language speakers. Spanish is the official language of 20 countries , as well as one of the six official languages of the United Nations . Spanish is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese ;
7742-524: The Mexica Empire by many centuries. At its zenith, perhaps in the first half of the first millennium (1 CE to 500 CE), Teotihuacan was the largest city in the Americas, with a population of at least 25,000, but has been estimated at 125,000 or more, making it at least the sixth-largest city in the world during its epoch. The city covered eight square miles (21 km) and 80 to 90 percent of
7900-568: The Spanish as a First Foreign Language (SAFFL) initiative in March 2005. Spanish has historically had a significant presence on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba , Bonaire and Curaçao ( ABC Islands ) throughout the centuries and in present times. The majority of the populations of each island (especially Aruba) speaking Spanish at varying although often high degrees of fluency. The local language Papiamentu (Papiamento on Aruba)
8058-536: The Spanish conquest , the Teotihuacan area was venerated by the Aztecs, but this status died off with the coming of Christianity. The area came under the control of Texcoco . The area was renamed San Juan Teotihuacan and was the encomienda of Francisco de Verdugo Bazan by the end of the 16th century. During the Mexican War of Independence no battles were fought here although both insurgent and royalist armies passed through at one time or another. The municipality
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#17327654587868216-508: The Spanish–American War but was eventually replaced by English as the primary language of administration and education by the 1920s. Nevertheless, despite a significant decrease in influence and speakers, Spanish remained an official language of the Philippines upon independence in 1946, alongside English and Filipino , a standardized version of Tagalog . Spanish was briefly removed from official status in 1973 but reimplemented under
8374-467: The State of México , approximately 40 kilometers (25 mi) northeast of Mexico City . The site covers a total surface area of 83 square kilometers (32 sq mi) and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. It is the most-visited archeological site in Mexico, receiving 4,185,017 visitors in 2017. The name Teōtīhuacān was given by the Nahuatl -speaking Aztecs centuries after
8532-495: The Tlaxcala-Puebla region during the Preclassic. Analyses have traced the development into local variants of the talud-tablero style at sites such as Tikal, where its use precedes the 5th-century appearance of iconographic motifs shared with Teotihuacan. The talud-tablero style disseminated through Mesoamerica generally from the end of the Preclassic period, and not specifically, or solely, via Teotihuacano influence. It
8690-704: 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
8848-620: 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 , Mixtec , and Maya peoples. 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. This allowed for
9006-608: The collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in the 9th century, and the first systematic written use of the language happened in Toledo , a prominent city of the Kingdom of Castile , in the 13th century. Spanish colonialism in the early modern period spurred the introduction of the language to overseas locations, most notably to
9164-626: The spring equinox . The Pyramid of the Moon is located at the north end of the Calzada de los Muertos. It has four bodies with stairs. There are a number of other palaces and structures worth visiting such as The Citadel, the Palace of Quetzalpapalotl, the Temple of the Plumed Snails and the Palace of the Jaguars. Recently a mural museum has been constructed at the site which contains 34 of the site's murals along with selected artifacts. Despite
9322-404: The 2021–2022 school year alone. The local business process outsourcing industry has also helped boost the language's economic prospects. Today, while the actual number of proficient Spanish speakers is around 400,000, or under 0.5% of the population, a new generation of Spanish speakers in the Philippines has likewise emerged, though speaker estimates vary widely. Aside from standard Spanish,
9480-595: The 20th century, Spanish was introduced to Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara , and to areas of the United States that had not been part of the Spanish Empire, such as Spanish Harlem in New York City . For details on borrowed words and other external influences upon Spanish, see Influences on the Spanish language . Spanish is the primary language in 20 countries worldwide. As of 2023, it
9638-427: The 6th century lends some support to the internal unrest hypothesis. The decline of Teotihuacan has been correlated to lengthy droughts related to the climate changes of 535–536 , possibly caused by the eruption of the Ilopango volcano in El Salvador . This theory of ecological decline is supported by archeological remains that show a rise in the percentage of juvenile skeletons with evidence of malnutrition during
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#17327654587869796-406: The 6th century, further supporting the hypothesis of famine as one of the more plausible reasons for the decline of Teotihuacan. Urbanized Teotihuacanos would likely have been dependent on agricultural crops such as maize, beans, amaranth, tomatillos, and pumpkins. If climate change affected crop yields, then the harvest would not have been sufficient to feed Teotihucan's extensive population. However,
9954-432: The 7th and 8th centuries CE, but its major monuments were sacked and systematically burned around 550 CE. Its collapse might be related to the extreme weather events of 535–536 . Teotihuacan began as a religious center in the Mexican Plateau around the first century CE. It became the largest and most populated center in the pre-Columbian Americas. Teotihuacan was home to multi-floor apartment compounds built to accommodate
10112-402: The 9th century. This was the largest urban center to be constructed in central Mexico until Tenochtitlan further south in the 15th century. All that is left of this city is the archeological site, which preserves structures such as the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon, the Temple of Quetzalcoatl , the market and numerous smaller structures, most of which were government buildings. At the time of
10270-409: The Americas. As a Romance language, Spanish is a descendant of Latin. Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is Latin in origin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek. Alongside English and French , it is also one of the most taught foreign languages throughout the world. Spanish is well represented in the humanities and social sciences . Spanish is also the third most used language on
10428-523: The Equatoguinean education system and is the primary language used in government and business. Whereas it is not the mother tongue of virtually any of its speakers, the vast majority of the population is proficient in Spanish. The Instituto Cervantes estimates that 87.7% of the population is fluent in Spanish. The proportion of proficient Spanish speakers in Equatorial Guinea exceeds the proportion of proficient speakers in other West and Central African nations of their respective colonial languages. Spanish
10586-414: The Feathered Serpent, which dates back to the previous period, was covered with a plaza with rich sculptural decoration. Typical artistic artifacts of this period are funeral masks, crafted mainly from green stone and covered with mosaics of turquoise, shell or obsidian. These masks were highly uniform in nature. Period IV describes the time period between 650 and 750 CE. It marks the end of Teotihuacan as
10744-480: The Gods Festival) is an annual rock and roll event. The festival has attracted as many as fifty bands and crowds of more than 20,000. Attendees bring or rents camping gear, including tents in a secure location as a recreation of Woodstock to stay for the 35-hour event. The annual festival has been going on since 2006 and has featured acts such as the Babasónicos , Maldita Vecindad , Instituto Mexicano del Sonido and Panteón Rococó . The Festival Musica para los Dioses
10902-524: The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya , Miller and Taube list eight deities: Esther Pasztory adds one more: The consensus among scholars is that the primary deity of Teotihuacan was the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan . The dominant civic architecture is the pyramid. Politics were based on the state religion, and religious leaders were the political leaders. Religious leaders would commission artists to create religious artworks for ceremonies and rituals. The artwork likely commissioned would have been
11060-577: The Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Proto-Basque , Iberian , Lusitanian , Celtiberian and Gallaecian . The first documents to show traces of what is today regarded as the precursor of modern Spanish are from the 9th century. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era , the most important influences on the Spanish lexicon came from neighboring Romance languages — Mozarabic ( Andalusi Romance ), Navarro-Aragonese , Leonese , Catalan/Valencian , Portuguese , Galician , Occitan , and later, French and Italian . Spanish also borrowed
11218-444: 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. Other scholars have put forth
11376-549: The Maya region as puh , or "Place of Reeds". This suggests that, in the Maya civilization of the Classic period, Teotihuacan was understood as a Place of Reeds similar to other Postclassic Central Mexican settlements that took the name of Tollan , such as Tula-Hidalgo and Cholula . This naming convention led to much confusion in the early 20th century, as scholars debated whether Teotihuacan or Tula-Hidalgo
11534-604: The Maya region. The sudden destruction of Teotihuacan was common for Mesoamerican city-states of the Classic and Epi-Classic period. Many Maya states suffered similar fates in subsequent centuries, a series of events often referred to as the Classic Maya collapse . Nearby, in the Morelos valley, Xochicalco was sacked and burned in 900, and Tula met a similar fate around 1150. During the 1200s CE, Nahua migrants repopulated
11692-519: The Miccaotli phase, c. 200 CE , the urban population had reached its maximum. In 2001, Terrence Kaufman presented linguistic evidence suggesting that an important ethnic group in Teotihuacan was of Totonacan or Mixe–Zoquean linguistic affiliation. He uses this to explain general influences from Totonacan and Mixe–Zoquean languages in many other Mesoamerican languages , whose people did not have any known history of contact with either of
11850-885: The Obsidian Fair. During the festival of Christ the Redeemer, which lasts eight days, one can see a number of traditional dances such as the Aztecs, Santiagueros and Sembradores. There are also amusement rides, fireworks and sporting events. In the 2000s, two other annual events have been added the Festival Aerostatico Teotihuacan and the Festival Musica para los Dioses. The Festival Aerostatico Teotihuacan (Teotihuacan Hot-Air Balloon Festival) has been held each year since 2005. The event attracts about 15,000 people each year with an average of twenty balloons participating. Other events include paragliding and skydiving exhibitions, ultragliders ,
12008-540: The Old Spanish sibilants) for details. The Gramática de la lengua castellana , written in Salamanca in 1492 by Elio Antonio de Nebrija , was the first grammar written for a modern European language. According to a popular anecdote, when Nebrija presented it to Queen Isabella I , she asked him what was the use of such a work, and he answered that language is the instrument of empire. In his introduction to
12166-543: The Spanish-speaking world, Spanish is called not only español but also castellano (Castilian), the language from the Kingdom of Castile , contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician , Basque , Asturian , Catalan/Valencian , Aragonese , Occitan and other minor languages. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the official language of
12324-469: The Temple of the Feathered Serpent was desecrated and construction in the city proceeded in a more egalitarian direction, focusing on the building of comfortable, stone accommodations for the population . Period III lasted from 350 to 650 CE and is known as the classical period of Teotihuacan, during which the city reached the apogee of influence in Mesoamerica. Its population is estimated at
12482-517: The Teotihuacán controversy in 2006. Permission to build was granted by INAH with stipulations as to the size of the building and architectural elements, so that it would not affect the “cultural and natural landscape.” INAH also require excavation of the site prior to building. Prior to the construction of the store, excavations were undertaken at the site. Two altars were found measuring eight cm and twenty five cm, both of which are preserved in
12640-502: The U.S. population were of Hispanic or Hispanic American by origin. In turn, 41.8 million people in the United States aged five or older speak Spanish at home, or about 13% of the population. Spanish predominates in the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico , where it is also an official language along with English. Spanish is by far the most common second language in the country, with over 50 million total speakers if non-native or second-language speakers are included. While English
12798-483: The Xolalpan period, the city's population was estimated to be 100,000 to 200,000 people. This number was achieved by estimating compound sizes to hold approximately 60 to 100, with 2,000 compounds. These high numbers continued until the city started to decline between 600 and 700 CE. One of Teotihuacan's neighborhoods, Teopancazco , was occupied during most of the time Teotihuacan was as well. It showed that Teotihuacan
12956-536: The abovementioned groups. Other scholars maintain that the largest population group must have been of Otomi ethnicity because the Otomi language is known to have been spoken in the area around Teotihuacan both before and after the Classic period and not during the middle period. Teotihuacan compounds show evidence of being segregated into three classes: high elites, intermediate elites, and the laboring class. Residential architectural structures seem to be differentiable by
13114-457: The administration of Ferdinand Marcos two months later. It remained an official language until the ratification of the present constitution in 1987, in which it was re-designated as a voluntary and optional auxiliary language. Additionally, the constitution, in its Article XIV, stipulates that the Government shall provide the people of the Philippines with a Spanish-language translation of
13272-557: The aforementioned degradation of agricultural lands and structural damage to the city. Xitle's eruption further instigated the abandonment of Cuicuilco. In the Tzacualli phase ( c. 1 –150 CE), Teotihuacan saw a population growth to approximately 60,000 to 80,000 people, most of whom are believed to have come from the Mexican basin. Following this growth, however, the influx of new residents slowed, and evidence suggests that, by
13430-422: The area. By the 1300s, it had fallen under the sway of Huexotla , and in 1409 was assigned its own tlatoani , Huetzin, a son of the tlatoani of Huexotla . But his reign was cut short when Tezozomoc , tlatoani of Azcapotzalco , invaded Huexotla and the neighboring Acolhua lands in 1418. Huetzin was deposed by the invaders, and Tezozomoc installed a man named Totomochtzin. Less than a decade later, in 1427,
13588-653: The artistry and complexity of the structure itself. Based on the quality of construction materials and sizes of rooms as well as the quality of assorted objects found in the residency, dwellings radiating outward from the Central district and along the Avenue of the Dead might have been occupied by higher status individuals. However, Teotihuacan overall does not appear to have been organized into discrete zoning districts. The more elite compounds were often decorated with elaborate murals. Thematic elements of these murals included processions of lavishly dressed priests, jaguar figures,
13746-455: The buffer zone surrounding the pyramids. Amidst rising allegations of corruption, the superstore was rapidly completed in time for Christmas 2004 before publicly announced plans to find an alternate site were realized. Activists who opposed the store's opening still oppose its presence, sending letters to the president of Mexico demanding its closure, claiming that Wal-mart has reneged on promises. INAH supports some of these claims saying that
13904-547: The carrying of heavy objects over an extended period of time. Evidence of these heavy materials is found in the copious amounts of imported pottery, and raw materials found on-site, such as rhyolitic glass shards, marble, and slate. The residences of the rural population of the city were in enclaves between the middle-class residences or the periphery of the city while smaller encampments filled with earthenware from other regions, also suggest that merchants were situated in their own encampments as well. In An Illustrated Dictionary of
14062-662: The centers of the Maya region (as well as elsewhere in Mesoamerica) has been a long-standing and significant area for debate. Substantial exchange and interaction occurred over the centuries from the Terminal Preclassic to the Mid-Classic period. "Teotihuacan-inspired ideologies" and motifs persisted at Maya centers into the Late Classic, long after Teotihuacan itself had declined. However, scholars debate
14220-457: The city covered over 30 km (over 11 + 1 ⁄ 2 square miles), and perhaps housed a population of 150,000 people, with one estimate reaching as high as 250,000. Various districts in the city housed people from across the Teotihuacan region of influence, which spread south as far as Guatemala . Notably absent from the city are fortifications and military structures. The nature of political and cultural interactions between Teotihuacan and
14378-425: The city in the 7th or 8th century, sacking and burning it. More recent evidence, however, seems to indicate that the burning was limited to the structures and dwellings associated primarily with the ruling class . Some think this suggests that the burning was from an internal uprising and the invasion theory is flawed because early archeological efforts were focused exclusively on the palaces and temples, places used by
14536-684: The classic hispanus or hispanicus took the suffix -one from Vulgar Latin , as happened with other words such as bretón (Breton) or sajón (Saxon). Like the other Romance languages , the Spanish language evolved from Vulgar Latin , which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans during the Second Punic War , beginning in 210 BC. Several pre-Roman languages (also called Paleohispanic languages )—some distantly related to Latin as Indo-European languages , and some that are not related at all—were previously spoken in
14694-500: The consonant written b (a bilabial with plosive and fricative allophones). In modern Spanish, there is no difference between the pronunciation of orthographic b and v . Typical of Spanish (as also of neighboring Gascon extending as far north as the Gironde estuary , and found in a small area of Calabria ), attributed by some scholars to a Basque substratum was the mutation of Latin initial f into h- whenever it
14852-585: The controversy, rumors of murder and open talk of corruption circulated widely, with some comparing the construction to the Spanish conquest The construction proposal divided the local community, with those supporting the store pointing to the jobs it would create. Local opponents were also worried about the superstore's effects on smaller businesses. Despite being confronted with evidence of "irregularities" authorized by Wal-Mart de Mexico, Wal-Mart's executives in Bentonville, Ark. shut down their investigation of
15010-404: The country's constitution. In recent years changing attitudes among non-Spanish speaking Filipinos have helped spur a revival of the language, and starting in 2009 Spanish was reintroduced as part of the basic education curriculum in a number of public high schools, becoming the largest foreign language program offered by the public school system, with over 7,000 students studying the language in
15168-524: The current name suggests. The first human establishment in the Teotihuacan area dates back to 600 BCE, and until 200 BCE the site consisted of scattered small villages. The total estimated population of the Teotihuacan Valley during this time was approximately 6,000. From 100 BCE to 750 CE, Teotihuacan evolved into a huge urban and administrative center with cultural influences throughout the broader Mesoamerica region. The history of Teotihuacan
15326-465: The development of major commerce centers near the site. A large commercial plaza was built in an area located in Sector B in the 1990s. In 2001, after many court battles, the land the plaza was on was expropriated, and the buildings were demolished in 2003. In 2004 and 2005, the proposal to build a Bodega Aurrera supermarket, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart of Mexico, generated even more controversy, even though
15484-469: The earlier Olmec civilization, left ample attestations of dynastic authoritarian sovereignty in the form of royal palaces, ceremonial ball courts, and depictions of war, conquest, and humiliated captives. However, no such artifacts have been found in Teotihuacan. Many scholars have thus concluded that Teotihuacan was led by some sort of "collective governance." In January 378, the warlord Sihyaj K'ahk' (literally, "born of fire"), depicted with artifacts and
15642-462: The economic and cultural engines of Teotihuacan. Established by the elite to showcase the sumptuary goods that the resident craftsmen provided, the neighborhood centers representing diversity in goods was aided by the heavy concentration of immigrated individuals from different regions of Mesoamerica. Along with archeological evidence pointing to one of the primary traded items being textiles, craftspeople capitalized on their mastery of painting, building,
15800-535: The end of the war, there was widespread hunger in the municipality, with fields in ruins. Since then, much of the municipality's history has been tied to the archeological site. Archeological explorations started at the site by Leopoldo Batres as early as 1905. The Pyramid of the Sun was the first to be explored and restored, followed by a number of other religious structures. In 1962, the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) began work at
15958-400: The extent and degree of Teotihuacan influence. Some believe that it had direct and militaristic dominance while others view the adoption of "foreign" traits as part of a selective, conscious, and bi-directional cultural diffusion . New discoveries have suggested that Teotihuacan was not much different in its interactions with other centers from the later empires, such as the Toltec and Aztec. It
16116-401: The fall of the city around 550 CE. The term has been glossed as "birthplace of the gods", or "place where gods were born", reflecting Nahua creation myths that were said to occur in Teotihuacan. Nahuatl scholar Thelma D. Sullivan interprets the name as "place of those who have the road of the gods." This is because the Aztecs believed that the gods created the universe at that site. The name
16274-470: The feather-serpent imagery associated with Teotihuacan culture, conquered Tikal , 600 miles away from Teotihuacan, removing and replacing the Maya king, with support from El Peru and Naachtun , as recorded by Stela 31 at Tikal and other monuments in the Maya region. At this time, the Spearthrower Owl ruler was also associated with Teotihuacan culture. Linda R. Manzanilla wrote in 2015: In 378
16432-467: The first king. The Dynasty went on to have sixteen rulers. Copán is located in modern-day Honduras, as described by Copán Altar Q . Soon thereafter, Yax K'uk' Mo' installed Tok Casper as king of Quiriguá , about 50 km north of Copán. The city reached its peak in 450 CE when it was the center of a powerful culture whose influence extended through much of the Mesoamerican region. At this time,
16590-683: The following table: Spanish is marked by palatalization of the Latin double consonants ( geminates ) nn and ll (thus Latin annum > Spanish año , and Latin anellum > Spanish anillo ). The consonant written u or v in Latin and pronounced [w] in Classical Latin had probably " fortified " to a bilabial fricative /β/ in Vulgar Latin. In early Spanish (but not in Catalan or Portuguese) it merged with
16748-439: The forest areas are not economically valuable. Agriculture employs the majority (48%) of the municipality's population. Most crafts produced here are imitation pre-Hispanic pieces to sell to tourists. There is some industry here mostly the processing of agricultural products such as food, drinks, tobacco, wood and paper. There is some industry related to petroleum, other chemicals and metals. This sector employs about 20 percent of
16906-407: 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. Evidence of a king or other authoritarian ruler is strikingly absent in Teotihuacan. Contemporaneous cities in the same region, including Mayan and Zapotec, as well as
17064-466: The former British colony of Belize (known until 1973 as British Honduras ) where English is the sole official language, according to the 2022 census, 54% of the total population are able to speak the language. Due to its proximity to Spanish-speaking countries and small existing native Spanish speaking minority, Trinidad and Tobago has implemented Spanish language teaching into its education system. The Trinidadian and Tobagonian government launched
17222-410: The gods." In Nahua mythology the Sun and the Moon were created here. The seal of the municipality features the Pyramid of the Sun from the archeological site, which represents the four cardinal directions. The building is tied to a character that represents water which is linked to an arm that is joined to the head of an indigenous person who is seated and speaking. This person represents a god. Much of
17380-604: The grammar, dated 18 August 1492, Nebrija wrote that "... language was always the companion of empire." From the 16th century onwards, the language was taken to the Spanish-discovered America and the Spanish East Indies via Spanish colonization of America . Miguel de Cervantes , author of Don Quixote , is such a well-known reference in the world that Spanish is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes"). In
17538-414: The history of the area has been tied to the ancient city, most recently involves controversy connected with commerce and development around the site. According to myth, this site was chosen by the gods to create the center of the universe. Settlement began here around 500 BCE as a village making stone objects. Starting in the 2nd century CE, it grew into a political and religious center which lasted until
17696-506: The internet by number of users after English and Chinese and the second most used language by number of websites after English. Spanish is used as an official language by many international organizations , including the United Nations , European Union , Organization of American States , Union of South American Nations , Community of Latin American and Caribbean States , African Union , among others. In Spain and some other parts of
17854-549: The language's hegemony in an intensely centralising Spanish state were established from the 18th century onward. Other European territories in which it is also widely spoken include Gibraltar and Andorra . Spanish is also spoken by immigrant communities in other European countries, such as the United Kingdom , France , Italy , and Germany . Spanish is an official language of the European Union . Today,
18012-515: The large population. The term Teotihuacan (or Teotihuacano) is also used to refer to the whole civilization and cultural complex associated with the site. Although it is a subject of debate whether Teotihuacan was the center of a state empire, its influence throughout Mesoamerica is well documented. Evidence of Teotihuacano presence is found at numerous sites in Veracruz and the Maya region . The later Aztecs saw these magnificent ruins and claimed
18170-423: The largest metropolis in Mesoamerica. Factors influencing this growth include the destruction of other settlements due to volcanic eruptions and the economic pull of the expanding city. This influx of new residents caused a reorganization of urban housing to the unique compound complexes that typify Teotihuacan. This period is notable for its monumental architecture and sculpture, especially the construction of some of
18328-603: The largest, or perhaps had the largest, population of any city in the Basin of Mexico during its occupation. Teotihuacan was a large pre-historic city that underwent massive population growth and sustained it over most of the city's occupancy. In 100 CE, the population could be estimated at around 60,000-80,000, after 200 years of the city's occupancy, within 20 km of the city. The population, eventually, stabilized around 100,000 people around 300 CE. The population reached its peak numbers around 400 to 500 CE. During 400 to 500 CE,
18486-694: The majority of the Spanish speakers live in Hispanic America . Nationally, Spanish is the official language—either de facto or de jure —of Argentina , Bolivia (co-official with 36 indigenous languages), Chile , Colombia , Costa Rica , Cuba , Dominican Republic , Ecuador , El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras , Mexico (co-official with 63 indigenous languages), Nicaragua , Panama , Paraguay (co-official with Guaraní ), Peru (co-official with Quechua , Aymara , and "the other indigenous languages"), Puerto Rico (co-official with English), Uruguay , and Venezuela . Spanish language has
18644-481: The mid 2000s when Bodega Aurrerá , a subsidiary of Wal-Mart of Mexico , gained permissions to build a supermarket in the Purificación neighborhood, which is within Sector C. Municipal authorities and INAH granted permits for the projects with some restrictions. However, activists, including some high-profile names such as José Luis Cuevas , Francisco Toledo , Elena Poniatowska and Homero Aridjis , opposed
18802-412: The military were also buried alive or captured and held in cages such as cougars, a wolf, eagles, a falcon, an owl, and even venomous snakes. Numerous stone masks have been found at Teotihuacan, and have been generally believed to have been used during a funerary context. However, other scholars call this into question, noting that the masks "do not seem to have come from burials". Teotihuacan had one of
18960-557: The most well-known sites of Teotihuacan , the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon. Further, the shift of political power from the Temple of the Feathered Serpent and its surrounding palace structure to the Avenue of the Dead Complex occurred sometime between CE 250 and 350. Some authors believe that this represents a shift from the centralized, monarchical political system to a more decentralized and bureaucratic organization. Around 300 CE,
19118-429: The narrative of these places. Archaeologists have also performed oxygen isotope ratio testing and strontium isotope ratio testing to determine, using the bones and the teeth of the skeletons uncovered, whether these skeletons were native to Teotihuacan or were immigrants to the city. The oxygen ratio testing can be used to determine where someone grew up, and the strontium ratio testing can be used to determine where someone
19276-425: The north end or the Temple of Quetzalcoatl at the south end. Most visitors head for the Pyramid of the Sun and then the Pyramid of the Moon. The Pyramid of the Sun is the second largest in Mexico, with only the pyramid at Cholula being larger. It measures 64 meters tall, and consists of five bodies with stairs. Visitors may climb to the top of the pyramid, which is reputed to have energizing qualities, especially during
19434-734: The northwest of the African mainland. The Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands traces its origins back to the Castilian conquest in the 15th century , and, in addition to a resemblance to Western Andalusian speech patterns, it also features strong influence from the Spanish varieties spoken in the Americas, which in turn have also been influenced historically by Canarian Spanish. The Spanish spoken in North Africa by native bilingual speakers of Arabic or Berber who also speak Spanish as
19592-654: The other hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. However, from 1713 to 1923, it called the language castellano . The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (a language guide published by the Royal Spanish Academy) states that, although the Royal Spanish Academy prefers to use the term español in its publications when referring to the Spanish language, both terms— español and castellano —are regarded as synonymous and equally valid. The term castellano
19750-511: The parking lot. UNESCO experts determined that the construction posed no threat to the site. In 2012 a New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation on the ethics and legality of the Teotihuacán Wal-Mart development revealed that Wal-Mart de Mexico had been involved in distributing nearly $ 300,000 in bribes to local officials, resulting in the secret alteration of a 2003 zoning map to allow for Wal-Mart to be built inside
19908-443: The performance of music and military training. These neighborhood centers closely resembled individual compounds, often surrounded by physical barriers separating them from the others. In this way, Teotihuacan developed an internal economic competition that fueled productivity and helped create a social structure of its own that differed from the larger structure. The repeated actions of the craftworkers left their physical mark. Based on
20066-533: The population. Many northern Moroccans have rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, with Spanish being particularly significant in areas adjacent to Ceuta and Melilla. Spanish also has a presence in the education system of the country (through either selected education centers implementing Spain's education system, primarily located in the North, or the availability of Spanish as foreign language subject in secondary education). In Western Sahara , formerly Spanish Sahara ,
20224-609: The site (and others, like the Wagner Murals , found in private collections), and hieroglyphic inscriptions made by the Maya describing their encounters with Teotihuacan conquerors. The creation of murals, perhaps tens of thousands of murals, reached its height between 450 and 650. The artistry of the painters was unrivaled in Mesoamerica and has been compared with that of painters in Renaissance Florence, Italy . Scholars originally thought that invaders attacked
20382-510: The site is located farther away in Sector C, where construction of this type is permitted The supermarket was built in the Purificación neighborhood, 3 km from the Pyramid of the Moon and 2.4 km from the Pyramid of the Sun. Many saw the symbolism of a Wal-Mart so close to the archeological site threatening. Opponents have included conservationists, indigenous groups, intellectuals, artists and ecologists, including Luis Cuevas, Francisco Toledo, Elena Poniatowska and Homero Aridjis. During
20540-465: The site under Ignacio Bernal , which was completed in 1964. This project explored and restored the Palace complex Quetza-Mariposa, the Calle de los Muertos, the Pyramid of the Moon and finished work on the Pyramid of the Sun. A highway from Mexico City was also built. The site was opened to the public by President Adolfo López Mateos . The site has been a source of revenue for the municipality as well as
20698-428: The size and importance of the site, the ruins have not spurred the development of a major tourism industry here. Only four hotels exist near the site and most who earn a living from tourism do so by selling souvenirs both inside and outside the site's gates. General commerce and tourism together only employ about 32 percent of the population. However, businesses catering to tourists has developed haphazardly. The entrance
20856-502: The store has violated several laws with its opening, but blames both the municipality and the State of Mexico for allowing the violations to stand. Opening in November 2004, the store is located 2.4 km (1.5 mi) from the Pyramid of the Sun and cannot be seen from the top of the structure. Since its opening, the supermarket has been a success, becoming an economic engine for the town since it attracts thousands of shoppers from
21014-547: The store's presence on cultural and economic grounds. However, the store was built and has been operating since 2005. In 2008, the diocese of San Juan Teotihuacan was authorized by the Vatican . The first bishop, Guillermo Francisco Escobar Galicia, is a native of the Teotihuacan area. In December 2009, about 300 members of the Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas (SME), the nation's electricians’ union, sabotaged
21172-454: The storm god deity, and an anonymous goddess whose hands offer gifts of maize, precious stones, and water. Rulers who may have requested to be immortalized through art are noticeably absent in Teotihuacan artwork. Observed artwork, instead, tends to portray institutionalized offices and deities. It suggests their art glorifies nature and the supernatural and emphasizes egalitarian rather than aristocratic values. Also absent from Teotihuacan artwork
21330-414: The structures. As municipal seat, the town of San Juan Teotihuacán is the local governing authority for about 115 other named communities with a combined territory of 82.65km2. A little under half the municipality's population lives in the town proper. The municipality borders the municipalities of Temascalapa , Acolman , Otumba de Gómez Farías , San Martín de las Pirámides and Tecámac . Most of
21488-473: The surrounding area each week. The store also received over 2,000 applications for 185 permanent jobs before opening. However, its location at the town's entrance has exacerbated existing traffic congestion. In 2009, controversy erupted between the INAH and the State of Mexico over plans to light the pyramids at night. INAH is opposed because their archeologists feel the installation of the equipment will damage
21646-597: The term español (Spanish). According to the Royal Spanish Academy, español derives from the Occitan word espaignol and that, in turn, derives from the Vulgar Latin * hispaniolus ('of Hispania'). Hispania was the Roman name for the entire Iberian Peninsula . There are other hypotheses apart from the one suggested by the Royal Spanish Academy. Spanish philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal suggested that
21804-768: The territory is flat, except for some large hills such as the Maninal and the Colorado. The most important rivers here are the San Juan and the San Lorenzo, both of which pass through the municipal seat. Another river is the San Sebastián Xolalpa, also known as the Barranquillas del Aguila. There are also a number of fresh water springs which provide drinking and irrigation water. The Parroquia spring
21962-444: The theories of Ramón Menéndez Pidal , local sociolects of Vulgar Latin evolved into Spanish, in the north of Iberia, in an area centered in the city of Burgos , and this dialect was later brought to the city of Toledo , where the written standard of Spanish was first developed, in the 13th century. In this formative stage, Spanish developed a strongly differing variant from its close cousin, Leonese , and, according to some authors,
22120-768: The third most used language on the Internet , after English and Chinese. Spanish is the official language of Spain . Upon the emergence of the Castilian Crown as the dominant power in the Iberian Peninsula by the end of the Middle Ages, the Romance vernacular associated with this polity became increasingly used in instances of prestige and influence, and the distinction between "Castilian" and "Spanish" started to become blurred. Hard policies imposing
22278-575: The total population of the valley resided in Teotihuacan. Apart from the pyramids, Teotihuacan is also anthropologically significant for its complex, multi-family residential compounds, the Avenue of the Dead , and its vibrant, well-preserved murals . Additionally, Teotihuacan exported fine obsidian tools found throughout Mesoamerica. The city is thought to have been established around 100 BCE, with major monuments continuously under construction until about 250 CE. The city may have lasted until sometime between
22436-622: The two main hypotheses are not mutually exclusive. Drought leading to famine could have led to incursions from smaller surrounding civilizations as well as internal unrest. As Teotihuacan fell in local prominence, other nearby centers, such as Cholula , Xochicalco , and Cacaxtla , competed to fill the power void. They may have even aligned themselves against Teotihuacan to seize the opportunity to further reduce its influence and power. The art and architecture at these sites emulate Teotihuacan forms but also demonstrate an eclectic mix of motifs and iconography from other parts of Mesoamerica, particularly
22594-412: The upper classes. Because all of these sites showed burning, archeologists concluded that the whole city was burned. Instead, it is now known that the destruction was centered on major civic structures along the Avenue of the Dead. The sculptures inside palatial structures, such as Xalla, were shattered. No traces of foreign invasion are visible at the site. Evidence for population decline beginning around
22752-483: The vestiges of a home altar dating from about 450 CE and three graves with the remains of six individuals. The altar is 25 cm tall with the remains of posts which probably held up a roof. The graves contained the remains of four infants, one youth and one adult, which archeologist think are related. In the La Concepción neighborhood, there is the Temple of Nuestra Señora de la Purificacíon. The main entrance
22910-432: The wear of teeth, archeologists were able to determine that some bodies worked with fibers with their frontal teeth, insinuating that they were involved with making nets, like those depicted in mural art. Female skeletons provided evidence that they might have sewn or painted for long periods of time, indicative of the headdresses that were created as well as pottery which was fired and painted. Wear on specific joints indicate
23068-533: The whole of Spain, in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. "the other Spanish languages "). Article III reads as follows: El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. ... Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas... Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. ... The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities... The Royal Spanish Academy ( Real Academia Española ), on
23226-506: The world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English , Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani ( Hindi - Urdu ); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language. The country with the largest population of native speakers is Mexico . Spanish is part of the Ibero-Romance language group , in which the language is also known as Castilian ( castellano ). The group evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after
23384-420: Was a multiethnic city that was broken up into areas of different ethnicities and workers. This neighborhood was important in two ways; the high infant mortality rate and the role of the different ethnicities. The high infant mortality rate was important within the neighborhood, and the city at large, as there are a large number of perinatal skeletons at Teopancazco. This suggests that the population of Teotihuacan
23542-486: Was born and where they were living when they died. These tests revealed a lot of information, but specifically enabled clear distinction between the people living in the ethnic neighborhoods and those native to Teotihuacan. Spanish language Spanish ( español ) or Castilian ( castellano ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on
23700-634: Was developed in the cities of Toledo , in the 13th to 16th centuries, and Madrid , from the 1570s. The development of the Spanish sound system from that of Vulgar Latin exhibits most of the changes that are typical of Western Romance languages , including lenition of intervocalic consonants (thus Latin vīta > Spanish vida ). The diphthongization of Latin stressed short e and o —which occurred in open syllables in French and Italian, but not at all in Catalan or Portuguese—is found in both open and closed syllables in Spanish, as shown in
23858-622: Was distinguished by a heavy Basque influence (see Iberian Romance languages ). This distinctive dialect spread to southern Spain with the advance of the Reconquista , and meanwhile gathered a sizable lexical influence from the Arabic of Al-Andalus , much of it indirectly, through the Romance Mozarabic dialects (some 4,000 Arabic -derived words, make up around 8% of the language today). The written standard for this new language
24016-713: Was followed by a vowel that did not diphthongize. The h- , still preserved in spelling, is now silent in most varieties of the language, although in some Andalusian and Caribbean dialects, it is still aspirated in some words. Because of borrowings from Latin and neighboring Romance languages, there are many f -/ h - doublets in modern Spanish: Fernando and Hernando (both Spanish for "Ferdinand"), ferrero and herrero (both Spanish for "smith"), fierro and hierro (both Spanish for "iron"), and fondo and hondo (both words pertaining to depth in Spanish, though fondo means "bottom", while hondo means "deep"); additionally, hacer ("to make")
24174-534: Was made with quarried stone in Baroque style. The facade is divided into three bodies: the first stands out due to portal arch highly decorated with flowers in relief. The second body contains the choir window flanked by columns which are also sculpted with vegetable motifs. The tower contains Solomonic columns and columns with Corinthian capitals . The cornices has vegetative decoration. The Jardin de las Cactáceas or Cactus Garden covers four hectares and exhibits
24332-460: Was one of the arguments the federal government used to convince UNESCO to make Teotihuacan a World Heritage Site. INAH acknowledges that the stands and vendors are an eyesore but it is not something the agency can resolve on its own. The agency states that it is working with state and other federal authorities to move the commerce into permanents buildings. However, most of the vendors have been very resistant to any change. Also controversial has been
24490-462: Was revoked by Michel Temer after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff . In many border towns and villages along Paraguay and Uruguay, a mixed language known as Portuñol is spoken. Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country located entirely in Africa, with the language introduced during the Spanish colonial period . Enshrined in the constitution as an official language (alongside French and Portuguese), Spanish features prominently in
24648-444: Was sustained and grew due to people coming into the city, rather than the population reproducing. The influx of people came from surrounding areas, bringing different ethnicities to the city. Teotihuacan also had two other neighborhoods that prominently depicted this multiethnic city picture. Both neighborhoods contained not only different architecture from the other parts of Teotihuacan but also artifacts and burial practices that began
24806-408: Was taxed heavily to feed Mexico City during this time, leading to the abandonment of many fields. The Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century had profound effects on the municipality as well as many other rural areas in Mexico. The various factions loyal to insurgents such as Emiliano Zapata , Venustiano Carranza and Álvaro Obregón came and went producing anarchy and scarcity of food. By
24964-476: Was the Tollan described by 16th-century chronicles. It now seems clear that Tollan may be understood as a generic Nahua term applied to any large settlement. In the Mesoamerican concept of urbanism, Tollan and other language equivalents serve as a metaphor , linking the bundles of reeds and rushes that formed part of the lacustrine environment of the Valley of Mexico and the large gathering of people in
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