Poza Rica
Poza Rica is a city of 181 thousand1 located in the valley of the Cazones River in Veracruz State, México. Within the metropolitan area (population 581 thousand)2 is the archaeological site of El Tajín. The original name of this Classical city is unknown but it reached its zenith from 800 to 1200, being destroyed early in the 13th century. Knowledge of the extent of the city's formal authority is uncertain, but was probably small.3 A village existed there by 1500, but the area was entirely overgrown by 1800. The modern city of Poza Rica to the site's north was founded in 1951.
The ruins are recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The architecture is "unique in Meso-America, characterized by elaborate columns of carved reliefs and key-pattern friezes." The most famous building is the Pyramid of the Niches, which "rises to in six steps to a temple at the top, with eacch story having rows of square niches."4
| Year | Population | Political entity |
| 800 CE | 40,0005| El Tajín city state6 | |
| 900 CE | 50,0005| El Tajín city state6 | |
| 1000 CE | 50,0005| El Tajín city state6 | |
| 2010 CE | 581,0002| México | |
External references
Pyramid of the Niches, El Tajín site near Poza Rica, Veracruz State, México
Historical maps
Footnotes
1. 2013 figure in the side banner of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poza_Rica, accessed 8/10/2015.
2. 2010 figure for Greater Poza Rica in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_areas_of_Mexico, accessed 9/29/2014.
3. Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_Veracruz_culture (accessed 8/10/2015) says "And Elite hereditary rulers held sway over these small- to medium-sized regional centers, none over 2000 km˛," and cites Christopher Poole, 'Gulf Coast Classic,' in Peter N. Peregrine and Melvin Ember, eds., Encyclopedia of Prehistory, Vol. 5, Middle America (Springer Publishing, 2002). Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poza_Rica, accessed 8/11/2015 says "[f]rom 600 to 1200 C.E., El Tajín was a prosperous city that eventually controlled much of what is now modern Veracruz state" but cites support only for a weaker statement about extensive cultural influence. UNESCO, World Heritage Sites (Firefly Books, 2010) concurs with the statement about extensive cultural influence, but does not speculate about statist authority.
4. Both quotes are from UNESCO, World Heritage Sites (Firefly Books, 2010).
5. Estimate in Tables of the World's Largest Cities, in Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 2nd ed. (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987).
6. The original name of the political entity is unknown.
