Within a generation of Christopher Columbus’ historic voyage to the Americas in 1492, a regional rivalry had developed between Spain and its closest neighbor as the Portuguese began to establish a colony in Brazil and push its boundaries southwards. However, while the Portuguese and Spanish grappled over South America, the Spanish began colonizing the Yucatan in the 16th century after defeating various Mesoamerican groups, most notably Hernan Cortés’ conquest of the Aztec Empire.

Spanish accounts and Mesoamerican ruins have ensured that 500 years later, people remain fascinated by civilizations like the Maya and Aztec, as well as sites such as Chichen Itza and Tikal. What is often overlooked is that the Maya and Aztec established kingdoms on lands that had been inhabited for millennia before them, and ancient cultures had not only left ruins but also influenced the civilizations that came after them. Thus, while sites like Chichen Itza are more famous, they drew upon past sites like Teotihuacan.

Cholula is one of the most interesting, enigmatic, and forgotten cities in ancient Mesoamerica, and few people are aware that it is the oldest continuously-occupied settlement in the entire Western hemisphere. The current city is known for the Great Pyramid, which has the largest base of all pyramids in the world, as well as its many colonial churches and constant religious celebrations. All of these things ensure that Cholula is heavily visited, but the tremendous importance of Prehispanic Cholula has mostly been lost in the historical accounts of Puebla and even Mexico as a whole.

Located in the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley within a very fertile area, the Prehispanic city of Cholula was founded around 500 BCE. It soon developed into an important city and the construction of its Great Pyramid began around 200 BCE. During the height of Teotihuacan’s influence in the Classic period and the expansion of the Aztecs in the Postclassic, Cholula managed to maintain its independence and grew to become the greatest religious center in central Mesoamerica. As the main site for the cult of the god Quetzalcoatl, Cholula received pilgrims from many Prehispanic cities, and the two high priests of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl were charged with confirming the legitimacy of these foreign rulers, making their role one of the most important in the region.

In addition to its religious influence, Cholula was also a very important commercial center. Many lavish and exotic goods were traded at its market, and the city’s merchant class also exported a variety of luxury crafts produced in Cholula, such as richly adorned textiles and very fine polychrome pottery.

Cholula has been mentioned on some level in modern works concerning Mesoamerica, but in most cases it is simply named alongside a list of other Prehispanic sites. Most sources note that Cholula was a great religious center with a large pyramid, and that it was the site of a terrible massacre perpetrated by the Spanish, but other than that those details, the impressive city remains mostly unknown. As one writer put it, “It is paradoxical that in Cholula, that which the conquistadores set out to accomplish in 1519 persists till this day: that no one would know or value its past.”