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CHOLULA

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 268 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CHOLULA , an See also:

ancient See also:town of See also:Mexico, in the See also:state and on the See also:plateau of See also:Puebla, 8 m. by See also:rail W. by N. of the See also:city of that name, and 6912 ft. above See also:sea-level. Pop. (1900, estimate) woo. The Interoceanic railway passes through Cholula, but the city's commercial and See also:industrial See also:standing is overshadowed by that of its larger and more See also:modern See also:neighbour. At the See also:time of the See also:Spanish See also:Conquest, Cholula—then known as Chololan—was a large and important town, consecrated to the See also:worship of the See also:god Quetzalcoatl, who had here one of the most imposing temples in See also:Anahuac, built on the See also:summit of a truncated See also:pyramid, the largest of its See also:kind in the See also:world. This pyramid, constructed of See also:sun-dried bricks and See also:earth, 177 ft. high, and covering an See also:area of nearly 45 acres, is the most conspicuous See also:object in the town and is surmounted by a See also:chapel dedicated to Nuestra Senora de los See also:Remedios. A corner of the See also:lower See also:terrace of this See also:great pyramid was cut through in the construction of the Puebla road, but nothing was discovered to explain its purpose, which was probably that of furnishing an imposing site for a See also:temple. Nothing definite is known of its See also:age and See also:history, as the fanatical zeal of Cortez and-his companions destroyed whatever See also:historical data the temple may have contained. Cholula was visited by Cortez in 1519 during his eventful See also:march inland to Montezuma's See also:capital, Tenochtitlan, when he treacherously massacred its inhabitants and pillaged the city, pretending to distrust the hospitable inhabitants. Cortez estimated that the town then had 20,000 habitations, and its suburbs as many more, but this was undoubtedly a deliberate exaggeration. The Cholulans were of Nahuatl origin and were semi-See also:independent, yielding only a nominal See also:allegiance to Montezuma. They were a trading See also:people, holding fairs, and exchanging their manufactures of textiles and pottery for other produce.

The pyramid is believed to have been built by a people occupying this region before the Cholulans.

End of Article: CHOLULA

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