Cempoala Veracruz Mexico Ancient Ruins Photography

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Bill Bell Photography

Cempoala (or Zempoala) was an important Mesoamerican city. It was the largest city on the Gulf of Mexico and the capital of the kingdom of Totonacapan occupied by the Totonac people. At its peak, it had a population of between 25,000 and 30,000. The name means "place of the twenty waters" due to several rivers meeting near the site and is eight kilometers from the current city of Veracruz, Veracruz, one kilometer from the banks of the Río Actopan and six kilometers from the Gulf. The city was an important staging post in the conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés.