The great Zapotec centre of Monte Alban was the religious and political focus of the Oaxaca valley civilization, containing the valley's major shrines and the administration who provided military security for the valley's inhabitants.
Although the Zapotec traded with neighbouring regions, Monte Alban was the focus neither of markets nor of the valley's industrial production.
In sharp contrast, Teotihuacan was both. For much of its heyday, most of the Valley of Mexico's inhabitants resided in the city itself. On its outskirts dwelt farmers, though settlements were also founded in other parts of the valley to exploit the resources of particular zones.
Many of the residential blocks in the suburbs of Teotihuacan were industrial units: the chief goods manufactured here were obsidian (volcanic glass) blades and pottery, especially a distinctive tripod vessel with a lid. The finest examples were widely exported.
Central Teotihuacan housed priests and rulers who maintained iron control over the people of the Teotihuacan Empire. The common people paid taxes or tribute, but were probably free to trade their remaining agricultural and industrial produce in the vast marketplace at the heart of Teotihuacan.
