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> Homepage > Homepage > Welcome > Destinations > Riviera Maya > Cobá >   History
 Cobá was settled as early as A.D.100-250, the Late pre-Classic and Early Classic periods of Maya history. No structures from that time have survived, but we do have artifacts – buildings, stelae and ceramics – from the Classic period, which for Cobá ran from A.D. 400 to 1100. In the Middle Classic period, sometime between A.D. 600 and 800, Cobá’s rulers built a network of formal roads or sacbe radiating from the Cobá Group; stelae were commissioned and the city expanded east, building the Nohoch Mul, the Chumuc Mul and the Macanxoc groups. Some Post-Classic buildings at Cobá show Petén architectural influences, while others are clearly East Coast and similar to those at Tulum. The extraordinary dimensions of Cobá’s structures, however, are the result of super-imposed layers of construction, one after the other over a long period of time – a process probably begun in the Classic period. Greater Cobá extends for some 70 sq. km. The land is arable and has adequate supplies of fresh water. The Maya were able to grow enough corn to feed themselves and still have a surplus to market. The network of roads suggests expansion and trade, and as a consequence political, economic and social control of the region. A.D. 400 to 900, Cobá was the area’s major city. It stockpiled and controlled goods and services to northern Yucatán, and to the eastern seaboard.
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© 2004 Editorial Veras. La guía Oficial del Caribe Mexicano.