  We present models of the extragalactic background light (EBL) based on
several scenarios of galaxy formation and evolution. We have treated galaxy
formation with the Press-Schecter approximation for both cold dark matter (CDM)
and cold+hot dark matter (CHDM) models, representing a moderate ($z_f \sim 3$)
and a late ($z_f \sim 1$) era of galaxy formation respectively. Galaxy
evolution has been treated by considering a variety of stellar types, different
initial mass functions and star formation histories, and with an accounting of
dust absorption and emission. We find that the dominant factor influencing the
EBL is the epoch of galaxy formation. A recently proposed method for observing
the EBL utilizing the absorption of $\sim 0.1$ to 10 TeV gamma-rays from active
galactic nuclei (AGN) is shown to be capable of discriminating between
different galaxy formation epochs. The one AGN viewed in TeV light, Mrk 421,
does show some evidence for a cutoff above 3 TeV; based on the EBL models
presented here, we suggest that this is due to extinction in the source. The
large absorption predicted at energies $>200$ GeV for sources at $z>0.5$
indicates that observations of TeV gamma-ray bursts (GRB) would constrain or
eliminate models in which the GRB sources lie at cosmological distances.
