Clay Herman
November 9, 2017
Latin America Challenge Center Square 2
The Mayans, Aztecs and Olmecs were Native American civilizations that lived in Central America long ago.
The Olmecs lived as farmers in eastern Mexico starting around 1500 or 1600 B.C. The Olmecs built the first civilization in the Americas. They developed their own written language and built pyramids.
Archaeologists still don’t know a lot about the Olmecs. They lived in villages and farmed. Their diet was very diverse containing lots of different meats, vegetables and fruits but over time corn became a more important part of their farming life. Olmecs were famous for making things out of rubber and for making giant heads out of blocks of stone. Not much is known about the Olmec religion but they did play a ceremonial game with a rubber ball where the losers were often sacrificed.
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They lived in the rain forest of the Yucatan peninsula. They began living in villages and then developed city states. The Mayans came to rule over part of Mexico, Belize and Guatemala.
Mayan people were mostly farmers. They grew corn, beans and squash. They grew their crops using slash and burn farming. This means they cut down trees and burned them and then grew their crops where the trees were. The Mayans were very good at cutting and building stone. They made their city states out of stone buildings. The Mayans believed in many gods and built stone temples. They were a very sophisticated culture and studied the movement of the stars and built complex calendars. They also had a very strong knowledge of mathematics.
The Aztecs moved to Lake Texcoco around 1250 A.D. They founded their capital there and called it Tenochtitlan. It is where Mexico City is now. The Aztec Empire lasted until 1521 when they were conquered by
Tenochtitlan, their capital city state, is on an island in the texcoco lake. It is touching the gulf of mexico, in central america. The Aztec empire had pockets of land it was not able to conquer, but have managed to surround them. The southern edge of their boundaries are mountainous, so they have not really used the land for city states. The Balsas river comes into the center of the Aztec empire, and the city states around the lake have plenty of water.
In the years between 1350 and 1519 the aztec empire ruled the lower half of mexico. The capitol of the empire was Tenochtitlan, currently mexico city, on the lake Texcoco. They were disliked by many because they were tough warriors who pushed people out of there way. The capitol of their empire was tenochtitlan, current day mexico, on the lake texcoco. They were disliked because people saw them as fierce warriors and fanatical followers of the aztec gods.
The Mexica people of Tenochtitlan, situated on an island in Lake Texcoco and the inhabitants of Tenochtitlan’s two principal allied city-states, the Acolhaus of Texcoco and the Tepanecs of Tlacopan, formed the Aztec Triple Alliance which has also become known as the “Aztec Empire”. Henan Cortes, along with a large number of Nahuatl speaking indigenous allies, conquered Tenochtitlan and defeated the Aztec Triple Alliance under the leadership of Moctezuma II. In the series of events often referred to as “The Fall of the Aztec Empire”. Subsequently the Spanish founded the new settlement of Mexico City on the site of the ruined Aztec capital.
Even if the Mayans also made temples, it was more extraordinary to see how the Aztecs had absolutely nothing but were able to work with what they had. At the same time, the Aztec had an advanced system for writing and keeping records. The Aztecs used hieroglyphics just like Egyptians, but there 's were a little different. Aztecs writing, “...had three primary functions, namely to mark calendrical dates, to record accounting mathematical calculations, and to write names of people and places”(Lawrence Lo, 2012). This was different than everybody else 's writing because they didn 't have an actual alphabet.
The Olmec's were the first major civilization in Mesoamerica that lasted from about 1600-350 BCE. They lived in the tropical parts of south- central Mexico near the Gulf coast of what is now Tabasco and Veracruz. Using all the natural resources they were able to build great art and complexes made from stone and were able to advance in their society creating new inventions which helped their civilization last for about 1250 years. Their religion and culture became the "cradle" of the Mesoamerican culture because they laid many foundations for the civilizations to come, such a as the Aztecs and Mayans.
In the Western Hemisphere, no early civilization was more remarkable than the Maya. The Maya are the best-known classical civilizations of Mesoamerica, originating in the state in southeastern Mexico, Yucatan at around 2000 B.C. They rose to importance around A.D. 250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and northern Belize. The Maya civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization developed by the Maya peoples. As being the most remarkable civilization in the Western Hemisphere, the Maya produced an extensive range of structures, and have left a great architectural legacy that places the Maya civilization as one of the great preindustrial civilizations of the world.
The Mayans created many remarkable achievements. The Mayans lived in Mexico on the Yucatán Peninsula. During their time of reign in 500-1500, they invented many remarkable achievements by having enough power to influence their people. This added much power to their culture by achievements was available. There are four specific achievements like their trade network, the Mayan city of El Mirador, the number system, and the Mayan calendars.
Everything was perfectly planned out. As the calendar says, they have to sacrifice one of their own to please the Gods. The Mayan people would get together as a whole to practice their religious ceremony at the temple. The Mayan and Aztec civilizations are two ancient civilizations that were located near Central and South America. The Mayan civilization was more remarkable than the Aztecs because of their advanced knowledge.
Before the arrival of Columbus in the Americas, there were several Mesoamerican civilizations throughout a period of thousands of years. Many of these civilizations attained remarkable accomplishments in fields, ranging all the way from mathematics to agriculture. In example, one renowned civilization, the Maya, developed a complex system of written language that enabled them to keep record of significant events. The Mayan city-states built magnificent temples for rituals and religious purposes that connected the kings to the gods. Additionally, many civilizations of Mesoamerica implemented advanced technologies, such as irrigation, which was considered crucial, especially to those residing in the deserts of the Southwestern parts of North
The ancient Mayans, who lived in parts of present-day Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, created one of the most complex and advanced civilizations in the Western Hemisphere. The Mayans accomplished many remarkable and influential achievements, most notably, in art, astronomy, and engineering. The achievements of the Mayans influenced the cultures around them and are still influential today. The Mayans created amazingly sophisticated works of art.
Jeet Shah Mrs. Patterson GT Geography 3 March 2023 The Aztec Civilization The Aztecs were a group of warriors who first settled in the valley of Mexico in the 14th century. They became some of the most important and powerful people in Mesoamerica and ruled a large empire. The Capital city of Tenochtitlan was built on an island and was founded when the Aztecs saw an eagle perched on a cactus eating a snake.
The first tribe we will talk about is the Mayan’s form of technology. The Mayan tribe had their own form of writing that was very different from what we have now. This form of writing then lead the Mayan to invent their own form of math which was also very different from the one we have now. The Aztec on the other hand was very different. The aztecs were very good at manipulating gold and jewels.
Throughout time civilizations have risen and collapsed. Some were conquered while others simply disappeared. The Egyptian civilization thrived near the Nile River from 3000 B.C. and was later conquered by the Persian Empire around 525 B.C. In the other hand, the Mayan civilization developed in Yucatan Peninsula around 200 B.C., and mysterious disappeared around 900 A.D. However, these two cultures share many factors in common such as developing calendars and building pyramids. Even though civilizations developed in different time periods, they can still have many factors in common such as environment, language, and architecture.
Although there were some similar farming techniques between the two civilizations, there were many more differences. The Mayans had to deal with extremely wet plains and rough mountains. They built terraces, raised beds, and canals to irrigate water and make use of all the farming space possible. Meanwhile in Egypt, they also built canals to irrigate water from nearby rivers. However, they farmed on dry plains which meant there was no need for farmers to build good farm land.
The article I chose was “Ancient City Found in Mexico; Shows Olmec Influence.” When the archeologist looked under a housing development they discovered the city Zazacatla more than 2,500 years old. However this wasn’t just any ancient city, this provided information on early trade throughout long distances and early development. There was also probable cause that suggests Olmec influences in the city. This may seem weird that there was an unknown city near central Mexico, however according to National Geographic; ninety-five percent of Mexico is unexplored.