Pre-Columbian Civilizations
Cultures had been flourishing thousands of years before the Europeans arrived to the New World. Great empires such as the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas inhabited the vast lands of Central and South America. These three major powers controlled the land before Columbus or Cortez were even born. Although the Pre-Columbian civilizations and the Europeans shared some similar ideas, life was very different in the New World compared with that of Middle Age Europe.
In the New World were the three main Civilizations, The Aztecs, The Mayans, and the Incas. Even though these civilizations were from the same area, they all have different cultures and thoughts. Many similarities can be found but the differences can be spotted when the cultures are looked at in depth.
The Aztec Civilization covered most of present day Mexico. It was made up of marauding bands of warriors who migrated from the north. The God of Sun and War for the Aztecs was Huitzilpochtli.
The Mayan Civilization was the oldest of the three, it sprang up around 2500 B.C.E. in present day Guatemala and covered the jungles of the Yucatan peninsula.
The Inca civilization started around 1200A.D. and was found in the Andes mountains in what is now Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile.
Like the Pre-Columbian Civilizations, the Middle Age kingdoms of Europe had similar qualities such as the governmental structures. Spain, Portugal, England, and the rest of Europe used the Feudal System to sort out the social differences. The King and Queen were the head of state, followed by princesses, princes, bishops, and other church officials. Then came the merchants and artisans trailed by the lowly serfs and peasants who work the land for the system.
The discovery of the new world is what led to the fall of the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas. The Europeans were greatly outnumbered when they arrived in the New World, and could have easily been squashed by the warriors of these mighty Pre-Columbian civilizations. Lack of knowledge and trickery were what lead to their down-fall. The "Indians" were left dumbfounded as they tried to figure out what horses were and how it was possible that a man and horse were not the same creature. La Malinche led the Aztecs to believe that the horses could talk and think for themselves and that Herenan Cortez was really a god.
The religion and culture of the Aztecs played a role in the way the way they thought and fought. They worshiped the war-god Huitzilopochtli. He was identified with the sun and was called "the Giver of life" and "the Preserver of Life" (xxxix). The religion carried some ridiculous rituals such as human sacrifice along with using magicians and wizards to cast spells. In war conditions, human sacrifice played a big role because the Aztecs would not fight to kill,...
The Aztecs were a large group of Indian tribes.They were originally migratory and as they migrated they assimilatated other tribes. Through this process they joined together and became rich in civilization. The tribes the comprised the Aztecs were the Toltect whom the Chichimec [Aztecs] conquered in the early 1300's A.D. The Toltect embarked on conquests, which resulted in the Aztecs becoming a dominate civilization of their time.(1) Their migratory pattern stopped on the southwestern border of Lake Texcoco as they discovered an eagle sitting on the stem of a cactus, holding a serpent in his talons with his wings open to the sun. This as an omen from the gods.(4) The Aztecs finally settled in central Mexico, where Mexico City is now located, and began building Tenochtitlan in 1325. Over time the civilization's control spanned from Tenochtitlan east to the Gulf of Mexico and south to Guatemala.(1)
With this knowledge, most European countries turned their attentions from the East Indies to the New World. The Columbian Exchange that was created when Columbus first arrived in the Caribbean provided a steady connection between Europe and the Americas. Spaniards brought Christianity, iron technology, sailing ships, firearms, wheeled vehicles, and horses to the New World. Europeans also unintentionally brought diseases such as smallpox and measles that killed off many indigenous people, who Columbus inaccurately labelled as “Indians.” The Native Americans introduced the Europeans to miracle crops like corn, potatoes, and tobacco. The Natives spread syphilis to the Europeans who brought it back to Europe. Although the Spanish gained quite a lot of goods and ideas from the Columbian Exchange, they didn’t find the riches they had hoped for. What really provided Spain with the riches they desired and pushed it into the seat of power as the most powerful country in both Europe and the Americas was its conquest of the Aztec Empire and the Incan
The Spanish defeat of the Aztecs has been extensively criticized for many years. Religion was a motive for discovery, enabled the Spanish to enter the heart of the empire, and was used as justification for torture of the natives. The centrality of religion as a force in Spanish conquest is undeniable. Virtually all of Aztec culture was destroyed and the Spanish victory has had lasting effects for both natives and Europeans up to and including the present-day.
The Aztec religion was a polytheistic religion and was a combination of many beliefs and practices of other Mesoamerican cultures and religion.Religion was very important to the Aztec and they had temples for the Gods they worshipped.They worshipped this Gods Huitzilopochtli is the God of war, Quetzalcoatl is the feathered serpent and is the God of morning and evening, Tonatiuh is the sun God, and Patecatl is the God of healing and fertility.The Aztec
The South American Andes was a harsh environment to live in thousands of years ago going from its dry coastal desert to its long steep mountains and billon acres of Amazonian jungle. The people living there must have had and expanse knowledge of agriculture, scavenging, trade, and will power in order to have lived in such harsh conditions for so long. With no written language to tell us what they thought or did we turn to the Andean artwork that is found as our insight into the past. The art found came in the forms of mostly textiles and ceramics. Among all the pieces found made from the different cultures living in the Andes, there seemed to be a common theme. It seems ritual sacrifice was a wide spread practice, from textiles depicting figures with detached heads, ceramics showing mythical beings having their own trophy heads, to other paintings displaying prisoners being sacrificed. The Paracas, Nazca, and Moche people had some form of sacrifice depicted in their artwork, but each culture had its own way of showing their rituals in either various art forms or use of imagery. Why is this common theme among these cultures? Was it for worship or was for wishes of prosperity? I will go through each culture and explore this theme.
Mayan, Inca, and Aztec Civilizations. The Mayan, Inca, and Aztec civilizations each originated in Latin America. The Mayans lived in southern and central Mexico, other Mayans lived in Central America in the present day countries of Belize, Guatemala, and ancient Honduras. The Incas lived along the long coastal strip, and in the high peaks and deep fertile valleys of the Andes Mountains, and along the edges of the tropical forest to the east; this would be the country of Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina in present days.
Before Columbus and the Europeans, there was a time where there were many struggles and many ideas not even thought yet. All of this changed when the ancient civilizations started to live in the Americas. This was a time when ancient civilizations expanded brought the Americas and had a unique way of living. The ancient civilizations in the Americans and in Europe were different from cultures, adaptations, and foods.
Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans, these were three of the largest ancient civilizations in the western hemisphere, beasts of their time. They all had amazing qualities, the Aztecs were the fearsome warriors, the Incas were agricultural geniuses, and the Mayans were impeccable inventors. They all brought so much to the table and left so much behind for us to uncover. But, the question of who truly was the best of these three immaculate cultures? I believe that the Inca civilization is the superior of the three other major civilizations. This is true because of their resourceful farming methods, high-caliber art, and innovational architecture.
Before the Europeans reached meso-america, there were three great empires. They are the Mayans, the Aztecs, and the Incas. These early civilizations took up most of Central America and part of South America. Although, through the perspective of the Europeans the meso-americans were described as weak and uncivilized because of their appearance compared to them. However, the meso-americans were advanced in their own ways such as adapting to their geography, astronomy, and agriculture.
The Maya Civilization originated in the Yucatán region during the Preclassic Period at around 2000 BC. There is some argument as to when the Preclassic Period began for the Maya. It 's argued to have began as late as 2600 BC, while there 's claim that it 's earlier because there are permanent Maya settlements along the Pacific coast that date to 1800 BC. A difference of eight hundred years, depending on region.
In Northern Mexico, a group of people known as the Aztecs arrived and became the dominant
The Aztec Indians, who are known for their domination of southern and central Mexico, ruled between the 14th and 16th centuries. They built a great empire and developed very modernized ways of doing things.
...The last two reasons that the Aztecs were defeated had to do with the disease that the Spaniards brought with them from Europe mainly small pox and the Aztec warfare rituals. The Aztecs had never been exposed to this disease and therefore their immune systems could not beat it and it eventually claimed the lives of thousands of Indians not only the Aztecs. The Aztecs had many rituals that they performed and most of them had to do with human sacrifice and this was something unspeakable and unholy in the eyes of the Spaniards which only fueled their cause in killing them and stopping such barbaric acts. Also the Aztecs would perform rituals before declaring war which the Spaniards used to their advantage and caught them off guard with their immediate attack of Tenochtitlan. These were the most important factors that led to the eventual fall of the Aztec empire.
The Maya culture has a long history that started in about 1000 BC. The history of the Maya is divided up into four different time periods: The Middle Preclassic Period, Late Preclassic Period, Classic Period, and Postclassic Period. The Middle Preclassic Period was when the small areas started to become city-like in the way that they started to build larger temples. The Late Preclassic Period was when the cities began to expand with paved roads and massive pyramids. The Classic Period was the time the Maya civilization hit it’s peak. Populations were growing rapidly and the structure of politics was formed. The Postclassic Period was when warfare was on the rise and cities were being abandoned(Coe 2005). This paper will focus on the Classic Period due to the fact that that is the greatest time period in Maya history.