The earliest of the major Meso-American civilizations was the Olmec culture, which is often regarded as the fostering influence behind the Mayan, Aztec, and other later societies. The Olmec were prominent in eastern coastal Mexico between 1200 and 400 B.C. and are remembered for constructing massive earthen mounds, sculpting giant basalt heads, and building large and prosperous cities that existed for hundreds of years. As the Olmec declined, the Mayans rose to prominence. Historical evidence seems to indicate the presence of a Mayan culture in present day Mexico at least as far back as 1800 BCE, but their greatest influence was exerted between 200 B.C. and A.D. 1000. Settlement was extensive in the Yucatán Peninsula and stretched southward into Central America. Unlike the later Aztecs, the Mayans did not exercise strong administrative control over an empire, but instead developed as a series of largely autonomous city-states, such as Palenque, Tikal, and Chichén Itzá. Fortified residential areas were often surrounded by meticulously cultivated farmlands. Mayan contributions were many. They developed an advanced writing system. Their history, entrusted to cactus fiber parchment, fared poorly against the ravages of time and Spanish censors saw to the destruction of much of the remainder. However, many of their carvings on stone have survived and provide much of what is known today about their civilization. The Mayans also were gifted mathematicians who independently developed the concept of zero, and astronomers who deduced that a solar year was slightly more than 365 days. Despite these achievements, the Mayans and other Meso-American cultures failed to discover the utility of the wheel. The decline of Mayan civilization was well under way by 1100 B.C. The causes are uncertain, but speculation points to warfare, crop failures, and disease as leading possibilities. The society was also enervated by its religion, which emphasized that human blood was extremely pleasing to its gods. Nobles mutilated themselves and their blood flowed onto fabric, which was burned as an offering. As time passed, those gifts were deemed insufficient and human sacrifice became commonplace. Victims had their still beating hearts cut from their chests and displayed to throngs gathered for these spectacles. Most of those so dispatched were captives from battles, but others were Mayan volunteers seeking to placate the gods. By the time of the Spanish arrival around A.D. 1520, the Mayans were a starkly diminished civilization. Their great cities were abandoned and the remnants of their population widely scattered.
Where do the Aztecs and Maya live today, & where did they live in the past?The people who are known as the ‘Aztecs’ and ‘Maya’ live in Mexico and Central America today, and lived in the same areas in the past. The Aztec political centre was present-day Mexico City and the land around it. This is where the Aztec Empire was based. We call the area the ‘Basin of Mexico’ or ‘Valley of Mexico’ because Mexico City and the land around it form a large valley (or basin) surrounded by high mountains. In the past, the rivers that ran down the mountains formed a huge lake in the valley, called Lake Texcoco, and the Aztecs built their main city on an island in this lake. Not much of the lake remains today because Mexico City was built on it. Maya civilisation was spread out across the Yucatan Peninsula (this includes the Mexican states of Campeche, Yucatan, Quintano Roo and part of Tabasco) and includes Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras and western El Salvador. Unlike the Aztecs, the Maya were never an empire. The Maya world was made up of many city-states, although some city-states became more powerful than others.
When did Aztec and Maya civilisation exist?This is complicated because dates are always changing! Maya civilisation goes back at least to about 1500 B.C. and existed until the time the Spanish arrived in the area in the 1500s. Belize is interesting because in Belize, it is the British who settled in Maya territory. But the Maya are best known for the large cities they built that flourished from about 300 B.C. until A.D. 900. In the 900s, there was a lot of political turmoil and some (not all) cities were abandoned. This period is known as the Maya ‘collapse’. Many of the Maya seemed to get a lot more interested in maritime trade after the collapse, and in commerce in general, as if the fall of the powerful dynasties made it easier for everyone else to rise in the world! Smaller cities then spread out across the peninsula and it is these cities that the Spaniards saw when they came to Yucatan. Cortes arrived in 1519. The Aztec Empire flourished from about 1300 (1326 is the usual date given) until its conquest by the Spaniards in 1520-21. The Aztecs were in the Valley of Mexico before 1300 but it took them a while to consolidate their power. And that is a great story in itself!
Who were the Aztecs and the Maya?Well, in fact these names are fake. The Aztecs did not call themselves Aztecs, and the Maya did not call themselves Maya. It gets complicated, but the people we now call ‘Maya’ actually called themselves by the name of their home town or city. We call them ‘Maya’ because linguists now know that all the languages of the Maya area are connected to a common root that existed sometime around 1,500 B.C. But the ancient Maya didn’t know that! It would be a bit like us giving one name to all the people who spoke a language that derived from Indo-European; or, say, giving Italians, French, Spanish, Romanians and the people who speak Romansh all the same name because we know their languages are connected. Kind of crazy...but...because we don’t have good records of what the Maya called themselves, we use ‘Maya’. The language or languages we call ‘Mayan’. Today there are about 30 Mayan languages. As for the Aztecs, the ones who dominated the empire are mostly Mexica-Culhua. There were LOTS of ethnic groups with unpronounceable (to us) names living around the Basin of Mexico: Mexica, Culhua, Acolhua, Tepaneca, Matlazinca... to name but a few.
The upper classes of these groups all intermarried - exactly like the ruling houses of the past in Europe and the corporate executives of today. Some things never change. So in fact, the people called ‘Aztec’ were a mixed bag. On the other hand, most of the groups living around Lake Texcoco traced their ancestry to a place called ‘Aztlan’ (the Spanish got the word ‘Aztec’ from ‘Aztlan’). No one can be sure where Aztlan was, but most evidence puts it completely outside Mexico in the southwest U.S.! Groups slowly moved south into Mexico over the centuries. They all spoke, and still speak, a language called ‘Nahuatl’ and this is what unites them. Like English today or French or Latin in the past, Nahuatl spread widely into many other cultural and ethnic areas. By the time the Spaniards came, even the Maya spoke Nahuatl in addition to their native languages.
What did the Aztecs and Maya do for us?• Some words from Nahuatl (Aztecs): chocolate, tomato, avocado, chilli, coyote, ocelot, atlatl, guacamole• Some words from Mayan languages: cacao (cocoa), shark, cigar. How are the Maya and Aztecs alike? Main similarities: agriculture, books, some aspects of the calendar, importance of jade, attitudes towards war and conflict (they did not kill on the battlefield)• Corn (maize) was the basis of the diet as well as beans and squash; corn was soaked in a lime solution (yes, the same stuff you put on soil in gardens) which added calcium and made a greater range of proteins available. Doritos are made this way and are good for you!• Cacao (chocolate) only grew in the tropics but everyone loved it and the Aztecs imported it.
• There were no cattle or sheep or goats so they didn’t have to knock down the forest to graze their animals. • Everyone walked everywhere or travelled in canoes (no cars or horses or the wheel) so it was a lively landscape and seascape with people selling food and drinks and resting places to everyone else. Great for business!• They both liked tobacco and smoked cigars (not pipes). • There was lots of trade between the two areas (Valley of Mexico and Yucatan Peninsula); merchants were really important to both societies.
How are they different? Picture sources:- • All other photos by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore. This article was uploaded to the Mexicolore website on Feb 02nd 2014
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Who influenced the Maya and Aztec?
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