CHAPTER TWO
-
MESOAMERICAN
CIVILIZATIONS: THE VALLEY
OF MEXICO
It was in
the southern regions of the Americas
that people developed the most successful civilizations based on cultivated
agriculture. Whereas in North America, the dominant pattern remained tribal
cultures relying on hunting and gathering, in Central and South America, there
were several centers of agricultural development and thus ...
"civilization". One such region was the productive and fertile region
known as the valley of Mexico, which actually gave rise to several civilizations
between 1500 BCE and 1500 CE. Each successive civilization built on and
expanded on the achievements of the previous society. Beginning with the
Olmecs, the richness of the Mexican
valley sustained the civilizations of Teotihucan, the Toltecs and finally
the powerful Aztec empire.
THE OLMEC CULTURE
The valley
of Mexico is believed to be the area
where cultivated agriculture first emerged in the Americas, probably sometime around
2500 BCE. With the discovery of agriculture, the other hallmark characteristics
of civilization slowly began to emerge, including urban development, complex
religious and political systems, and creativity in art and
technology. Around 1500 BCE, these agricultural settlements reached maturity in
the civilization known as the Olmec, which lasted from 1500 BCE until 300
CE. The Olmec civilization was based on the successful cultivation of
maize (corn) as the primary food crop. The surplus this crop provided enabled
the building of the first cities in the Americas. The Olmec peoples also
developed what is believed to be the first American writing
system, completely independent of writing systems in the Eastern Hemisphere. (see article on
Olmec writing)
Olmec peoples also developed
formal social and political structures. One pattern established in this first
civilization which remained strongly evident through all of the succeeding
states and empires was the central role played by religion. At the heart of the
Olmec capital city was a pyramid or temple. As we saw in Mesopotamia,
Egypt and the Indus
civilizations (which emerged about a thousand years earlier in the Eastern Hemisphere), the heart of the urban center was
religious. The Olmec civilization was also apparently ruled by a priestly
elite. There was a hierarchy (another human pattern confirmed!) that
extended downward from the priests, through the military and political elite,
to the agricultural workers at the bottom of the social scale.
The Olmec culture deeply
influenced later developments in this region, much like the cradle civilization
of Mesopotamia in the Near East. Although it
ultimately fell to disruptive outside assaults, all of the succeeding
civilizations in this region built on the religious, intellectual and artistic
roots laid down by the Olmec peoples. In this sense, the Olmec civilization was
the cradle civilization in the Americas.
In fact, Olmec achievements in writing and religious ideas
were important foundations of the later Teotihucan and Aztec culture in the
valley of Mexico and also profoundly influenced the brilliant Mayan
civilization further south (which we discuss in the next chapter.)
The Olmec apparently
collapsed due to attacks from nomadic aggressors from the north. This was a
pattern in the history of this region; the successor dynasties in the Mexico Valley
also fell prey to outside attacks from aggressive migrants coming in from the
North. The important exception to this pattern was the Aztec Empire, the last
of the Mexican valley states, which fell to the aggression of newcomers not
from the North, but Europeans from the East!
TEOTIHUCAN
After 300 CE, a new
leadership arose in the Mexican valley to command the religion, economics and
political life in this region. Centered in the city of Teotihucan, a new group established effective
central power. The Teotihucan civilization in Mexico lasted until the 9th
century CE. During this period, commercial connections expanded north and
south reinforcing the importance of this region as the economic center of
Central and South America. Another area of
notable achievement by the Teotihucan civilization was cultural; there were
unique and brilliant innovations in the realms of sculpture
and in textiles.
The central city of Teotihucan, although it grew into
a prosperous commercial center, remained first and foremost a religious center.
The importance of religion was clearly manifest by the enormous effort and
money expended on maintaining reverence and connection with the surrounding
nature deities.
The most vivid displays of
this religious focus and priority were the great temples built in the city of Teotihucan: the Pyramid of the Sun
and the Pyramid of
the Moon. These were staggering displays of religious piety and architectural
brilliance. These structures have been compared to the ziggurats of Mesopotamia and even the Egyptian pyramids - they seem to
reflect the same human desire to create a physical connection to the heavens
and the effort to provide dramatic evidence of religious devotion to the gods.
(see
news article)
The prosperity and
stability of the civilization was clearly reflected in the size of this city;
at its height it is believed that Teotihucan was home to as many as 200,000
people! This was a population level not matched by any European city for
several centuries. Teotihucan, the city and the civilization itself, collapsed
around 800 CE, after a period of almost five centuries of economic and
political dominance. Once again, collapse followed a period of outside
invasions that weakened the state. (go to
description/pictures)
After a turbulent period of
upheaval between 800 - 1000, a new group established dominance in the rich agricultural
region of Mexico
- the Toltecs. Between 1000 - 1200's, Toltec leaders reaffirmed and built on
the political achievements of the Teotihucan leaders. The Toltec state
reasserted the central economic importance of this region throughout Mesoamerica. However, these leaders did not enjoy the
fruits of their labor for long. In the 14th century, a warring tribe
from the north moved into this valley. In fact the name of this group - Mexica
- later became the name for the indigenous culture - Mexican. The name we now
use to identify these newcomers who took power - the Aztecs - actually came
from European observers and sources.
THE AZTECS
The Aztec replaced the Toltecs
as the dominant force in the valley
of Mexico. However,
as happened before, the Aztec leaders built on the achievements of the Toltec
population in areas such as culture, technology, economic production, for
example production of stunning textiles, and adopted cultural attributes such writing and poetry. What
the Aztecs added to this cumulative mix of Mexican culture was their hunger for
empire and their costly religious devotion.
The Aztecs, in the short
period between the late 1300's - early 1500's, built one of the largest empires
in the Americas.
At its height, the empire conquered and controlled 38 neighboring regions, an
empire ruled from the capital city of Tenoctitlan.
Tenoctitlan at its peak was estimated home to as many as 250,000 people!
It was the ancestor city of what is today Mexico City. The Aztecs,
although famous for their brilliant achievements in cultural areas such as
sculpture, textiles and poetry, are best remembered for the empire they built
based on extreme violence and bloodshed.
The story of the Aztecs is
another reflection of that seemingly universal desire to build empires. The
Aztecs created a model of empire building that was fascinating and disturbing -
based on the attempt to use terror to control, in some responses comparable to
the Assyrians and Mongols. They created a large
empire and held onto control of this empire though terror and intimidation.
The interesting point is that the majority of the violence experienced by
subjects of the Aztecs did not take place in warfare. In fact, American
warfare, including Aztec warfare, was largely ritualized. The goal was to
capture and humiliate the enemy, not to slaughter them. Compared to warfare
throughout the regions of the Eastern Hemisphere,
the casualties of war - including Aztec conquests - were minimal. The real
bloodshed, and staggering degree of violence, resulted from Aztec attempts to
hold their empire together, and occurred not on the battle field but at the
sacrificial alter.
In their own way, the
Aztecs were as deeply
religious as other American peoples. (see description
of Mesoamerican religion) Religion underlay their culture and treatment of
subject peoples. The Aztecs were polytheistic and believed that the dominant natural
forces, in particular the sun god, required sacrifice as a sign of religious
devotion. It was believed that if the sun god was not "fed" by
sacrifices, this deity's battle with dark forces and dark gods would be lost,
and the sun would not rise. Thus, blood sacrifice was necessary to make the sun
rise.
Unlike other religions in
ancient cultures throughout the world which used sacrifice, however, the Aztecs
did not resort to occasional animal or periodic human sacrifice to appease the
gods. It was human sacrifice that was demanded, and human sacrifice on a massive
scale. The religious belief that the gods needed blood sacrifices was actually
a wide spread pattern among Central and South American peoples. The Maya and
the Incas also relied on human sacrifice to maintain good relations with their
deities. The Aztecs were extreme in their devotion however; human life was less
important than maintaining the connections and care of their gods. The result
was the infamous degree of human sacrifice that occurred under the Aztecs.
It is believed by some that
the large scale human sacrifice carried out by Aztec priests reflected not only
the central importance of religion and religious duties, but also was used as
an instrument of state terror. Rebellion or resistance, or even criminal
activity, meant that one became one of the sacrificial victims. And the need
for such victims was inexhaustible. In one reported ceremony, it is estimated
that thousands of peoples were killed in a brutal fashion in a non-stop process
that took days. In this culture, the power of religion combined with the
desire for control, took on a murderous character that has made a deep
impression on historical memory. (go to
description/pictures)
Despite the unique
nature of this state terror, the sacrificing of humans to feed the blood thirst
of the sun god, we do see another historical pattern repeated. The Aztec
control in the Mexican valley ultimately was eroded by this use of fear as the
basis of rule. The subject peoples of the Aztecs were hostile and resentful
towards their conquerors. Thus when the Spanish appeared in the early 1500's,
the conquistador Cortez was able to easily conquer the Aztecs not just because
of superior weaponry and debilitating diseases, but also because the people
subjected to brutal Aztec rule were eager to help topple this oppressive
regime. Many who hated the Aztec repression either aided the Spanish, or stood
by while the Aztec Empire was destroyed in the early 1500's. Unfortunately, the
European control that replaced the Aztecs in this region did not represent true
liberation or the end of repression.
The valley of Mexico
was home to many layers of cultural and political development. Visible
reminders of architectural and artistic achievements are still present. The
continual importance of religion and connection to the natural world is
manifest in the pyramids and sculptures, and the memories of sacrifice, that
remain. Ancient Mexican civilization, though far removed from the great
civilizations of the Eastern Hemisphere,
mirrored the same double edged sword of "civilization": the brilliant
artistry, engineering and creativity humans are capable of, as well as the
savagery and brutality humans are willing to inflict on each other.
Interesting Related Web
Sites
Ancient MesoAmerican
Civilizations
Documents of American Peoples
MesoAmerican Writing Systems
MesoWeb
Native Folklore
Native
Web
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