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The Americas

Throughout thousands of years, people in Asia migrated across the ice bridge toward North America and followed a path south, finding several places to settle. The several different civilizations throughout North, Central, And South America indicated the diversity of culture and art seen throughout the people. My focus has primarily been on the Middle and South Americas, as the civilizations there seemed so mystifying and technologically accurate compared to today that it gives me the urge to understand their philosophies and wisdom.


The Aztecs are one of the more well-known American civilizations, who lived on the Central Plateaus of Mexico. The Aztec capital is now today's Mexico City and was around way before the Spaniards ever arrived back in 1519. In fact, the city itself had plans from around 1325. The Aztecs were part of the Uto-Aztecan Linguistic family, or Nahua Culture, and consisted of Nahuatl, Ute, Hopi, and Comanche.


The Aztecs believed there was a constant struggle between life and death, fertility and war. There was a constant balance between human existence and its destruction, and the cosmos needed to maintain balance.


Another significant civilization was the Olmecs. They were the ones to build the first pyramids, ball courts, and intricate calendar systems. Eventually, the Mayans succeeded them, but the artwork that comes from the Olmecs can be viewed at the Museum of Man in Balboa Park at its permanent exhibition.

The Pyramid of the Sun

Their pyramids were still, in my opinion, the greatest thing to have been invented. The Pyramid of the Sun was built to mark the movement of the Sun from East to West as well as to track the Pleiades constellation on the equinoxes. Both staircases of the Pyramid of the Sun had 182 steps, including the platform, which equals 365 steps as a representation of the calendar much like our own calendar today. There was also a Pyramid of the Moon, which was used for sacrifices and burying of the dead. Aside from these two pyramids, the Temple of Quetzalcoatl was the next most important pyramid built. It was representative of the god of priestly

Temple of Quetzalcoatl

wisdom and featured elaborate carvings with heads of feathered and fire serpents. The fire serpents may have represented war while the feathered serpents represented water. There is much speculation on the meaning of the carvings, but this pyramid was highly decorated.


Aside from the Aztecs, the Mayans were also extremely significant to civilization as they were masters of math and astronomy. The Mayans were thought to have created the concept of the number Zero, and also predicted solar and lunar eclipses only seconds difference from modern astronomists. Although Mesoamerica lacked working animals for any agricultural assistance, they were one of the frontrunners for successful and diverse agricultural cultivation such as beans, maize, and squash. They were also working with gold and silver at the time. They even had their fair share of pyramid structures, such as the Zaculeu located within Mesoamerica. It was also used as a sacrificial and ritual site and was so influential that foreign Mexican populations of elites came to settle here until it was eventually conquered by another local civilization.




There is so much in-depth history to the Americas, and if you are interested in learning more about these topics, I will have some interesting reads linked below!



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