Mayan society was divided into different social classes. Priests were at the top of Mayan society. The priests performed the religious ceremonies that the Mynas believed were needed for their crops to grow and their warriors to be successful in battle. Government officials, warriors and nobles were also in the upper classes of Mayan society. People of high social class would were special clothing to set them apart from the other Maya.
The Native Civilizations of Central America included the Olmecs, the Toltec’s, the Zapotecs, the Aztecs, the Mayas, the Incas, and the Moche . The Olmec civilization area in early times was known as San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, which at the time was considered the largest city in Mesoamerica that housed thousands, and used water and draining system to do so. The Olmec Civilization was very important, they used and developed many things culturally and religiously that were later used by the Mayans and Aztecs and many other cultures. It was said that the Olmec Civilization had a wide influence in their day, and that they influenced other tribes to do what they did. These people were skilled carvers, they carved stone, jade and volcanic rock basalt which was used for their great stone heads.
The city- states were ruled by kings who set boundaries, regulated religion, provided justice, and led the armies. The elite kings, priests, and nobles controlled much of the land, which was worked by slaves. Sumerian civilization established the basic traditions for all Mesopotamian civilizations. Although larger political empires occasionally merged, the city-state remained the elemental principle of political organization in Sumeria. The economy continued to rely on slave labor.
The name of the Aztec's sun god, Huitzilopochtli, was also the god of war. Aztec mythology states Huitzilopochtli directed the Aztecs' ancestors to the location of Tenochtitlan, or modern-day Mexico City. In Incan society, the emperor is a descendant from God, he is believed to own everything on Earth. Aztec society is ruled by a king who is elected by a council
Olmec Tribe By: ANT 348 Native American Anthropology Instructor: Shandra Keesecker April, 16th, 2012 Native Americans have been here since the beginning of time. They are a global culture and each is different on what they are able to do and what they eat. For the Olmec civilization it was a bit harder to understand and study them due to where they live and how they protect themselves. Researchers have found so much about than but yet so many needs to be discovered. The Olmec civilization was the prevailing civilization in Mesoamerica between the periods of 1200 BC to 400 BC.
AP UNITED STATES HISTORY Question 1: Describe the Aztec civilization and the effect that European conquest had on it. While the Aztecs shaped a sophisticated civilization with advanced agricultural practices, elaborate cities, talented mathematicians, sacrificial religious rituals, and far-flung commerce, European conquest brought negative things like death, along with positive things such as animals, language, and laws. The Aztecs based their agriculture primarily on the cultivation of the Indian corn, maize, which fed huge populations. Even though they didn’t rely on large draft animals like horses and oxen, and didn’t have the invention of the wheel, these people were able to create complex cities and carry commerce to great lengths. Also, some of their people were talented mathematicians that made extremely accurate astronomical observations.
Religion gave meaning and explained human existence, agriculture, natural biological occurrences, and even the light of day. Religion and the gods surrounded the Aztecs lives in every direction. In order to further understand the reasoning behind why the Aztecs felt they needed to practice sacrifice, one needs to understand the importance religion held within the Aztec race. Sacrifice of any form was considered to be a payment to their gods. According to Michael Graulich (2000), the director of religious studies at a school in Paris, the primary reason for sacrifice was atonement (p. 2).
The people of the Americas all had unique characteristics because of their environment. There were the Mayas, the Incas, the Aztecs, and the Anasazi. The Maya were a tribe far to the East of Mexico. They had a polytheistic religion which had the same characteristics of gods that the nearby cultures had. There was a supreme god, Itzama, and the rest of gods were ranked in importance.
Aztecs The ancient Aztecs were a civilization that was based in central Mexico. They were considered a civilization because they had all of the seven factors that make a civilization. One, the Aztecs had a centralized government; which was more of a tribute then a single system government, it was organized in city-states, and the government was ethnically diverse. Two, it had class structure; which had a class system, and each class contributed to something in the Aztecan civilization. Tree, the Aztecs also had merchants and trade; which was promoted by the Aztecan Empire and the traders supplied a number of different items.
The Aztecs were impacted by Toltec before them and also by the Maya, and owed a great deal to the founders of the first Mesoamerican civilisation; the Olmec. The Olmec was at its cultural height in the Preclassic Period in Mesoamerica, between 1000 B.C to A.D. 300. The Maya thrived during the Classic Period which was around A.D 300 TO 900. Now the Postclassic Period is determined as from 900 to 1500, where the Toltec were leading from around 900 to 1200. Then the Aztec civilisation was at its peak from 1200 to 1500 which was when the Spanish arrived.