Portal:Mesoamerica
the Mesoamerica Portal 
_trim.png){kind=small}
Mesoamerica (Spanish: Mesoamérica) is a region and cultural area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries.
As a cultural area, Mesoamerica is defined by a mosaic of cultural traits developed and shared by its indigenous cultures. Beginning as early as 7000 BC the domestication of maize, beans, squash and chili, as well as the turkey and dog, caused a transition from paleo-Indian hunter-gatherer tribal grouping to the organization of sedentary agricultural villages. In the subsequent formative period, agriculture and cultural traits such as a complex mythological and religious tradition, a vigesimal numeric system, and a complex calendric system, a tradition of ball playing, and a distinct architectural style, were diffused through the area. Also in this period villages began to become socially stratified and develop into chiefdoms with the development of large ceremonial centers, interconnected by a network of trade routes for the exchange of luxury goods such as obsidian, jade, cacao, cinnabar, Spondylus shells, hematite, and ceramics. While Mesoamerican civilization did know of the wheel and basic metallurgy, neither of these technologies became culturally important.
Among the earliest complex civilizations was the Olmec culture which inhabited the Gulf coast of Mexico. In the Preclassic period, complex urban polities began to develop among the Maya and the Zapotecs. During this period the first true Mesoamerican writing systems were developed in the Epi-Olmec and the Zapotec cultures, and the Mesoamerican writing tradition reached its height in the Classic Maya Hieroglyphic script. Mesoamerica is one of only five regions of the world where writing was independently developed. In Central Mexico, the height of the Classic period saw the ascendancy of the city of Teotihuacan, which formed a military and commercial empire whose political influence stretched south into the Maya area and northward. During the Epi-Classic period the Nahua peoples began moving south into Mesoamerica from the North. During the early post-Classic period Central Mexico was dominated by the Toltec culture, Oaxaca by the Mixtec, and the lowland Maya area had important centers at Chichén Itzá and Mayapán. Towards the end of the post-Classic period the Aztecs of Central Mexico built a tributary empire covering most of central Mesoamerica.
Selected article
The Spanish conquest of Guatemala was a conflict that formed a part of the Spanish colonization of the Americas within the territory of what became the modern country of Guatemala in Central America. Before the conquest, this territory contained a number of competing Mesoamerican kingdoms, the majority of which were Maya. Many conquistadors viewed the Maya as "infidels" who needed to be forcefully converted and pacified, disregarding the achievements of their civilization. The first contact between the Maya and European explorers came in the early 16th century when a Spanish ship sailing from Panama to Santo Domingo was wrecked on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in 1511. Several Spanish expeditions followed in 1517 and 1519, making landfall on various parts of the Yucatán coast. The Spanish conquest of the Maya was a prolonged affair; the Maya kingdoms resisted integration into the Spanish Empire with such tenacity that their defeat took almost two centuries.
Pedro de Alvarado arrived in Guatemala from the newly-conquered Mexico in early 1524, commanding a mixed force of Spanish conquistadors and native allies, mostly from Tlaxcala and Cholula. Placenames across Guatemala bear Nahuatl placenames owing to the influence of these Mexican allies, who translated for the Spanish. The Kaqchikel Maya initially allied themselves with the Spanish, but soon rebelled against excessive demands for tribute and did not finally surrender until 1530. In the meantime the other major highland Maya kingdoms had each been defeated in turn by the Spanish and allied warriors from Mexico and already subjugated Maya kingdoms in Guatemala. The Itza Maya and other lowland groups in the Petén Basin were first contacted by Hernán Cortés in 1525, but remained independent and hostile to the encroaching Spanish until 1697, when a concerted Spanish assault finally defeated the last independent Maya kingdom.
Spanish and native tactics and technology differed greatly. The Spanish viewed the taking of prisoners as a hindrance to outright victory, whereas the Maya prioritised the capture of live prisoners and of booty. The indigenous peoples of Guatemala lacked key elements of Old World technology such as a functional wheel, horses, steel and gunpowder; they were also extremely susceptible to Old World diseases, against which they had no resistance. The Maya preferred raiding and ambush to large-scale warfare, using spears, arrows and wooden swords with inset obsidian blades; the Xinca of the southern coastal plain used poison on their arrows. In response to the use of Spanish cavalry, the highland Maya took to digging pits and lining them with wooden stakes.
Selected biography
K'inich Yat Ahk II (Mayan pronunciation: [kʼinitʃ jat akh]), also known as Ruler 7, was the final ajaw of Piedras Negras, an ancient Maya settlement in Guatemala. He ruled during the Late Classic Period, from 781 to roughly 808 AD. Possibly a descendant of Itzam K'an Ahk II, K'inich Yat Ahk II ascended the throne upon the death of his brother, the sixth ajaw of the site, Ha' K'in Xook. While K'inich Yat Ahk II presided over the destruction of the rival Maya site Pomona, his reign seems to have ended with the capture of Piedras Negras by K'inich Tatbu Skull IV of Yaxchilan. Itzam K'an Ahk II left behind several monuments, including stelae at Piedras Negras, a stone seat known as Throne 1 which records either the death or abdication of Ha' K'in Xook, and Panel 3 which recounts the exploits of Itzam K'an Ahk II.
Did you know?
- ...that the Maya city of La Blanca in northern Guatemala features an unusually well built palace complex (pictured) for such a small city?
- ...that the Maya ruins in Belize called Nim Li Punit take their name from the "big hat" headdress on an 8th century stela?
Subcategories
Related portals
Selected image
 |
El Castillo, found in the Chichen Itza archaeological site, is a Mesoamerican step-pyramid that is one of the most recognized and widely visited pre-Columbian structures in Mexico. Built by the Maya, it served as a temple to Kukulkan, the Yucatec Maya Feathered Serpent deity.
Featured articles
Good Topics
Good articles
Gómez de Alvarado- Aztecs
- La Blanca, Peten
- Calakmul
- Bartolomé de las Casas
- Copán
- El Chal
- Haʼ Kʼin Xook
- Itzam Kʼan Ahk II
- Iximche
- Kʼinich Yat Ahk II
- Kʼinich Yoʼnal Ahk I
- Macuahuitl
- Maize
- Manche Chʼol
- Mixco Viejo
- Motul de San José
- Mundo Perdido, Tikal
- North Acropolis, Tikal
- Potbelly sculpture
- William H. Prescott
- Qʼumarkaj
- Resplendent quetzal
- Seibal
- Serpent labret with articulated tongue
- Spanish conquest of Yucatán
- Spanish conquest of Chiapas
- Spanish conquest of El Salvador
- Spanish conquest of Honduras
- Spanish conquest of the Maya
- Tikal
- Toniná
- Western Mexico shaft tomb tradition
- Benjamin Lee Whorf
- Yoʼnal Ahk III
- Zaculeu
Topics
WikiProjects
Things to do
 |
Here are some tasks awaiting attention:
|
New articles
Rules | Match log | Results page (for watching) | Last updated: 2024-05-26 21:07 (UTC)
Note: The list display can now be customized by each user. See List display personalization for details.
- Miss Cosmo International 2024 (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by KamyyFallon (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2024-05-25, score: 38
- 2024 Mexican Senate election (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Moscow Mule (talk · contribs · new pages (30)) started on 2024-05-25, score: 54
- Salvadoran campaign of 1832 (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by PizzaKing13 (talk · contribs · new pages (3)) started on 2024-05-25, score: 36
- Third Mexican Provincial Council (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Moriwen (talk · contribs · new pages (140)) started on 2024-05-24, score: 24
- Juan Martínez Téllez de los Ríos (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Cesarleonardocruz (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2024-05-14, score: 24
- Ipomoea setosa (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by WelwitschiaTokarev (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2024-05-21, score: 56
- Quintonil (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Tbhotch (talk · contribs · new pages (31)) started on 2024-05-18, score: 36
- List of country subdivision flags in North America (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by For the nth time (talk · contribs · new pages (4)) started on 2024-05-18, score: 26
- Ideoblothrus maya (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by WhatIsAPoggers (talk · contribs · new pages (8)) started on 2024-05-18, score: 40
- List of Michelin starred restaurants in Mexico (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Expandinglight5 (talk · contribs · new pages (2)) started on 2024-05-17, score: 30
- Chiapanec people (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Loukus999 (talk · contribs · new pages (13)) started on 2024-05-16, score: 148
- UN Trade and Development (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Teddyg3892 (talk · contribs · new pages (1)) started on 2024-05-15, score: 24
- General Director of National Planning (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by AlexExpensive (talk · contribs · new pages (4)) started on 2024-05-13, score: 24
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus
