Mesoamerica

Abstract

A deep history of Mesoamerica traces how the transition from nomadic foragers to settled farmers of maize and other crops resulted in the first villages, unifying art styles, and later cities, states, and empires. Cultures such as the Olmecs, Mayas, Teotihuacanos, and Toltecs preceded the Aztecs, who incorporated elements of all of them, particularly the last two from the same region of central Mexico. This chapter examines millennia of Mesoamerican history known through archaeology, the history of art, and epigraphic study of the few extant Native texts from the pre-Hispanic era. It explores how Mesoamericans first cultivated maize and other crops to establish an agricultural base somewhat familiar to readers as Mexican and Central American cuisine; the development of the earliest team sports involving rubber balls; urbanization into populous cities featuring pyramidal temple complexes; the invention of hieroglyphic scripts and the concept of zero before it existed in Europe; and the political rise and collapse of successive civilizations prior to the Aztecs.