54 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
54 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
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TOLTECS>
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The Toltecs were an Indian tribe who existed from 900 A.D. to 1200. They
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had a capital city of Tollan, and their influences reached south to the Yucatan
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and Guatemala. They were a composite tribe of Nahua, Otomi, and Nonoalca. The
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Tolt ecs made huge stone columns decorated like totem poles.
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AZTECS>
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Aztecs were an American Indian people who rule an empire in Mexico during the
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1400's and early 1500's. They practiced a religion that affected every part of
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their lives. To worship the Aztecs built towering temples, created huge
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sculptures, and had human sacrifices. The center of Aztec civilization was a
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river valley in Mexico. The emperor of the Aztecs was called the "huey
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tlatoani" (great speaker). A council of high-ranking no bles chose him from
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the members of a royal family. The Aztec society had four main classes nobles,
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commoners, serfs, and slaves. The typical Aztec household consisted of a
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husband and wife, their unmarried children, and a number of the husbands
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relative s. Boys were educated by their father until aboutn 10 years of age.
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The Aztecs married at an early age, women at about 16, men at about 20.
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Warfare was considered a religious duty by the Aztecs. They fought not only to
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enlarge their empire but also to take prisoners to sacrifice to the gods. The
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market place was a major center of Aztec life, more than 60,000 people visited
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it daily. They had no system of money, they traded goods and services for
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other goods and services. They had no pack-animals, a nd as a result, they
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themselves had to carry all their goods over land. The end of the Aztec empire
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came when the Spaniards came. The first time the Spaniards were mistaken for
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returning gods. When they returned to Spain, they told of all the gold that
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the Aztecs had. The Spaniards returned one year later with canons and they had
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the help of the other indian tribes of the area, in destroying the Aztec
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empire.
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MAYANS>
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The Mayan civilization flourished from the 3rd to the 16th centuries in an a
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rea the included the peninsula of Yucatan and the eastern part of Chiapas in
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Mexico, most of Guatemala, the western region of the Republic of Honduras. In
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the Spanish conquest only a few Mayans resisted the conversion to Christianity.
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The Mayans believe d that 13 heavens were arranged in layers above the earth,
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and under the earth were nine underworlds also arranged in layers. The
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concepts are closely related to those of the Aztecs. The religion has partly
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survived to this day among the Christianized M ayans. Mayan mathematics
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included the discovery of zero, the duration of the solar year, and a method of
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predicting solar eclipses. Mayan cities were primarily ceremonial, government,
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and market centers. Sacrifices were numerous of animals, birds, inse cts,
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fish, plants, blood from tongues, ears, arms, and legs. For rain victims were
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hurled into deep wells. Drawing blood from bodies often preceded ceremonies
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and sacrifices. These practices had become so deeply rooted that, even after
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the Spanish conq uest, Christian--pagan ceremonies took place with sacrifices
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featuring heart removal or crucifixion. The custom of human sacrifice ended in
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1868. Ritual activities were complex, and consisted of bloodletting from ears
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and tongues, sacrifices, and dances . Every social group celebrated its own
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religious feast. Sorcerers and medicine men were both prophets and inflicters
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or healers of disease. They used magic formulas, chants, and prayers for
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healing methods.
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