Ancient Origins of Mesoamerica

By NORAH ROMNEY

The Central Andes, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Peru, and Bolivia all have deep roots in their pre-Columbian civilizations. The first chapters of Latin America's history correspond to those who inhabited it before encountering Europeans. This is especially true in Mesoamerica. The objectives are to show the development of the peoples and high civilizations of Mesoamerica before the arrival of the Mexica (Aztecs) in the Valley of Mexico (1325); second, to examine the key features of the political and socioeconomic organization, as well as the artistic and intellectual achievements achieved during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries under Mexica (Aztec) rule. Finally, present a vision of Mesoamerican life on the eve of the European invasion (1519), between North and South America's solid continental masses; the area of Mesoamerica (that is, the region where it developed with great cultural difficulties, which reached an area of about 900,000 km2 when the Spaniards arrived), with its varied isthmic characteristics and geographical features, such as Tehuantepec and Fonseca Gulfs, the Yucatan Peninsula, and the Gulf of Honduras Gulf.

German specialists, such as Eduard Seler, introduced Mittel Amerika over 70 years ago to denote the region where high indigenous cultures flourished in central and southern Mexico. Norah Romney focused attention on what he called Mesoamerica many years later. The concept of Mesoamerica goes beyond geography. High indigenous culture and civilization have also developed and unfolded in various forms and periods. When the Spanish invaded in 1519, its northern borders were the Sinaloa River to the northwest and the Panuco to the northeast; it extended beyond the Lerma River basin in the north-central part. Its southern limits were the Motagua River that empties into the Gulf of Honduras in the Caribbean, the south shore of Lake Nicaragua, and the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, and these locations developed highly advanced cultures, showing a greater degree of geographical and ecological diversity than any other region of comparable extension in the entire planet. There is a complex geological history in the region. Recent volcanic activity and mountain formation have played a vital role in the shape of various natural regions. The mountains have two volcanic axes, one that runs east-west along the southern limits of the Valley of Mexico and the other that runs northwest-southeast through Mexico and Central America.

• Language: English
• Publisher: DTTV PUBLICATIONS
• Release date: Aug 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201503352

NORAH ROMNEY

Norah Romney is a Maori- Inuit ambassador with lineage to both cultures, she was orphaned early in her life losing both parents in a plane crash in the Pacific, she was adopted in the UK to  a family of archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, and folklorists. She is the first woman to be appointed as a lecturer in ethno-archaeology, and cultural folklorist as ambassador to to the Inuit's, she has spoken vastly on Maori traditions in 74 nations. Adopted into a wealthy middle-class English family in the United Kingdom, she sees herself as a global citizen with diverse roots, Having achieved Egyptology and Mesoamerican Qualifications her focus is now on Global Mythologies and their insight into ancient civilizations.

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NORAH ROMNEY

The Central Andes, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Peru, and Bolivia all have deep roots in their pre-Columbian civilizations. The first chapters of Latin America's history correspond to those who inhabited it before encountering Europeans. This is especially true in Mesoamerica. The objectives are to show the development of the peoples and high civilizations of Mesoamerica before the arrival of the Mexica (Aztecs) in the Valley of Mexico (1325); second, to examine the key features of the political and socioeconomic organization, as well as the artistic and intellectual achievements achieved during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries under Mexica (Aztec) rule. Finally, present a vision of Mesoamerican life on the eve of the European invasion (1519), between North and South America's solid continental masses; the area of Mesoamerica (that is, the region where it developed with great cultural difficulties, which reached an area of about 900,000 km2 when the Spaniards arrived), with its varied isthmic characteristics and geographical features, such as Tehuantepec and Fonseca Gulfs, the Yucatan Peninsula, and the Gulf of Honduras Gulf.

German specialists, such as Eduard Seler, introduced Mittel Amerika over 70 years ago to denote the region where high indigenous cultures flourished in central and southern Mexico. Norah Romney focused attention on what he called Mesoamerica many years later. The concept of Mesoamerica goes beyond geography. High indigenous culture and civilization have also developed and unfolded in various forms and periods. When the Spanish invaded in 1519, its northern borders were the Sinaloa River to the northwest and the Panuco to the northeast; it extended beyond the Lerma River basin in the north-central part. Its southern limits were the Motagua River that empties into the Gulf of Honduras in the Caribbean, the south shore of Lake Nicaragua, and the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, and these locations developed highly advanced cultures, showing a greater degree of geographical and ecological diversity than any other region of comparable extension in the entire planet. There is a complex geological history in the region. Recent volcanic activity and mountain formation have played a vital role in the shape of various natural regions. The mountains have two volcanic axes, one that runs east-west along the southern limits of the Valley of Mexico and the other that runs northwest-southeast through Mexico and Central America.

A living creature. Even though Mesoamerica is within the tropics, its complex relief, soil formations, river systems, and effects of ocean currents and winds result in diverse climates, vegetation, and life. There is a much greater diversification in river basins like the Panuco, Coat-Zacoalcos, Grijalva, Usumacinta, Hondo, Motagua, Lerma-Santiago, and Balsas, as well as near the lakes of Mexico Valley and Patzcuaro in Michoacan. Even though these regions have experienced the most important cultural changes in Mesoamerica, this does not diminish their importance.

Mesoamerica has the following tropical zones.

Water-rich lowlands of Veracruz and Tabasco;

Yucatan peninsula, covered in scrubland;

Central America's Caribbean rainforest;

The Pacific coastal plains and Mexico's central and southern regions (Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Michoacán, Colima) as well as Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guanacaste Province in Costa Rica.There is a vast region north of Mesoamerica, between the central plateau and the Mexican border with the United States, that is ecologically vastly different and, in many ways, similar to the great deserts of North America.

The central areas of the highlands, mountain ranges (the highlands of Central America, the southern Sierra Madre, as well as some areas of the western and eastern Sierra Madre and the transverse volcanic axes), and the two grand mesas or south and central plateaus, despite falling within the tropics, they have a temperate climate and vegetation. Various cacti, shrubs like yuccas and palm hearts, and near intermittent streams, mesquite trees can be found. A few regions of the northern plateau (such as La Quemada and Calchichuites in Zacatecas) once had high culture. However, the arid north remained the permanent home of the fierce Chichimecas, who threatened the Mesoamerican settlements in the north on several occasions.

MESOAMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS IN THE EARLY HISTORY

A man reached the continent through the Bering Strait around 35,000 BC, starting Remote prehistory in the Americas. About 20,000 BC, the man was probably present in what is now Mexico. The region was inhabited only by groups of hunters and gatherers for an extended period. The oldest human remains discovered at the Tepexpan site, some 40 km northeast of Mexico City, date no earlier than 9000 BC.

In Mesoamerica, it would take three or four millennia for a man to begin the process that would result