The Greatest Indigenous Empires in the Americas

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The Greatest Indigenous Empires in the Americas: The History of the Groups that Dominated the Western Hemisphere Before Columbus by Charles River Editors
English | December 21, 2024 | ISBN: N/A | ASIN: B0DR7H231L | 359 pages | EPUB | 39 Mb
When most people think of "ancient American civilizations," the Aztec, Maya, or Inca cultures probably come to mind immediately, because the societies in Mesoamerica and South America left behind permanent structures for millions of visitors from around the world to see each year. But in fact, there were people inhabiting the region over 11,000 years earlier.

The discovery of distinct arrow tips throughout the United States, Canada, and parts of northern Mexico in the early 20th century, often referred to by archaeologists as projectile points, is a testament to the success of the Paleolithic culture, now known as Clovis. Modern scholars point to the extensive nature of Clovis archaeological sites as proof of its importance, yet these same scholars have only begun to uncover this culture, and as they do, more questions are raised than there are answers. Although most of the questions are not controversial, some of the answers scholars have forwarded are.
In North America, from about 1000-1500 CE, an equally complex culture formed along the banks of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio Rivers. From Red Wing, Minnesota to Greenhouse, Louisiana, and from Spiro, Oklahoma to Macon, Georgia, societies built impressive mound structures that served as ritual platforms, burial sites, and residences for the elites. These mounds also served as the focal points of urban areas of varying sizes that were connected to each other through trade and ideology, forming a culture that modern historians have since designated the "Mississippian culture."
Given Europe's familiarity with the Mesoamerican civilizations and lack of knowledge about North America, when white settlers first came upon the giant mounds and earthworks dotting the North American landscape in the 17th and 18th centuries, they couldn't imagine that the local natives were capable of such advanced technology and masterful engineering.
The Olmec people are widely recognized as the first major civilization of Mexico and are thus generally regarded as the mother civilization of Mesoamerica, making them the people from which all subsequent Mesoamerican cultures derived. In fact, the term Olmec is thought to have originated with the Aztec people, as Olmec in their Nahuatl language means "the rubber people", a reference to the inhabitants of the land from which they accessed rubber. By and large, the Olmec culture is perhaps best identifiable by their so-called colossal heads, mammoth basalt head-statues wearing helmet-like headdresses found throughout Olmec habitation sites.
The Toltec are one of the most famous Mesoamerican groups in South America, but they are also the most controversial and mysterious. The Toltec have been identified as the group that established a strong state centered in Tula (in present-day Mexico), and the Aztec claimed the Toltec as their cultural predecessors, so much so that the word Toltec comes from the Aztec's word Tōltēcatl, translated as artisan. The Aztec also kept track of the Toltec's history, including keeping a list of important rulers and events, that suggest the peak of the Toltec occurred from about 900-1100 CE.
Nearly 500 years after the Spanish conquered their mighty empire, the Aztecs are often remembered today for their major capital, Tenochtitlan, as well as being fierce conquerors of the Valley of Mexico who often engaged in human sacrifice rituals. Ironically, and unlike the Mayans, the Aztecs are not widely viewed or remembered with nuance, in part because their own leader burned extant Aztec writings and rewrote a mythologized history explaining his empire's dominance less than a century before the Spanish arrived.


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