Mesoamerica means "Middle America." This term was proposed to refer to a cultural space that extends from the southern part of Mexico to the Province of Guanacaste in Costa Rica, which is differentiated from other regions by the way of life of its inhabitants, its climate and its geography. Mesoamerica is a space of varied climates and landscapes, such as valleys, forests, coasts, swamps and jungles.

Its lands are humid and fertile, suitable for agriculture, and there are numerous lakes and rivers. Even with this diversity, the inhabitants of the region had certain characteristics in common, for example, their societies were organized into groups with different functions and importance. On the one hand, the rulers, divided into religious and military leaders, and, on the other, artisans and peasants.

This social division was manifested in the palaces, temples, rooms and urban spaces in which the rulers lived. Their basic basket included corn, beans, chili, pumpkin or güicoy, avocado and cocoa, among others.[7] They carried out important works to control and use rainwater, rivers and lakes. Their religion was polytheistic. They had religious beliefs that they combined with knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, engineering, art, writing and medicine. Architecturally, elements stand out such as the stepped bases and buildings that were built in the cities for the ball game ritual. They invented a numbering system with a vigesimal base and among their writing systems[8]​ the ideographic one stands out, based on drawing symbols that represented ideas. They were governed by two different calendars: one of 365 days for agricultural activities and one of 260 for their religious beliefs. With their myths they tried to explain the complexity of the natural and human world, trying to preserve the harmony between the two.

Since interest in the indigenous cultures of Central America and Mexico grew, specialists faced the problem of interpreting the available data on indigenous peoples. The important advances in archaeological investigations in central Mexico - particularly in Oaxaca, where Alfonso Caso led the excavations at Monte Albán - and in the Mayan area - with Ricketson's team investigating Uaxactún (Guatemala) - showed that between these regions, considered foreign to each other until the 1940s, there were great cultural coincidences that required an explanation.[9]​.

Alfred Kroeber introduced the concept of cultural areas[10] in 1939 to address the presence of similar cultural traits in ethnically diverse peoples relatively separated in the geography of the same region. In the work Cultural and natural areas of native North America, Kroeber proposed that northern Central America and the territories of the agricultural peoples of Mexico constituted a cultural area,[11]​ but his proposal did not seem to have an echo in archaeological circles. In 1943 Paul Kirchhoff published his article Mesoamerica, in which he problematized the cultural unity of the Mayan area and central Mexico. In his text, Kirchhoff outlined a set of traits whose presence was significant in the peoples of northern Central America and central and southern Mexico, which distinguished them from other American cultures. Kirchhoff said that the northern limit of Mesoamerica was the region between the Sinaloa River, the Sierra Madre Occidental, the basins of the Lerma and Panuco rivers and the southern limit would be the line between the mouth of the Motagua River and the Gulf of Nicoya, in Costa Rica.

The geographical boundaries are not static, but vary according to the increase or decrease of resources depending on the season. Mesoamerica has an area of ​​1,000,218 km². Among the cultural traits are the sedentary lifestyle "Sedentaryism (prehistory)"), the use of the planting/cutter stick, the cultivation of corn (the milpa) and its nixtamalization, the practice of the ball game, the numbering system with a vigesimal base, the use of the 260-day ritual calendar, the practice of various types of human sacrifices and the pictographic writing system. In subsequent works, Kirchhoff was "disappointed" at the uncritical reception that the term Mesoamerica had in archaeological circles and regretted that a fruitful debate on the relevance of the concept had not taken place.[12]​.

Despite this reception of his proposal, advances in the archeology of the Mesoamerican peoples have highlighted some weaknesses in the definition of Mesoamerica originally presented by Kirchhoff. One of the first points is its historicist and culturalist emphasis, which seeks to define Mesoamerican civilization as a set of disjointed elements that tend to identify culture with the ethnic group and the linguistic community.[13]​ In the following decades, new approaches have been developed to address the civilization of the pre-Columbian peoples of Middle America.

Among other things, this includes the revision of indigenous chronology.[14]​.

The historical dimension of Mesoamerican geography

To understand the geography of Mesoamerica it is necessary to place it in a diachronic dimension, that is, as a dynamic reality. It must be emphasized that Mesoamerica is a civilization shared by peoples of diverse ethnic origin and that, unlike other civilizations such as Ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia, the peoples who shared the Mesoamerican civilization never constituted a political unit. The borders of Mesoamerica correspond to the territories of those peoples that were part of the sphere of Mesoamerican civilization, which shares a culture whose characteristics are discussed below. The confines of Mesoamerica do not correspond to the limits of any modern country either. After the Spanish conquest, the Mesoamerican peoples were incorporated into the viceroyalty of New Spain, but this domain of the Spanish Crown also included other groups of different cultures such as the Oasisamericans, the nomads of Arid America and the peoples of lower Central America.

Mesoamerica occupies a portion of the American continent between the Pacific Ocean to the west; and the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico to the north and east. Its northern limits are less clear, with the exception of those given by the Yucatán Peninsula. In its time of greatest advance within the continent, towards the north, the territories of Mesoamericanity included the Sierra Madre Occidental of Durango and Zacatecas, the Sierra Gorda "Sierra Gorda (Mexico)"), the Tunal Grande") and the Sierra de Tamaulipas. This occurred during the Classic period. This advance towards the north was favored by climatological conditions that allowed agriculture and urban concentration; the climatic context acted in conjunction with the growing importance of exchange routes between Oasisamérica and Mesoamerica that crossed the areas of central Mexico mentioned above. Prolonged droughts and political crises dragged down the societies of northern Mesoamerica and the region was abandoned and occupied again by Arid-American nomads around the century AD.[15]

On the other hand, the southern and eastern boundary of Mesoamerica was more or less stable. However, some manifestations of the peoples of the area moved away from Mesoamerican patterns during the Late Preclassic and Early Classic (ss. BC - BC), so that during this time the Central American region moved away from the cultural sphere of Middle America. At the end of this stage, ties with Mesoamerican cultures were reestablished and reinforced by the migrations of Otomanguean groups (Chorotegas and Mangues) and Uto-Aztecs (Pipils and Nicaraos).[16]​.

Geographic features of Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica is located approximately between parallels 10° N and 22° N. It is a territory of great topographic and ecological diversity. Its topography is diverse because it is made up of several mountain chains and knots that are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. On the other hand, when you go north into the highlands, in the Yucatecan peninsula, the mountain ranges disappear and the altitude decreases until the territory becomes a calcareous plain that at its northernmost end is characterized by its low jungles and hot climate. All this is an elementary factor to understand the geography of Mesoamerica, because it introduces a notable diversity factor. Therefore, although Mesoamerica is generally located in the tropical and subtropical zone, it is home to great climatic contrasts.

The Mesoamerican lowlands include those regions below (meters above sea level).[17]​ These are generally the coastal plains and the foothills of the mountains that descend to the coast. They are characterized by their warm temperature, although other geographical conditions may vary. In general, the Atlantic coast has higher humidity and more exuberant vegetation than the Pacific coast. In the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental the rainfall patterns are high and the rivers that descend to the Gulf of Mexico in steep slopes called alluviums frequently overflow, such as the Tabasco plain, an extensive alluvial plain where the most important hydrological basin in Mexico is located, formed by the Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers. The Sierra de los Tuxtlas is in the same situation, in the center of the current state of Veracruz (Mexico). The Yucatan Peninsula—which is a large calcareous plain at a low altitude above sea level—shares with Honduras a rainy season with greater rainfall between May and December. Water is so abundant on the Mesoamerican Atlantic slope that wetlands were an important part of the landscape until they began to be devastated by human action. The Centla swamps in Tabasco are a sample, although not the only one, of the native ecosystems of the Atlantic coasts of the region.

Hurricanes hit the coasts of Mesoamerica every year. The temperature does not present considerable contrasts, it is warm throughout the year and the difference between maximum and minimum temperatures is relatively small.

The Pacific Ocean washes the western coasts of Mesoamerica. Unlike the Atlantic slope, in the Pacific the mountain ranges create an extremely narrow coastal plain. Some regions of Nayarit and Sinaloa have samples of wetlands that, like in the Atlantic, have been depredated by humans.

The tropical regions of Mesoamerica have been intensely modified since the arrival of the Spanish. The phenomenon, however, begins in pre-Hispanic times. The Mayans cut down enormous areas of jungle to build their cities in the department of Petén in Guatemala, as well as in the region that currently corresponds to the Mexican states of Chiapas and Campeche, which the jungle itself covered again years after being abandoned by its inhabitants. On the coast of Tabasco, the Olmec indigenous people were forced to develop farming techniques that consisted of draining the water and taking soil to where there was only mud. Although it may seem unlikely, crops that today are so typical and characteristic in this area, such as bananas and sugar cane, did not exist in Mesoamerica before the arrival of the Spanish. Among other common plant species in these ecosystems is cocoa, of vital importance for the economy, gastronomy and even indigenous and current subsistence; the mangrove and the ceiba, a sacred tree in Mesoamerican cosmogony but particularly in the Mayan.[18] Several of the animals of greatest significance to the Mesoamericans were common in tropical areas, for example, the jaguar, the macaw, the lizard, the monkeys, the quetzal and the pheasant.

The highlands played a very important role throughout the history of Mesoamerica. In this category are areas with altitudes greater than [19] Mountains are a mark of the landscape of the Mesoamerican highlands. Several mountain ranges frame and cross Mesoamerica. In Mexican territory, the Sierra Madre Occidental runs parallel to the Pacific from Sonora to Jalisco. The Neovolcanic Axis begins in Colima, which crosses Mexico to the gulf, where it meets the Sierra Madre Oriental and forms the so-called Mixtec shield in Oaxaca. The Pacific coast between Michoacán and Oaxaca is bordered by the slopes of the Sierra Madre del Sur, so close to the coast that the coastal plain is practically non-existent. The Isthmus of Tehuantepec interrupts the abrupt topography of Mexico and at the same time marks the beginning of the mountainous regions of Central America. To the east of this region rise the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and the Central American mountain range that occupies the southern half of Guatemala, the territory of El Salvador and reaches Honduras. To the east of the lowlands of El Petén rise the Maya Mountains, a small mountain range in southern Belize. The territory of Nicaragua is less rugged than its northern neighbors, however there begins the volcanic mountain range "Cordillera Volcánica (Central America)") that borders the Pacific coast to Costa Rica. There are several volcanoes such as Cerro Negro "Cerro Negro (volcano)") and Ometepe Island. In the southern reaches of Mesoamerica, the Guanacaste mountain range is located, already in the territory of Costa Rica.

Among these mountain chains are high valleys, with elevations higher than Despite being close to each other, the ecological diversity in Mesoamerica is one of its defining characteristics. To give an example, the eastern slope of the Citlaltépetl volcano has a climate favored by abundant rain and pleasant temperatures; On the other side of the same volcano are the arid plains of San Juan and the Tehuacán valley, where the clouds discharge the little water that remains after crossing the Sierra Madre Oriental.

The ecological conditions of the Mesoamerican highlands depend on their altitude, their latitude with respect to the Earth's equator and topography. In general, northern Mesoamerica is more arid than the south of the region. Mesoamerica once encompassed the semi-desert of Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí, with rigorous conditions. El Bajío also has a limited rainfall regime, but the presence of the Lerma River and its tributaries softens living conditions in the region. In central Mexico, the Toluca valley is the highest in the country, it has a rainy and colder climate than the Valley of Mexico to the east. The third of the great valleys of central Mexico is the Poblano-Tlaxcalteca valley, with conditions and altitude similar to those of the Anáhuac valley. To the south of Ajusco is the Morelos Valley"), whose climate resembles that of tropical lands.

Central Mexico

Known as “Neovolcanic Axis”. It received Olmec influence during the 1st millennium BC. C., and shortly afterwards endogenous cultures flourished. The city of Teotihuacán, called by the Mexica "city where the gods are formed", was perhaps the most important culture that settled in Mesoamerica, since its influence even reached Arid America and Oasis America. After the fall of Teotihuacan, the cultures of Xochicalco settled nearby, in the current states of Morelos, Tlaxcala (Cacaxtla) and Puebla (Cholula). In the second millennium the Toltec invasions began, and in 1325 Tenochtitlan was founded.

One of the most important areas during the pre-Hispanic history of Mexico "History of Mexico (Pre-Columbian Era)") was what is known as Central Mexico. It is made up of valleys of temperate to cold land located in the Neovolcanic Axis and in the north of the Balsas River basin. It is an ecological niche characterized by its temperate climate and the absence of important water currents. The rains, on the other hand, occur between the months of April to September, and are not too abundant. This fact was what motivated the early development of hydraulic works, including the channeling of rivers and ditch systems on the slopes of hills to store water.

The Tehuacán Valley, located southeast of this region, is important because it is home to the apparently oldest remains of corn cultivation and some of the oldest ceramic samples in Mesoamerica. Central Mexico also includes the lake basin of the Valley of Mexico, made up of several lakes and lagoons. Populations as important as Cuicuilco grew around Lake Texcoco in the Preclassic period; Teotihuacán in the Classic and Tula and Tenochtitlan in the Postclassic period.

The last cultures of the Neovolcanic Axis were those of the Triple Alliance "Triple Alliance (Mexico)"): Texcoco, Tlacopan and Tenochtitlan. With a difficult start, the Mexicas settled in the Valley of Mexico in 1325 and a century later their hegemony began when Izcóatl liberated its people from the hands of the lords of Azcapotzalco. In 1430 the Triple Alliance "Triple Alliance (Mexico)") was formally established. Izcoátl, on the advice of Tlacalael, ordered the burning of the codices of Aztec history and completely rewrote the history of his people.

In less than a hundred years the Triple Alliance conquered a large part of Mesoamerica, with the characteristic that they allowed the subject peoples to preserve their culture and religion.

Mayan area

The Mayan area is one of the largest in Mesoamerica. Some authors divide it into two sectors: the Yucatan Peninsula, in the north, and the Highlands, in the south. The first includes, in addition to the Yucatán Peninsula, Tabasco, Petén and Belize. It is an area of ​​lowlands and a hot climate, battered by hurricanes and tropical storms from the Caribbean Sea. It is a calcareous platform, slightly elevated towards the south, where the so-called Sierrita breaks the plain of the landscape. It lacks surface water currents, since the soil is too permeable; On the other hand, underground streams and cenotes are abundant. On the other hand, the Highlands include the highlands of Guatemala, Chiapas, western Honduras (Copán "Copán (archaeological site)") and El Puente "El Puente (archaeological zone)") and western and central El Salvador (the central area of El Salvador had commercial contact with Central America, but was more greatly influenced by the Mayan area, an example of this are the famous sites of San Andrés "San Andrés (El Salvador)"), Joya de Cerén and Cihuatán). It is a region with a cold-temperate climate, and with abundant rainfall. The mountain slopes are covered with thick vegetation that threatens the development of agriculture. The Mayan Highlands are no less exposed to the influence of Caribbean cyclones that frequently cause destruction in the area.

The first important cultural developments of the Mayan area occurred in the southern area. The first pottery, produced in the Belizean town of Cuello&action=edit&redlink=1 "Cuello (Belize) (not yet written)") seems to indicate that the development of pottery in the Mayan area was derived from South American traditions. The first city with monumental architecture was Nakbé (c. 1000 BC), followed by El Mirador "El Mirador (Mayan city)") (c. 600 BC), the largest city of all and the largest in pre-Columbian America, located in the Mirador basin, in Petén, Guatemala, where the Preclassic culture began with all the attributes of the Classic. In the Pacific lowlands of Guatemala, Takalik Abaj is developed, the only city in Mesoamerica with Olmec and then Mayan occupation.

Centuries later, the first population centers developed that would become cities in the Classic period. Among them we must count Kaminaljuyú in the highlands of Guatemala, Quiriguá, Uaxactún and Tikal, the latter of which would have been the largest of the Mayan cities between the centuries and AD. C. The fall and abandonment of the great Mayan cities was due to a combination of factors: internal wars, ecological disaster, climate change, migrations from northern Mesoamerica. In this way, the heart of the Mayan culture moved to the lands of what is currently called the Yucatan Peninsula. In this region, the cities of Chichén Itzá, Uxmal, Tulum, Mayapán, Cobá and Izamal, among many others, would flourish, following the Mayan migration to the Yucatán Peninsula that occurred from the highlands of Guatemala beginning in the century AD. C. and later, within the Peninsula itself, predominantly from east to west, from the century AD. C. Currently 27 Mayan groups survive, 21 of them in Guatemala.

Oaxaca

Without a doubt it is one of the most important Mesoamerican areas. The Zapotec civilization originated in the central valleys of Oaxaca, who established the 260-day calendar, later used by the majority of Mesoamerican peoples, and their own writing system that was different from the Olmec and Mayan. Monte Albán became the paradigm of this civilization, and after its fall the region was occupied by the Mixtecs.

Since Mesoamerican times, the Oaxacan region has been one of the most diverse. It is an extremely mountainous territory, framed by the Sierra Madre del Sur and the Mixteco Shield or Nudo. It includes a portion of the Balsas River basin, characterized by its dryness and complex topography. Its water channels are short and have little capacity. In that sense, it is quite similar to the central region of Mexico.

There were two main stages in the cultural history of the Oaxacan people. On the one hand, the central valleys of Oaxaca saw the development of the Zapotec culture, one of the oldest and best known in the Mesoamerican area. This culture developed from the regional chiefdoms that controlled the agricultural land (very fertile, although too dry) of the small valleys of Etla, Tlacolula and Miahuatlán. Some of the first examples of great architecture in Mesoamerica belong to this region, such as the ceremonial center of San José Mogote. The hegemony of this ceremonial center in the Valley region passed into the hands of Monte Albán, the classic capital of the Zapotecs. The fall of Teotihuacán in the century AD. C. allowed the greatest apogee of the Zapotec culture. However, the city of Monte Albán was abandoned in the century AD. C., and gave rise to a series of regional centers that competed for political hegemony.

To the west of the central valleys, the Mixtec region "Mixteca (region)" is located. It is an extremely mountainous terrain with very variable altitudes, reaching more than The climates vary from temperate mountain to dry tropical, and in general rainfall is scarce. There are few surface water currents, and currently, much of the area has an alarming degree of deforestation. La Mixteca is also an area occupied since time immemorial. Already since the Preclassic period, some important population centers had formed in the region, such as Yucuita and Cerro de las Minas. However, the Mixtec capitals never reached the magnitude of their Zapotec neighbors. The greatest apogee of Mixtec culture was reached in the postclassical period, when Lord Ocho Venado of Tututepec and Tilantongo undertook a campaign of political unification of the Mixtec city-states and came to occupy the central valleys of Oaxaca.

Warrior

Guerrero is traditionally considered a region belonging to the western area. However, the most recent discoveries have reoriented the division of Mesoamerican cultural areas, and in recent works, Guerrero appears as an independent cultural area. The Mesoamerican Warrior occupies approximately the surface of the state of the same name, located in southern Mexico. It can be divided into three regions with different characteristics: to the north, the depression of the Balsas River, where this water current plays the most important role in shaping the regional geography. The Balsas depression is a low region, with a warm climate and little rain, whose dryness is lessened by the presence of the riverbed and its numerous tributaries. The central part corresponds to the Sierra Madre del Sur, with a slightly more temperate climate, a region rich in mineral deposits and with few agricultural qualities. The southern part of the Guerrero area is made up of the coast of the Pacific Ocean, a very narrow, warm and humid coastal plain, full of mangroves and palm trees, battered by hurricanes coming from the Pacific.

Guerrero was the scene of the first pottery traditions of Mesoamerica. The oldest remains of her have been found in Puerto Marqués, near Acapulco, and are approximately 3,500 years old, even prior to the vestiges corresponding to the Olmecs on the opposite coast of the Gulf of Mexico. During the preclassic period, the Balsas basin became an area of ​​vital importance for the development of the Olmec culture, which left traces of its presence in sites such as Teopantecuanitlán and the Juxtlahuaca grottoes. Later was the development of a sculptural tradition known as Mezcala, characterized by its tendency to geometrize the human body. During the Postclassic period, most of Guerrero remained under the rule of the Mexica, and independent of the Tlapanec lordship of Yopitzinco.

Western Mexico

The area spoken of here served as a "bridge" between Mesoamerica and Oasisamerica. The cultures of this area, such as the Tarascans and Caxcans, developed ways of life different from other places in Mesoamerica. An example of this is the beautiful pyramids of Guachimontones, in Teuchitlán Jalisco.

The so-called West is one of the least known areas of Mesoamerica. It is, however, an extensive region, which includes the slopes of the Sierra Madre Occidental, a part of the Sierra Madre del Sur and the middle and lower basin of the Lerma River. The foothills of the mountain were covered with pine and oak forests, but forestry activity has reduced their size. The land has an agricultural vocation due to its fertility and the availability of hydraulic resources, especially in the coastal plain of Sinaloa, the Bajío "Bajío (Mexico)") and the Tarascan Plateau. The climates vary from the cold mountain climate in eastern Michoacán to the tropical climate of the coasts of Jalisco and Nayarit.

The region was the habitat of Uto-Aztec speaking peoples, such as the Coras "Cora (ethnicity)"), Huichols and Tepehuanos. The incorporation of these peoples into the sphere of Mesoamerican civilization was very gradual, and it is presumed that the first ceramic developments in the region were linked to the traditions of the Andean peoples of Ecuador and Peru. The changes that clearly affected the rest of the regions are less observable in the West, which is why the cultural traditions of the preclassic period, such as those of Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit or that of Tumbas de Tiro, survived well into the Classic period (150-750/900 AD). The best known of the Western societies is the Purépecha "Purépecha (ethnic group)") or Tarasca, which competed in the century AD. C. with the power of the Mexica.

Northern Mexico

The northern part of Mesoamerica was part of this great cultural area only during the classical period (150-750 AD), when the heyday of Teotihuacán and population growth favored migrations towards the north and trade with the distant Oasis-American lands. It is a flat territory, between the Madre Oriental and Occidental mountain ranges. The climate is dry, almost desert-like, and the vegetation is scarce, so agriculture in the North was only possible through the channeling of surface water currents (among which the Pánuco River and the tributaries of the Lerma stand out) and the storage of rainwater. Excessive dependence on good weather led the people of Northern Mesoamerica to abandon the region in the mid-century AD. C., in which they faced a prolonged drought and the invasions of Arid-American peoples.

The population centers in the North were dependent on the trade network that was established between Teotihuacán and the societies of Oasis America. Sites such as La Quemada in Zacatecas, or La Ferrería in Durango "Durango (Mexico)"), served as forts to monitor trade routes. When agriculture and the social system collapsed in the North, the region's occupants migrated to the West, the Gulf and Central Mexico.

The recent discovery of the Tamtoc archaeological site, in the Huasteca of Potosí, calls into question what was previously established, since the city of Tamtoc flourished around the year , much earlier than what was thought until now.[20]​.

Central America

The Mesoamerican area known as Central America occupies the western part of Honduras and Nicaragua and the surrounding areas of the Gulf of Nicoya in Costa Rica, where the kingdoms of Nicoya "Nicoya (kingdom)") and Chorotega "Chorotega (Costa Rica)") existed. It is a region with a tropical climate, with significant telluric activity, which also includes the two large Mediterranean lakes of Central America: Nicaragua and Managua. As in the case of the Northern region, Central America was part of the Mesoamerican world only temporarily until the end of the classical period. The Central American peoples are usually considered to be part of the so-called transition zone between the Intermediate Area, the Andean world and Mesoamerica.

The first contacts between the Mesoamerican nuclear area occurred in the preclassic period, as indicated by the Olmec influence in the area as can be observed in archaeological sites such as Los Naranjos "Los Naranjos (Honduras)"). However, relations were interrupted for a time and Central America received a greater influence from the cultures of the Colombian highlands. An example of this is the early development of metallurgy in Central America with respect to the rest of the Mesoamerican peoples in the Mexican context, however in the famous site of Quelepa in the eastern area of ​​El Salvador the trade and great influence of Teotihuacán and Copán "Copán (archaeological site)") is seen first and then with the sites of Veracruz.

For the Postclassic period, the entire area was included plus the west in the Mesoamerican sphere, this time extended to the department of Escuintla "Escuintla (department)") in Guatemala, and was invaded by Nahua peoples such as the Pipils and Nicaraos, speakers of Nahuat, a dialect of the Mexica language, and the influence of the Toltecs and Aztecs is perceived in the culture and architecture. Also Otomangue peoples such as the Mangues (c. century AD) and the Subtiaba (c. century AD) migrated from Chiapas to Nicaragua and Honduras, respectively.

The Nicoya region, in the current province of Guanacaste in Costa Rica, became the southern border of Mesoamerica when it was occupied in the year 800 AD. C. by the Chorotegas, who spoke the Otomangue language and came from the Valley of Mexico.[21]​ In Nicoya there was a cultural center that developed for 2000 years, which managed to achieve a complex social organization and a high degree of cultural development, in which there were complex cities and governments, specialized agriculture that included irrigation, artistic manifestations such as polychrome ceramics, which were used as a precious commodity for commercial exchange with other civilizations in the area, as well as the production of jade objects. and sculptures in volcanic stone (the Nicoyan ceremonial metate stands out), manufactured with its own style that includes both Mesoamerican and Intermediate Area influences,[22]​[23]​ a consequence of the function of a cultural bridge that Costa Rica had during the pre-Hispanic era.[24]​.

Contenido

Los pueblos mesoamericanos constituyen un mosaico étnico y lingüístico que perdura hasta la actualidad. La lengua constituye uno de los criterios para definir a una nación o pueblo. Siguiendo este criterio, los pueblos de Mesoamérica pueden agruparse en grandes contingentes, que comparten más elementos entre sí que con el resto de los pueblos de la región. Cabe aclarar que el criterio lingüístico es útil para abordar la clasificación, pero no constituye el único elemento. Algunos de los pueblos que aquí se presentan como parte de una gran familia podrían no ser tan afines entre sí, a pesar de hablar lenguas emparentadas.

Ottomanguean-speaking peoples

The speakers of Proto-Otomanguean must have participated in the domestication of corn and participated in the construction of the flourishing of large cities such as Cuicuilco, Teotihuacán and Cholula.

Otomanguean-speaking peoples are scattered throughout much of Mesoamerica, but are concentrated in what is called "Central Mexico." They are divided into two large branches, one eastern and one western. Most of the western branch lives in the Neovolcanic Axis. The valleys of Mexico, Toluca and the Moctezuma River basin constitute the historical home of the Otomíes, Mazahuas, Matlatzincas, Tlahuicas. Other Otopame-speaking peoples (jonaces) and pames (indigenous people) settled further north, in the Tunal Grande and the Sierra Gorda (Sierra Gorda (Mexico)).

The presence of the Otomangueans in their territories predated the arrival of the Nahuas to central Mexico, dating back several millennia before the Christian era. That is why it is likely that they were among the inhabitants of places such as Tlapacoya, Cuicuilco, Tlatilco, Teotihuacán, Cholula and others whose ethnic affiliation is a matter of debate. Around 3500 BC. C. the two sides of the family separated, but contact between the Otomanguean peoples was maintained in pre-Hispanic times.[26]​.

Mayan speaking peoples

The group of Mayan-speaking peoples is basically concentrated in the Yucatan Peninsula, the highlands of Guatemala&action=edit&redlink=1 "Los Altos (Guatemala) (not yet written)") and Chiapas, western Honduras, northern El Salvador. Only the Huastec people are found outside this region. Linguists point out that the Huastec migration occurred around the year 2200 BC. C., when they left the ethnic territory (located approximately in the area where Kanjobal is currently spoken). The other Mayan groups expanded through the described area and maintained contact with the Lenca and Xinca peoples on the southern limit of Mesoamerica, as well as with their western neighbors, the Mixe-Zoquean speaking peoples. The great relationship between these families led some specialists to propose that the Olmecs were ethnic and linguistic ancestors of the Mayans, a hypothesis that has recently been discarded.

corn

Corn was the basis of the Mesoamerican diet during pre-Hispanic times and continues to play that role in the modern nations that currently occupy the area. The milpa, for its part, is the system that has traditionally been used for growing grass in the region.

The cultivation of Zea mays was one of the original elements included by Kirchhoff in the Mesoamerican complex. Searching for the origins of agriculture, Richard MacNeish entered the dry lands of the Tamaulipas mountain range and discovered in the La Perra cave) the remains of a primitive corn that was dated to 2500 BC. Following his research towards the south, he arrived at the Tehuacán valley where he considered that the conditions could exist to house testimonies that shed light on the processes that led to the domestication of vegetables and the development of agriculture in Mesoamerica.[27]​ The discoveries of MacNeish in the Tehuacán caves provided evidence that supported the hypothesis of the Mesoamerican origin of corn.

Corn was domesticated around 5000 BC. C., probably from teosinte, and came to occupy an essential role in Mesoamerica. In this region, several dozen varieties adapted to the climatic conditions of the various Mesoamerican regions are known. These species can be grouped into two large groups, called alliances. The Isthmic alliance brings together the varieties originating from Oaxaca, the Mixteca and the Yucatan Peninsula; The Balsas-Western Mexico alliance includes races typical of the Balsas depression, Chiapas, Tierra Caliente and Jalisco. The domains of these alliances almost always overlap with the ethnic territories of the Ottomanguean-speaking nations. This fact, added to the glottochronological data that indicates that the proto-language with the oldest lexicon related to corn is "proto-Otomangue", support the hypothesis that the ancestors of these peoples were related to the domestication of corn.[28]​.

An entire technological complex arose in Mesoamerica around the use of this cereal that also lasts to this day. This group of technologies includes planting techniques and the invention of the nixtamalization process; the development of grinding instruments (metates) and the diversification of their use (ranging from flour to tamales, including pinole and tortillas).[29]​ The role of this cereal was also relevant in mythology and religion: corn dough is the material from which human beings are made in the myth of the Legend of the Suns[30]​ and Popol vuh.[31]​.

All Mesoamerican peoples had a deity of corn, and it was present since the time of the Olmecs.[32]​ Among the Mexica there were three gods of corn: Xilonen was the deity of the young ear, Cintéotl was the god of ripe corn and Ilamatecuhtli was the patron saint of dry ears.[33]​.

Although the basis of agriculture and the diet of the people of the region was corn, recent research tends to demonstrate that the dietary supplement of the Mesoamericans, particularly the Mayan groups, which allowed them to sustain very large populations, especially during the classical period, and particularly in the southern region of Mesoamerica where important crowds were concentrated (Tikal, Copán "Copán (archaeological site)"), Calakmul), was Cassava, also called Yuca, a tuber with high calorific content from which a very nutritious flour is prepared, which to date is an integral part of the diet of the various populations that live in the Mayan region and also in the Caribbean Sea basin.[34]​ The following reference establishes the cultivation of cassava in the Mayan culture, 1400 years ago in Joya de Cerén (El Salvador).[35]​.

Another important crop and food was cocoa: a paste is obtained from its seed to make a drink (chocolate or xocolatl in Nahuatl) prepared with water.

Paul Kirchoff, al mismo tiempo que delimitó el área mesoamericana en términos geográficos, propuso una serie de características que definían a las culturas de la región y que eran comunes a todas ellas. Entre esos rasgos culturales, notó el uso de dos calendarios, uno ritual de 260 días, y otro de 365 días. La numeración con base veinte y la escritura pictográfica-jeroglífica, el sacrificio humano, el culto a ciertas divinidades (entre las que sobresalen los cultos a las divinidades del agua, el fuego y la Serpiente Emplumada), y varios elementos más. Los anteriores son rasgos culturales más o menos compartidos por todos los pueblos de la Mesoamérica precolombina.

Si bien Paul Kirchhoff dio una definición general de Mesoamérica, actualmente la noción va más allá de simplemente criterios materiales (cultivo de maíz, empleo de algodón, politeísmo, etc.), e incluye aspectos culturales que se originaron a partir de las primeras sociedades sedentarias. Christian Duverger argumenta que la máxima expresión de la civilización mesoamericana fue la cultura mexica. Sin embargo, esta perspectiva ha sido combatida por otros autores (como López Austin, López Luján y Florescano), quienes sostienen que la civilización mesoamericana es el resultado de la participación de múltiples pueblos con diferentes creencias. A pesar de la diversidad étnica, Mesoamérica alcanzó un grado de relativa homogeneidad gracias a los contactos existentes entre las diferentes regiones por virtud de los intercambios comerciales o las campañas militares.

260 day calendar

The 260-day calendar which was called Xihuitl or civil, grouped into 13 months of 20 days, which was called Tonalpohualli among the central peoples, Tzolkin among the Mayans and Pije among the Zapotecs, whose beginning was from 1200 BC. C., reflects the evolution of the use of time measurement, not only to know what days to cultivate, what religious celebrations should be held, what was the movement of the stars; but it was also used for divination purposes and to establish the various destinies of men.

The names used to identify days, months and years in the Mesoamerican world come largely from the magical-religious vision that the inhabitants of Mesoamerica had of the natural environment with which they lived at the beginning of the Early Preclassic period: animals, flowers, the stars and death. The presence of this calendar is in all Mesoamerican cultural zones: from the Olmecs, the Oaxaca region, the Mayan zone and the Neovolcanic Axis.

glyphic writing

Glyphic writing and its study have gone through various stages. From the beginning it was discussed whether the Mesoamerican glyphic system (excluding the Mayan system) was an example of a system of signs that expressed ideas, mainly religious. A system that does not use phonetics. In relation to the use of pictographic elements and their relationship with icons, Mesoamerican writing always handled a great variety of meanings, not only an artistic vision, but also a religious and cultural one. The glyphs include characters, animals, calendrical elements, toponyms of places, among others, which are present in all Mesoamerican cultures, even in Teotihuacán, where the images are beautiful and artistically crafted. The glyphs that predominate are pictographic and ideographic.

The usefulness of writing among the Mesoamericans was varied: it served to allow the interpretation of the signals sent by the stars in relation to the name and destiny of people. Another use was for the explanation of the myths and stories of the people, which were captured in glyphs, both on stones or on paper. This work was carried out by the priests, who were the only ones who could understand the images.

But a very important aspect of writing was that it was used by rulers to legitimize their power. Mesoamerican was a writing embodied in public monuments, wall paintings, stelae and pyramidal structures, which gave every common person a simple explanation of the power of their lords, a kind of propaganda.

The Mesoamericans also used the vigesimal number system.

Offerings to the Earth

Burying rich offerings in ceremonial centers"), comes from the times of the beginning of the sedentary lifestyle of the once nomadic groups. Delimiting the ceremonial and territorial space to establish a cosmic order on earth, to justify the dominance of the ruling classes over the rest of society.

A praise to the primeval gods: the old fire coming from the volcanoes, and the Mother-Earth. Offerings that are shown to every individual belonging to a Mesoamerican society through an earthen mound, which over time transforms into monumental pyramid-type constructions.

The offerings are important for the ceremonial center: they give ideological and religious power. Hence, the looting of offerings means something more than the search for riches: the weakening and eradication of religious and political power at the ceremonial center.

human sacrifices

The act of sacrifice has great religious-political significance. Sacrifice means the renewal of divine cosmic energy. The gods gave life to man, sacrificing their own. Man must give his life to maintain the established divine order.

Blood means life in Mesoamerican belief: human blood is the liquid that satisfies the thirst of the gods (in this case the Sun God), blood has part of the blood of the gods. With blood, not only the deities are revitalized, but also the earth, plants and animals (for example, the eagle and the jaguar). Blood is like water, necessary for earthly life and heavenly life.

And this obligation to revitalize the cosmic order is reflected in Mesoamerican societies through images that evoke sacrifice: eagles and jaguars devouring human hearts; the presence of jade circles or chalchihuites that represent hearts; images that simultaneously reflect a request for rain and a request for blood, with the same purpose: to replenish divine energy; the presence of plants and flowers that symbolize both nature and blood sprouting life.

What importance does sacrifice have in the social and religious aspects of Mesoamerican cultures? First, the presence of death converted into god. Death is the consequence of man's sacrifice, but it is not the end: it is the continuation of the cosmic cycle. Death generates life, divine energy is released after death and returned to the gods, so that they generate new life. Second, it justifies war, since in this activity the most valuable sacrifices are obtained: warriors who possess the energy necessary to strengthen the gods in their constant divine activities. Capturing prisoners and war become both a means of climbing the social ladder, and it becomes a divine game. Third, justify the control of real power, of two sectors of Mesoamerican societies: the priests, who control religious ideology; and the warriors, who provide sacrifices to the ceremonies through war and the conquest of territories (with their corresponding tributes).

Polytheism

The great extension of the Mesoamerican pantheon occurred thanks to the incorporation of new ideological-religious elements to the original religion: Fire-Earth-Water-Nature. The important incorporation of astral divinities (sun, stars, constellations, Venus) and their representation in anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and also anthropozoomorphic sculptures and forms of everyday objects.

The qualities of the gods and their attributes changed over time and with the cultural influence of other Mesoamerican groups. Gods who at the same time are three different cosmic entities and at the same time are only one. Mesoamerican religion has an important characteristic: the existence of dualism between the divinities. The confrontation between opposite poles: positive, exemplified with light, the masculine, strength, war, the sun, etc.; and the negative, the darkness, the feminine, the sedentary lifestyle, peace, the moon, etc.

dualistic system of thought

Dualistic thinking must be understood as the ability of indigenous people to think about opposites under a single modality, and the Mesoamerican spirit is marked by this, both in religion and politics as well as in popular beliefs and daily behaviors. This thought is born from the superposition of the Nahuas and the natives, that is, from a cultural fusion between the two; There are countless manifestations around this type of thinking, but only the most representative examples will be taken: nagualism and the Mesoamerican ball game.

The ability of human beings to cover themselves with an animal aspect, or the practice of Nahual, is known as nagualism or nahualism. This word is given on the one hand to the animal incarnation of a man and on the other to the man who has the power to incarnate in that animal, but what is at the bottom of this belief is the affirmation that one can be a man and an animal at the same time; Furthermore, it is strictly individual, not like totemism, which has a collective value. There are nahualli well known like the jaguar and the eagle; also more modest animals such as the dog, the armadillo, the opossum, etc.

Within pre-Hispanic art, nahualism has received various forms of interpretation, the first form is little understandable to us, since one has the impression of being in front of an armadillo or a jaguar, but in reality what it represents is a nahualli of a god or a sovereign. The second form is presented more directly, the man and his double are represented together as an anthropozoomorphic creature, that is, a part of the human, be it the head, the arms; and an animal part such as legs, beak, tail, etc. Nahualism is a typical idea from Mesoamerica that refers exclusively to the man-animal relationship.

The ball game is one of the most important cultural features of Mesoamerica. It is not a sport although due to its name it is most often associated with this term. It must be understood as a rite and the land where it is played is always located between ceremonial centers"). This game had a cosmic essence, it was related to the movement of the sun and the movement of the universe; said movement was represented with the help of the ball, which was made of hardened rubber that was obtained from the sap of the fig tree; they mainly used this material for its ability to bounce.

There were many rules in the game, but these changed depending on the regions where it was played. There was one where you could only play with your hands, another where you used your hips and elbows, or one where you only used a stick or bat. For each type there were different terrains: one with benches so that the ball would bounce at hip height, another with the ground removed. In general, all the fields had the shape of an I and at the ends you could find bird heads as in Copán "Copán (archaeological site)") or large rings through which the ball had to pass, as in Xochicalco. The ball game concluded with a human sacrifice; what is not known is whether the sacrificed person was the captain of the winning or losing team.

Medicine

As for Mesoamerican knowledge, it can be found in two main axes: the magical spirit and the logical spirit, which, despite being different, coexisted. In the field of medicine there were two schools: one with a shamanic tradition; Shaman being understood as a healer priest who dealt with certain illnesses, the most frequent of which was the loss of the soul. The shaman resorted to psychotropic drugs (peyote, tobacco, red beans loaded with mescaline) and magical manipulations (incantations "Incantation (magic)", offerings) for the recovery of his patients.

The other medicine consisted of pragmatic knowledge. In Mesoamerica there were healers who knew how to treat fractures, heal and bandage wounds; and certain obstetric interventions "Obstetrics (midwifery)") were even practiced. In addition, they also cured with plants or using the active ingredient of aspirin, which by this time they already knew and extracted from the bark of the willow.

Math

Among the Mesoamericans, mathematics was not simply numbers, but was given a value and symbolic content thanks to dualistic thinking. The Mesoamerican mathematical system was vigesimal, that is, it consisted of a base 20 and the numbers were represented by points that were worth one unit and bars that gave it a value of 5. This type of representation was combined with a symbolic numerology: 2 is related to the origin, since every origin is taken as unfolded; the 3rd with the domestic fire; the 4 linked to the four corners of the universe; the 5 expressing instability; 9 refers to the underground world, and the night; 13 is the number of light; 20 of fullness and 400 of infinity.

One of the great contributions to mathematics, especially of the Mexica, was the invention of the nepohualtzintzin, which is an abacus used to perform arithmetic operations quickly. The device, made of wood, thread and corn grains, is also known as the "Aztec computer." The Mayans were the first civilization in Mesoamerica and many other regions that had the numerical sign zero as a mathematical concept.

Astronomy

As far as astronomy is concerned, it is born with the observation of the stars and the symbolic construction of cosmic life. The Mesoamericans understood that the sky was organized through regular cycles, causing a succession of seasons and astronomical phenomena. They associated figures such as animals, plants, with the different constellations. Astronomical knowledge was accumulated over millennia. This process culminated with the invention of the calendar (whose roots are found in the Middle Preclassic period), supported by both the observation of the stars and mathematics:

symbolic space-time

These two terms associate it with the four cardinal points, space "Space (physics)") and time are linked to the calendar, thus ensuring the rotation of qualities that space has. That is, in Mesoamerica, a date or an event was always linked to a direction of the universe and the calendar expresses a symbolic topography peculiar to this period. The days were associated, according to their name, with a cardinal point that gave them a magical meaning.

• - The signs of the east are: crocodile, snake, water, reed, movement. The idea of ​​plant fertility or, in other words, tropical exuberance is associated with the east; He is also linked to the world of priests.

• - The signs of the north are: wind, death, dog, jaguar, flint. This point contrasts with the east because symbolically it is arid, cold and oppressive. It is considered the nocturnal part of the universe, the abode of the dead. The dog (xoloitzcuintle) here has a very unique meaning, since it is the one that accompanies the deceased during the trip and makes him cross the river from beyond the grave that leads him towards nothingness.

• - The signs of the west are: house, deer, monkey, eagle, rain. It is a direction associated with the vegetation cycle, specifically with the temperate highland ecosystem, with thin rain and change of seasons.

• - The signs of the south are: rabbit, lizard, dry grass, buzzard, flower. It is related on the one hand to the bright and hot midday Sun, on the other to the rain full of alcoholic beverages. The rabbit, the main symbol, is associated with farmers and pulque.

With this it can be said that a Mesoamerican characteristic is symbolic geography, which refers to imaginary areas and not to specific places; If this were not the case, then the signs would not apply to Mesoamerica in general, but rather there would be a large number for each topographic zone.

Territory and ceremonial centers

The ceremonial centers are the axis of the populations of Mesoamerica. These determine the existence of urbanism, which is nothing more than a portion of the space that characterizes the ceremonial centers, which in turn constitute the heart of the sacred space. These centers have the function of orienting the space and transmitting the orientation to the space that surrounds them. The cities with their ceremonial center always constituted the political entity and each man could identify himself according to the city in which he lived.

Ceremonial centers were always built to be seen. The pyramids were constructions that stood out from the rest of the city, to manifest their gods and their abilities. Another characteristic feature of the ceremonial centers are the historical sediments. Every ceremonial construction was built in several construction phases, one on top of the other, so that what is observed today is usually the last stage of construction. In short, the ceremonial centers are the architectural translation of the identity of each city projected in the veneration of its gods and masters.

Journey to the beyond

Various types of afterlife were conceived in Mesoamerica and therefore various types of funerals were practiced: simple or multiple, graves, masonry chambers, urns, etc. In addition to this, they also practiced cremation, but today it is known that depending on the social rank that a person occupied, or the type of death that occurred, both factors determined the type of burial. With all this, the idea of ​​a post mortem journey was reached, in which the grave was the starting point to the afterlife.

The Mesoamericans believed in three destinies: the celestial journey in which only those who had died on the battlefield, on the sacrificial stone or women who died in childbirth were found. This destination was known as Cincalco (house of corn). The second was the trip to the underworld, which consisted of an underground pilgrimage that would take the dead to the northern end of the world. This place was called Mictlán (place of the dead). The third destination was the trip to the paradise of the sun, which was in an easterly direction. It was a place dominated by the sun, and in Nahuatl it was called Tonatiuhichan ('house of the Sun').

In each burial, food and drinks had to be placed in clay utensils so that the dead could be fed during the trip; They also wore masks to protect them from the cold. A reminiscence of these beliefs can be seen today in that some indigenous people still place weights between the fingers of the deceased in order to cover travel expenses along the way.

Political-religious art

Artistic expression was conditioned by ideology, which mixed both religion and power; Many of the works that survived the conquest were public monuments. This type of art was made mainly to be seen, which was the key to the counting of time, the greatness of the city and the veneration of the gods. There is, in addition to this, another type of pre-Hispanic art that has to do with the hidden aspect; It differs from the first in that it cannot be observed but rather its value is in what it represents, for example, the clay vessels that were used in burials or the invisible faces of statues.

The art remained anonymous, since no signature of the person who made it was ever found; Furthermore, it was said that it was an abstract art, but not referring to the absence of figurative expression, but in the sense that it is disconnected from any naturalistic reference.

Apart from all this, pre-Cortesian art was also considered hyper-intellectual, capable of freeing itself from all realistic obligations. Continuing with this idea, two observations arise: the first refers to the austere image that archeology has designated it: usually there was a preference towards noble things, collection or hoarding objects; and the stones were considered perishable over time so they were not so appreciated, although while it is true the latter is essential for Mesoamerican ceremonial centers.

The complexity of the parallel developments of the various Mesoamerican peoples is a factor that has led specialists to consider the relevance of a single chronology for all of Mesoamerica. This complex reality, both in time and space, can shed some light on the diversity of chronologies that have appeared to diachronically address the future of Mesoamerican civilization.

The first attempts at periodization for the region appear in the 19th century, with the astonishment of American and European travelers at the forgotten remains of ancient Mesoamerican cities - especially those of the Mayan Area. The most common chronology for Mesoamerican history divides the pre-Columbian history of this region of the world into three major periods, the Preclassic, the Classic and the Postclassic. This periodization has been criticized by several authors,[36]​ especially because it has its origin in a analogy between the chronology used for Ancient Greece and the civilization process") that took place in Mesoamerica before the arrival of the Spanish.[37]​.

Despite criticism, the traditional periodization for Mesoamerica is widely used in academia, although the dates and characterizations of each of the three major periods can vary somewhat. Here the periodization that appears in The Historical Past, a work by Alfredo López Austin and Leonardo López Luján, has been chosen.[38] This chronology points to the development of the oldest ceramics as the initial milestone of the Mesoamerican civilization (century BC) and indicates as its conclusion the conquest of Middle America by the Spanish in the third decade of the century. It must be emphasized that the dates are approximate and cannot only be taken as an approximation. Each of the regions that constitute Mesoamerica and each of its peoples had a particular history whose specific processes could hardly be captured by a chronology, which is only an interpretive model.[39]​.

Preclassic Period

Mesoamerica begins a prolonged process of full sedentarization "Sedentaryism (prehistory)" starting in the century BC. C. (or approximately 4600 years ago), although agriculture - which was the basis of the economy of all Mesoamerican peoples and the main factor that favored their sedentary lifestyle - was discovered several millennia before.[40]​ The appearance of ceramics is taken as the beginning of Mesoamerican civilization, the oldest vestiges of which correspond to the finds of Puerto Marqués (on the coast of the state of Guerrero, century BC)[41]​ and the phase Purrón from the Tehuacán Valley (central Mexico, century BC).[42]​ These early testimonies of ceramic technology in Mesoamerica - which are also a source of controversy among specialists[43]​ - concentrated only in a few sites such as those indicated, have motivated among some authors the opinion that the appearance of these materials is probably due to a link between the peoples of the coast of Ecuador and the first Mesoamericans.[44]​.

According to the chronology adopted in this article, the period referred to is divided into three major stages: Early Preclassic (20th century - BC), Middle Preclassic (20th century - BC) and Late (20th century BC - AD).[45] During the first stage, the manufacture of ceramics became widespread throughout the region, the agriculture of corn and other vegetables was consolidated and a process of social stratification that concludes with the appearance of the first stratified societies on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific of Guatemala. In the early preclassic, the Capacha culture was an important driving force in the Mesoamerican civilizing process, and its pottery achieved wide diffusion.

Around the year 1500 BC. C., Western cultures entered a recessive phase, accompanied by their assimilation among the peoples who had maintained relations with them. In this way, Tlatilco emerged in the Valley of Mexico and the Olmec culture emerged in the Gulf. Tlatilco was one of the main Mesoamerican population centers of the time. It specialized in the exploitation of the resources of Lake Texcoco and corn agriculture. Some authors assume that Tlatilco was founded and inhabited by the ancestors of the current Otomi people. On the other hand, the Olmecs had entered an expansive phase, which led them to build the first works of monumental architecture in La Venta and San Lorenzo. The Olmecs exchanged tropical products from their nuclear area, and controlled the mineral deposits of Guerrero and Morelos, where they established several enclaves such as Teopantecuanitlán and Atlihuayán). Mogote. This last population ceded hegemony in the Oaxacan highlands to Monte Albán towards the end of the middle preclassic period. At that same time, in the Bajío "Bajío (Mexico)"), the Chupícuaro culture flourished, while in the Gulf, the Olmecs entered into decline.

Among the great cultural milestones that marked the Middle Preclassic period is the development of the first writing systems and vigesimal numbering in the Olmec nuclear area and Monte Albán. During this period, Mesoamerican societies were stratified societies. The links between the different centers of power had allowed the consolidation of regional elites that controlled the exploitation of resources and the work of the peasant classes. Social differentiation was based on the possession of certain technical knowledge, such as astronomy, writing, and commerce. Furthermore, in the Middle Preclassic, the urbanization process that defined classical societies began. Some population centers such as Tlatilco, Monte Albán and Cuicuilco would flourish in the last stage of the Preclassic, while the Olmec populations contracted and were no longer protagonists in the area.

Towards the end of the preclassical period, the political and commercial hegemony of the region moved to the population centers located in the Valley of Mexico. Around Lake Texcoco there were several villages that ended up becoming true cities, such as the aforementioned Tlatilco and Cuicuilco. The first was located on the northern shore of the lake, while the second was located on the slopes of the Ajusco mountain range. Tlatilco maintained strong relations with Western cultures, while Cuicuilco controlled trade with the Mayan Area, Oaxaca, and the Gulf Coast. The rivalry between the two would end with the decline of the first. On the other hand, in Monte Albán, in the Oaxacan area, the Zapotecs had begun a cultural development independent of the Olmecs, reworking the elements of that culture and acquiring their own characteristics. In the highlands of Guatemala, Kaminaljuyú also advanced in the direction of what would become the classic Mayan culture, although its links with the Center and the Gulf continued to set the guidelines for the beginnings of that culture. In all regions of Mesoamerica, with the exception of the West, where the tradition of the "Tombs of Tire" had taken root), the cities were enriched with monumental constructions carried out on urban plans that were surprising for their complexity. The circular pyramid of Cuicuilco, the central plaza of Monte Albán and the pyramid of the Moon in Teotihuacán date from this date.

Around year 0, Cuicuilco had disappeared, and hegemony in the basin of Mexico had passed to Teotihuacán. The first two centuries of the Christian era were the period in which the City of the Gods would consolidate itself as the largest city in ancient Mesoamerica and its main political, economic and cultural center in the following seven centuries.

For many years, the Olmec culture was considered the mother culture of Mesoamerica, due to the great influence it exerted throughout the region. However, from the most recent perspectives, this culture is considered more as a process to which all contemporary peoples contributed and that crystallized on the coasts of Veracruz and Tabasco. The ethnic identity of the Olmecs is still highly debated. Based on linguistic evidence, archaeologists and anthropologists are inclined to assume that they were a people speaking an Otomanguean language; or more probably, of the ancestors of the current Zoque people "Zoque (ethnicity)") who live in northern Chiapas and Oaxaca. According to this second hypothesis, the Zoquean groups would have migrated south after the ruin of the main population centers on the Gulf plain. Be that as it may, the bearers of the Olmec culture arrived in the lee about eight thousand years before Christ, introducing themselves like a wedge into the strip of proto-Mayan peoples that inhabited the coast, a fact that would explain the separation of the Huastecs "Huasteca (ethnicity)") of northern Veracruz from the rest of the Mayan peoples located in the Yucatan Peninsula and Guatemala.

The Olmec culture represents a milestone in Mesoamerican history, to the extent that several of the characteristics that define the region appear with this culture. Among others, we can mention the state organization, the development of the ritual calendar of 260 days and the "civil" calendar of 365, the first writing system, urban planning and the multiethnic character of its populations. The development of this culture begins around the century BC. C., although it was consolidated until the century BC. C. Its main sites were La Venta where the colossal heads were found, San Lorenzo and Tres Zapotes in the nuclear area. However, throughout Mesoamerica numerous sites present archaeological evidence of Olmec occupation, especially in the Balsas River basin, where Teopantecuanitlán is located. This site is extremely enigmatic, as it is dated several centuries before the main populations of the Gulf, a fact that has not ceased to cause controversy and the hypothesis that suggests that the origin of the Olmec culture occurred in this region.

Among the best-known cultural expressions of this culture are the colossal heads, sculpted on monoliths up to three meters high, weighing several tons. If we take into account that the sites where they were located are several tens of kilometers from the quarries where the basalt is obtained, and that the Mesoamerican peoples lacked iron tools, Olmec lapidary is a true feat. It is unknown what the function of these monuments was. Some authors propose that they were memorials to ball game players who had been exceptionally notable, or that they are portraits of members of the Olmec ruling elite. The Olmecs are also known for their small jade carvings (the most prized material in Mesoamerica), and other smaller basalt carvings. Both Olmec figurines and sculpture abound in representations of the jaguar-man, which according to José María Covarrubias, may be an antecedent of the cult of the rain deity, or perhaps he is an ancestor of the future Tezcatlipoca, in his dedication to Tepeyóllotl, the 'heart of the mountain'.

The reasons for the Olmec decline are unknown for certain. It is associated with political conflicts between the elites of the main centers of power, and with the invasion of other towns. As has been said, the Zoques could be descendants of the Olmecs, expelled from the nuclear area. However, it is not ruled out that some groups may have reached the Oaxaca Valley, the Mayan highlands or the central basin of Mexico, where they contributed to the development of the Zapotec and Mayan cultures, and to the heyday of Teotihuacán in the classic period.

Classic Period

The classical period of Mesoamerica covers the years 200 to 900 AD. C. The date of completion may vary in each region: for example, in Central Mexico it is related to the fall of the regional centers of the epiclassic period, around the year 900; in the Gulf, with the decline of El Tajín, in the year 800; in the Mayan area, with the abandonment of the highland cities in the century; and in Oaxaca, with the disappearance of Monte Albán around the year 850. Normally, the Mesoamerican classic is characterized as the stage in which the arts, science, urban planning, architecture and social organization reached their peak. This is true, but no less true is the fact that it was a time dominated by the presence of Teotihuacán throughout the region, and that competition between the different Mesoamerican states caused continuous wars.

This stage of Mesoamerican history is divided into two phases. The first is known as the Middle Classic, and covers the year 200 to 600 AD. C. The second is the Late Classic, which goes from 600 to 800/900 AD. C. The first stage was dominated by Teotihuacán. In fact, it begins with the expansionist policy of this city, which led it to control the main trade routes of Mesoamerica. During this time, the urbanization process that has its origins in the last two centuries of the early preclassic period is consolidated. The main centers of the time were Monte Albán, Tikal and Calakmul, and of course Teotihuacán, which concentrated 80% of the 200,000 inhabitants of the Texcoco Lake basin.

The cities of this stage are characterized by their cosmopolitan character, that is, by their multiethnic composition, which implied the coexistence in the same population center of several languages, cultural practices and people from the most diverse regions. Political alliances between regional elites intensified, almost all of them allied with Teotihuacán. Likewise, social differentiation became more evident, a small ruling class ruled over the majority of the population, which was obliged to pay taxes and participate in the construction of public works, such as irrigation systems, religious buildings, and communication routes. The growth of cities cannot be explained without the advancement of agricultural techniques and the intensification of trade networks that involved not only the peoples of Mesoamerica, but also the distant cultures of Oasis America.

The arts of Mesoamerica at this time reached some of their most refined peaks. Especially notable are the Mayan stelae, exquisite monuments commemorating events related to the lineages of the highland cities. In Teotihuacán, on the other hand, architecture made great advances: in this city the classic style of construction of pyramidal bases was defined, made up of slope-tablero units. The Teotihuacan architectural style was repeated and reworked in different cities throughout Mesoamerica, the clearest examples being the Zapotec capital of Monte Albán and the city of Tikal, in the Guatemalan Petén. Centuries later, long after the abandonment of Teotihuacán, the postclassic towns would follow the construction patterns of Teotihuacán, especially in Tollan-Xicocotitlan, Tenochtitlan and Chichén Itzá.

Classic Mayans

The Mayans were creators of one of the most well-known and studied Mesoamerican cultures. Some authors such as Michael D. Coe believe that the culture of the Mayans is completely different from the rest of the Mesoamerican peoples. However, many of the cultural elements present in the Mayans are common to the rest of Mesoamerica, such as the use of two calendars, vigesimal numbering, the cultivation of corn, human sacrifices and certain myths such as the Fifth Sun, or cults, such as that of the Feathered Serpent and the deity of rain, which in Mayan is called Chaac.

The beginnings of Mayan culture date back to the development of Kaminaljuyú, in the middle preclassic period. However, their most conspicuous features do not emerge until the first century of the Christian era, and they appear—according to some authors—as heirs of the Olmecs of the Gulf who had migrated to the highlands of Chiapas and Guatemala. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Mayans never formed a united state; rather, they were organized into small chiefdoms that waged war on each other. In fact, López Austin and López Luján point out that if something characterized the classic Mayans, it was their great bellicosity. They were probably a people with a greater warrior vocation than the Teotihuacans, and this would destroy the image of a peaceful society dedicated to religious contemplation that is commonly held of the Mayans. Of course, they practiced human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism, as confirmed by the murals of Bonampak, one of their most important cities in the classical period.

The appearance of the great Mayan cities was late compared to the rest of Mesoamerica. In contrast, the development of writing and the calendar were quite early, and some of the oldest memorials come from sites located in the region. A few years ago, archaeologists assumed that the Mayan archaeological zones had only served as ceremonial centers, and that the plain population lived in villages located around them. However, the most recent excavations indicate that the Mayan sites had urban services as complex as those of Teotihuacán (drainage, aqueducts, pavements). The construction of these sites was carried out on the basis of a highly stratified society, dominated by the priestly class, which at the same time was the political elite.

This elite controlled agriculture, which was practiced through the slash and burn system and, as in the rest of the Mesoamerican area, imposed taxes in kind and labor on the lowest strata of the population, which allowed sufficient resources to be concentrated for the construction of public monuments that legitimized the power and stratification of society. During the classic period, the Mayan political elite maintained strong ties with Teotihuacán. After the fall of Teotihuacán, Tikal also entered into recession, and its power passed into the hands of other cities located on the banks of the Usumacinta River, such as Piedras Negras, Palenque "Palenque (Mexico)"). However, something that contradicts the Teotihuacan military dominance in Tikal is the fact that the peak of construction in Tikal is after 700 AD. C., when Teotihuacán fell. Finally, it seems that the great drought that hit Central America in the century destroyed the Mayan political system, causing popular revolts and the overthrow of the dominant groups. Many cities were abandoned and were not heard from again until the 2nd century, when archaeological exploration intensified and, to a large extent, the descendants of the Mayans led American and European archaeologists to the cities that the jungle had swallowed.

Epiclassical Period

After the decline of Teotihuacán, strong political instability arose among the various societies of central Mexico, which were directly or indirectly controlled and influenced by Teotihucan. Between 650 and 1000 there was a period of transition of regional centers of power of a militaristic nature that dominated minor political entities and that consolidated the later characteristics of the Postclassic. In this period, some eminently hostile, militaristic societies were formed, breaking the stability imposed by the Teotihuacan hegemony with the result of important demographic movements in the region. In this period, cities such as Cacaxtla, Xochicalco, Tula Chico), Cantona and Cholula were developed.

Postclassic Period

The Postclassic period covers the period between the year 900 and the conquest of Mesoamerica by the Spanish, which occurred between 1521 and 1697. This is a period where military activity takes on great importance. The political elites associated with the priestly class were relieved of their position by the warrior groups. In turn, at least half a century before the arrival of the Spanish, the warriors were ceding their positions of privilege to a very powerful group that had nothing to do with the nobility structure, the pochtecas, merchants who gained great political power by virtue of their economic power.[46]​.

The postclassical period is divided into two parts. The first is the early postclassic, which spans the centuries to , and is characterized by the Toltec hegemony of Tollan-Xicocotitlan (Tula). The century marks the beginning of the late postclassic stage, which begins with the arrival of the Chichimec peoples, linguistically related to the Toltecs and the Mexica who came to settle in the Valley of Mexico in the year 1325, after a long pilgrimage of two centuries from Aztlán, a site whose precise location is unknown. Many of the social changes observed in this final period of Mesoamerican civilization are related to the migratory movements of northern peoples. These people came from Oasis America, Arid America and the northern part of Mesoamerica, pushed by a climate change that threatened their subsistence. The migrations of the northerners caused, in turn, the displacement of peoples settled for centuries in the Mesoamerican core area; some of them reached Central America.

There were numerous cultural changes that occurred at this time. One of them was the generalization of metallurgy, which was imported from South America, and whose oldest remains come, like those of ceramics, from the West. The knowledge of metals by the Mesoamerican peoples did not reach great development. Rather, their use was very limited (a few copper axes, needles, and especially body ornaments). The most refined techniques of Mesoamerican metallurgy were developed by the Mixtecs, who produced exquisitely crafted luxury items.

Architecture also saw notable advances. The use of architectural nails was introduced to support the coverings of the temples, the mortar "Mortar (construction)") was improved for construction, the use of stone columns and roofs was introduced, which had only been used in the Mayan area during the classic period.

In agriculture, irrigation systems became more complex; and in the Valley of Mexico, especially, the chinampas technique was taken to its maximum expression by the Mexica, who built a city of 200,000 inhabitants on them.

The political system also faced important transformations. During the early postclassic period, political elites with a warrior vocation legitimized themselves through their adherence to a complex of religious beliefs that López Austin calls "zuyuanidad." According to this, the ruling classes proclaimed themselves descendants of the Feathered Serpent, one of the creative powers and cultural hero in Mesoamerican mythology. Likewise, they declared themselves heirs of a no less mythical city, called Tollan in Nahua, and Zuyuá in Mayan (from which the complex described by López Austin takes its name). Many of the important capitals of the period were identified with this toponym (such as Tollan-Xicocotitlan, Tollan Chollollan, Tollan Teotihuacán).

The Mesoamericans invented different forms of writing, highlighting the glyphs of the Mixtecs and Nahuas, these represented ideas and things. They recorded dates, places, people, numbers and knowledge about man and nature. A more advanced writing was created by the Mayans, their glyphs represented words, sounds and numbers.

The Mesoamericans were great observers, they studied the stars and their movements, the sun and the seasons, the rainy season, the days, months and years in which astral events occurred, this allowed them to create two types of calendars: the solar and the Tonalpohualli. The Mayans created the Dresden Codex, written in the 17th century, it is the most important astronomical book surviving from the Mesoamerican culture.

They cultivated sciences such as medicine, botany, zoology, mathematics, geography, astronomy and ecology. They developed skills in crafts such as goldsmithing.

But the most important legacy that the Mesoamerican cultures left to humanity were perhaps their agro-gastronomic traditions: the cultivation and use of corn, tomatoes, beans, pumpkins, chili, cocoa, avocado, amaranth and other products that the entire world knows today.

The Mesoamericans discovered many healing plants that are still used today. This part of medicine is called herbalism.

In crafts, the fabrics and embroidery used to decorate dresses are distinguished today; and, still today, we can find hats, bags and rugs that are woven with palm and henequen branches.

• - Arid America.

• - Central America.

• - Mesoamerican region.

• - Science in Mesoamerica.

• - Barros, Cristina and Marco Buenrostro (1997). "Corn, our sustenance", in Mexican Archeology, V (25): pp. 6-15. Mexico City: Roots.

• - Benz, Bruce F. (1997), «Diversity and pre-Hispanic distribution of Mexican corn», in Antropología Mexicana V (25): 16-23, Editorial Raíces, Mexico City.

• - Boehm de Lameiras, Brigitte (1986). «Mesoamerica. Societies and cultures", in Relations, VII (26): pp. 13-22. Morelia (Mexico): The College of Michoacán.

• - Barfield, Thomas (ed., 2000), Dictionary of Anthropology. Mexico: 21st century.

• - Bischof, Henning and Viteri Gamboa, July (2006): «Between Vegas and Valdivia: the San Pedro phase in southwestern Ecuador»/361.pdf), in Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Études Andines, 35 (3), pp. 361-376.

• - Brush, Charles F. (1965): «Pox Pottery: Earliest Identified Mexican Ceramic», in Science, 149 (3680), pp. 194-195, July 9, 1965.

• - Carmack, Robert et. to the. (1996): The legacy of Mesoamerica: history and culture of a Native American civilization. Prentice Hall. New Jersey. ISBN 0-13-337445-9.

• - Caso, Alfonso (1996)[1953], El pueblo del Sol, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico City.

• - Coe, Michael D. (1996): Mexico: from the Olmecs to the Aztecs. Thames and Hudson. New York. ISBN 0-500-27722-2.

• - De la Fuente, Beatriz et. al (2003): Pre-Hispanic sculpture of Mesoamerica. Lunwerg Editors. Barcelona, ​​Spain. ISBN 84-9785-012-2.

• - Duverger, Christian (1999): Mesoamerica, art and anthropology. CONACULTA-Landucci Editores. Paris. ISBN 970-18-3751-7.

• - The first mestizaje. The key to understanding the Mesoamerican past (2007) Conaculta-UNAM-INAH-Taurus, Mexico.

• - Fernández, Tomás; and Belarmino, Jorge (2001): From Mesoamerica to New Spain. Oviedo (Spain): Council of Asturian Communities. ISBN 84-505-9611-4.

• - Florescano, Enrique (2004): Quetzalcóatl and the founding myths of Mesoamerica. Mexico: Taurus.

• - García Cook, Ángel (1997), «Richard Stockton MacNeish and the origin of agriculture», in Mexican Archeology, V (25): pp. 40-43. Mexico City: Roots.

• - García, Raúl, Felipe Ramírez, Lorena Gámez and Luis Córdoba (2000): Chimalhuacán: rescue of a story. Municipal Government of Chimalhuacán (State of Mexico): National Institute of Anthropology and History.

• - National Institute of Anthropology and History (2000). "Atlas of pre-Hispanic Mexico." In the magazine Mexican Archeology, special issue 5, July 2000. Mexico: Raíces/National Institute of Anthropology and History.

• - Kirchhoff, Paul (2000)[1943], "Mesoamerica", in the magazine Acta Americana, 92: p. 107; republished in Dimensión Antropológica (9), electronic version consulted on May 30, 2010.

• - Kocyba, Henryk Karol (2001), «Critical considerations regarding the role of the ceiba among the Mayans», in Yólotl González Torres (coord.), Animals and plants in the Mesoamerican worldview, Plaza y Janés-Conaculta, Mexico City.

• - Kroeber, Alfred (1947)[1939], Cultural and natural areas of native North America, University of California Press, Berkeley.

• - Kuehne Heyder, Nicola; and Muñoz Mendoza, Joaquín (2001): Mesoamerica: approach to a history. Granada (Spain): Provincial Council of Granada. ISBN 84-7807-008-7.

• - Lastra de Suárez, Yolanda (2006). The Otomíes, their language and their culture. Mexico City: UNAM.

• - Litvak King, Jaime (1985), «Mesoamerica: events and processes, the last fifty years», in American Antiquity, 50 (2): pp. 374-382, Society for American Archaeology.

• - López Austin, Alfredo; and López Luján, Leonardo (2001): The indigenous past. Mexico City: The College of Mexico. ISBN 968-16-4890-0.

• - Manzanilla, Linda, and López Luján, Leonardo (1989): Historical Atlas of Mesoamerica. Mexico City: Larousse.

• - Mac Neish, Robert S. (1967): «A summary of the subsistence», in S. Byers (ed.), The Prehistory of the Tehuacán Valley, volume 1: «Environment and subsistence», pp. 290-309. Austin (Texas): University of Texas Press.

• - Miller, Mary Ellen (2001). The art of Mesoamerica. Barcelona (Spain): Destination (The world of art collection). ISBN 84-233-3095-8.

• - Nalda, Enrique (1981): Mexico. A town in History, volume I. Puebla de Zaragoza (Mexico): UAP-Nueva Imagen.

• - Niederberger, Christine (2005): [ «Mesoamerican societies: ancient civilizations and their birth»], in Rojas Rabiela, Teresa (dir.): The original societies, Unesco Collection on the History of Latin America.

• - Paddock, John (1970): Ancient Oaxaca. Discoveries in Mexican Archeology and History. Palo Alto (California): Stanford University Press.

• - Palerm, Ángel (1972): Agriculture and civilization in Mesoamerica. Mexico: Ministry of Public Education. ISBN 968-13-0994-4.

• - Piña Chan, Román (1976): A model of social and cultural evolution of pre-Columbian Mexico. Mexico: Department of Pre-Hispanic Monuments of the INAH, Archeology Series 2.

• - Ramírez, Felipe (2009): «The Central Highlands, from the Preclassic to the Epiclassic». In Pablo Escalante Gonzalbo (coordinator): Ancient Mexico. From Tehuantepec to Baja California. Economic Research and Teaching Center-Economic Culture Fund/Volume I/Cap. 2/Mexico.

• - Taube, Karl (2007). "Jadeite and the worldview of the Olmecs", in Mexican Archaeology, XV (87): pp. 43-48. Mexico City: Roots.

• - Wolf, Eric Robert (1959): Sons of the shaking Earth. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

• - Portal:Mesoamerica. Content related to Mesoamerica.

• - Conference - The notion of Mesoamerica, an epistemological impediment of Mexican anthropology, Dr Jesús Jáuregui.

• - National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico).

• - National Institute of Anthropology and History (Mexico).

• - National Archeology Foundation of El Salvador. Archived March 4, 2016 at the Wayback Machine.

• - [Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History.].

• - National Museum of Costa Rica.

• - Select bibliography on the war in Mesoamerica.

• - Academic texts on war and metallurgy in Mesoamerica.

Mesoamerica means "Middle America." This term was proposed to refer to a cultural space that extends from the southern part of Mexico to the Province of Guanacaste in Costa Rica, which is differentiated from other regions by the way of life of its inhabitants, its climate and its geography. Mesoamerica is a space of varied climates and landscapes, such as valleys, forests, coasts, swamps and jungles.

Its lands are humid and fertile, suitable for agriculture, and there are numerous lakes and rivers. Even with this diversity, the inhabitants of the region had certain characteristics in common, for example, their societies were organized into groups with different functions and importance. On the one hand, the rulers, divided into religious and military leaders, and, on the other, artisans and peasants.

This social division was manifested in the palaces, temples, rooms and urban spaces in which the rulers lived. Their basic basket included corn, beans, chili, pumpkin or güicoy, avocado and cocoa, among others.[7] They carried out important works to control and use rainwater, rivers and lakes. Their religion was polytheistic. They had religious beliefs that they combined with knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, engineering, art, writing and medicine. Architecturally, elements stand out such as the stepped bases and buildings that were built in the cities for the ball game ritual. They invented a numbering system with a vigesimal base and among their writing systems[8]​ the ideographic one stands out, based on drawing symbols that represented ideas. They were governed by two different calendars: one of 365 days for agricultural activities and one of 260 for their religious beliefs. With their myths they tried to explain the complexity of the natural and human world, trying to preserve the harmony between the two.

Since interest in the indigenous cultures of Central America and Mexico grew, specialists faced the problem of interpreting the available data on indigenous peoples. The important advances in archaeological investigations in central Mexico - particularly in Oaxaca, where Alfonso Caso led the excavations at Monte Albán - and in the Mayan area - with Ricketson's team investigating Uaxactún (Guatemala) - showed that between these regions, considered foreign to each other until the 1940s, there were great cultural coincidences that required an explanation.[9]​.

Alfred Kroeber introduced the concept of cultural areas[10] in 1939 to address the presence of similar cultural traits in ethnically diverse peoples relatively separated in the geography of the same region. In the work Cultural and natural areas of native North America, Kroeber proposed that northern Central America and the territories of the agricultural peoples of Mexico constituted a cultural area,[11]​ but his proposal did not seem to have an echo in archaeological circles. In 1943 Paul Kirchhoff published his article Mesoamerica, in which he problematized the cultural unity of the Mayan area and central Mexico. In his text, Kirchhoff outlined a set of traits whose presence was significant in the peoples of northern Central America and central and southern Mexico, which distinguished them from other American cultures. Kirchhoff said that the northern limit of Mesoamerica was the region between the Sinaloa River, the Sierra Madre Occidental, the basins of the Lerma and Panuco rivers and the southern limit would be the line between the mouth of the Motagua River and the Gulf of Nicoya, in Costa Rica.

The geographical boundaries are not static, but vary according to the increase or decrease of resources depending on the season. Mesoamerica has an area of ​​1,000,218 km². Among the cultural traits are the sedentary lifestyle "Sedentaryism (prehistory)"), the use of the planting/cutter stick, the cultivation of corn (the milpa) and its nixtamalization, the practice of the ball game, the numbering system with a vigesimal base, the use of the 260-day ritual calendar, the practice of various types of human sacrifices and the pictographic writing system. In subsequent works, Kirchhoff was "disappointed" at the uncritical reception that the term Mesoamerica had in archaeological circles and regretted that a fruitful debate on the relevance of the concept had not taken place.[12]​.

Despite this reception of his proposal, advances in the archeology of the Mesoamerican peoples have highlighted some weaknesses in the definition of Mesoamerica originally presented by Kirchhoff. One of the first points is its historicist and culturalist emphasis, which seeks to define Mesoamerican civilization as a set of disjointed elements that tend to identify culture with the ethnic group and the linguistic community.[13]​ In the following decades, new approaches have been developed to address the civilization of the pre-Columbian peoples of Middle America.

Among other things, this includes the revision of indigenous chronology.[14]​.

The historical dimension of Mesoamerican geography

To understand the geography of Mesoamerica it is necessary to place it in a diachronic dimension, that is, as a dynamic reality. It must be emphasized that Mesoamerica is a civilization shared by peoples of diverse ethnic origin and that, unlike other civilizations such as Ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia, the peoples who shared the Mesoamerican civilization never constituted a political unit. The borders of Mesoamerica correspond to the territories of those peoples that were part of the sphere of Mesoamerican civilization, which shares a culture whose characteristics are discussed below. The confines of Mesoamerica do not correspond to the limits of any modern country either. After the Spanish conquest, the Mesoamerican peoples were incorporated into the viceroyalty of New Spain, but this domain of the Spanish Crown also included other groups of different cultures such as the Oasisamericans, the nomads of Arid America and the peoples of lower Central America.

Mesoamerica occupies a portion of the American continent between the Pacific Ocean to the west; and the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico to the north and east. Its northern limits are less clear, with the exception of those given by the Yucatán Peninsula. In its time of greatest advance within the continent, towards the north, the territories of Mesoamericanity included the Sierra Madre Occidental of Durango and Zacatecas, the Sierra Gorda "Sierra Gorda (Mexico)"), the Tunal Grande") and the Sierra de Tamaulipas. This occurred during the Classic period. This advance towards the north was favored by climatological conditions that allowed agriculture and urban concentration; the climatic context acted in conjunction with the growing importance of exchange routes between Oasisamérica and Mesoamerica that crossed the areas of central Mexico mentioned above. Prolonged droughts and political crises dragged down the societies of northern Mesoamerica and the region was abandoned and occupied again by Arid-American nomads around the century AD.[15]

On the other hand, the southern and eastern boundary of Mesoamerica was more or less stable. However, some manifestations of the peoples of the area moved away from Mesoamerican patterns during the Late Preclassic and Early Classic (ss. BC - BC), so that during this time the Central American region moved away from the cultural sphere of Middle America. At the end of this stage, ties with Mesoamerican cultures were reestablished and reinforced by the migrations of Otomanguean groups (Chorotegas and Mangues) and Uto-Aztecs (Pipils and Nicaraos).[16]​.

Geographic features of Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica is located approximately between parallels 10° N and 22° N. It is a territory of great topographic and ecological diversity. Its topography is diverse because it is made up of several mountain chains and knots that are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. On the other hand, when you go north into the highlands, in the Yucatecan peninsula, the mountain ranges disappear and the altitude decreases until the territory becomes a calcareous plain that at its northernmost end is characterized by its low jungles and hot climate. All this is an elementary factor to understand the geography of Mesoamerica, because it introduces a notable diversity factor. Therefore, although Mesoamerica is generally located in the tropical and subtropical zone, it is home to great climatic contrasts.

The Mesoamerican lowlands include those regions below (meters above sea level).[17]​ These are generally the coastal plains and the foothills of the mountains that descend to the coast. They are characterized by their warm temperature, although other geographical conditions may vary. In general, the Atlantic coast has higher humidity and more exuberant vegetation than the Pacific coast. In the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental the rainfall patterns are high and the rivers that descend to the Gulf of Mexico in steep slopes called alluviums frequently overflow, such as the Tabasco plain, an extensive alluvial plain where the most important hydrological basin in Mexico is located, formed by the Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers. The Sierra de los Tuxtlas is in the same situation, in the center of the current state of Veracruz (Mexico). The Yucatan Peninsula—which is a large calcareous plain at a low altitude above sea level—shares with Honduras a rainy season with greater rainfall between May and December. Water is so abundant on the Mesoamerican Atlantic slope that wetlands were an important part of the landscape until they began to be devastated by human action. The Centla swamps in Tabasco are a sample, although not the only one, of the native ecosystems of the Atlantic coasts of the region.

Hurricanes hit the coasts of Mesoamerica every year. The temperature does not present considerable contrasts, it is warm throughout the year and the difference between maximum and minimum temperatures is relatively small.

The Pacific Ocean washes the western coasts of Mesoamerica. Unlike the Atlantic slope, in the Pacific the mountain ranges create an extremely narrow coastal plain. Some regions of Nayarit and Sinaloa have samples of wetlands that, like in the Atlantic, have been depredated by humans.

The tropical regions of Mesoamerica have been intensely modified since the arrival of the Spanish. The phenomenon, however, begins in pre-Hispanic times. The Mayans cut down enormous areas of jungle to build their cities in the department of Petén in Guatemala, as well as in the region that currently corresponds to the Mexican states of Chiapas and Campeche, which the jungle itself covered again years after being abandoned by its inhabitants. On the coast of Tabasco, the Olmec indigenous people were forced to develop farming techniques that consisted of draining the water and taking soil to where there was only mud. Although it may seem unlikely, crops that today are so typical and characteristic in this area, such as bananas and sugar cane, did not exist in Mesoamerica before the arrival of the Spanish. Among other common plant species in these ecosystems is cocoa, of vital importance for the economy, gastronomy and even indigenous and current subsistence; the mangrove and the ceiba, a sacred tree in Mesoamerican cosmogony but particularly in the Mayan.[18] Several of the animals of greatest significance to the Mesoamericans were common in tropical areas, for example, the jaguar, the macaw, the lizard, the monkeys, the quetzal and the pheasant.

The highlands played a very important role throughout the history of Mesoamerica. In this category are areas with altitudes greater than [19] Mountains are a mark of the landscape of the Mesoamerican highlands. Several mountain ranges frame and cross Mesoamerica. In Mexican territory, the Sierra Madre Occidental runs parallel to the Pacific from Sonora to Jalisco. The Neovolcanic Axis begins in Colima, which crosses Mexico to the gulf, where it meets the Sierra Madre Oriental and forms the so-called Mixtec shield in Oaxaca. The Pacific coast between Michoacán and Oaxaca is bordered by the slopes of the Sierra Madre del Sur, so close to the coast that the coastal plain is practically non-existent. The Isthmus of Tehuantepec interrupts the abrupt topography of Mexico and at the same time marks the beginning of the mountainous regions of Central America. To the east of this region rise the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and the Central American mountain range that occupies the southern half of Guatemala, the territory of El Salvador and reaches Honduras. To the east of the lowlands of El Petén rise the Maya Mountains, a small mountain range in southern Belize. The territory of Nicaragua is less rugged than its northern neighbors, however there begins the volcanic mountain range "Cordillera Volcánica (Central America)") that borders the Pacific coast to Costa Rica. There are several volcanoes such as Cerro Negro "Cerro Negro (volcano)") and Ometepe Island. In the southern reaches of Mesoamerica, the Guanacaste mountain range is located, already in the territory of Costa Rica.

Among these mountain chains are high valleys, with elevations higher than Despite being close to each other, the ecological diversity in Mesoamerica is one of its defining characteristics. To give an example, the eastern slope of the Citlaltépetl volcano has a climate favored by abundant rain and pleasant temperatures; On the other side of the same volcano are the arid plains of San Juan and the Tehuacán valley, where the clouds discharge the little water that remains after crossing the Sierra Madre Oriental.

The ecological conditions of the Mesoamerican highlands depend on their altitude, their latitude with respect to the Earth's equator and topography. In general, northern Mesoamerica is more arid than the south of the region. Mesoamerica once encompassed the semi-desert of Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí, with rigorous conditions. El Bajío also has a limited rainfall regime, but the presence of the Lerma River and its tributaries softens living conditions in the region. In central Mexico, the Toluca valley is the highest in the country, it has a rainy and colder climate than the Valley of Mexico to the east. The third of the great valleys of central Mexico is the Poblano-Tlaxcalteca valley, with conditions and altitude similar to those of the Anáhuac valley. To the south of Ajusco is the Morelos Valley"), whose climate resembles that of tropical lands.

Central Mexico

Known as “Neovolcanic Axis”. It received Olmec influence during the 1st millennium BC. C., and shortly afterwards endogenous cultures flourished. The city of Teotihuacán, called by the Mexica "city where the gods are formed", was perhaps the most important culture that settled in Mesoamerica, since its influence even reached Arid America and Oasis America. After the fall of Teotihuacan, the cultures of Xochicalco settled nearby, in the current states of Morelos, Tlaxcala (Cacaxtla) and Puebla (Cholula). In the second millennium the Toltec invasions began, and in 1325 Tenochtitlan was founded.

One of the most important areas during the pre-Hispanic history of Mexico "History of Mexico (Pre-Columbian Era)") was what is known as Central Mexico. It is made up of valleys of temperate to cold land located in the Neovolcanic Axis and in the north of the Balsas River basin. It is an ecological niche characterized by its temperate climate and the absence of important water currents. The rains, on the other hand, occur between the months of April to September, and are not too abundant. This fact was what motivated the early development of hydraulic works, including the channeling of rivers and ditch systems on the slopes of hills to store water.

The Tehuacán Valley, located southeast of this region, is important because it is home to the apparently oldest remains of corn cultivation and some of the oldest ceramic samples in Mesoamerica. Central Mexico also includes the lake basin of the Valley of Mexico, made up of several lakes and lagoons. Populations as important as Cuicuilco grew around Lake Texcoco in the Preclassic period; Teotihuacán in the Classic and Tula and Tenochtitlan in the Postclassic period.

The last cultures of the Neovolcanic Axis were those of the Triple Alliance "Triple Alliance (Mexico)"): Texcoco, Tlacopan and Tenochtitlan. With a difficult start, the Mexicas settled in the Valley of Mexico in 1325 and a century later their hegemony began when Izcóatl liberated its people from the hands of the lords of Azcapotzalco. In 1430 the Triple Alliance "Triple Alliance (Mexico)") was formally established. Izcoátl, on the advice of Tlacalael, ordered the burning of the codices of Aztec history and completely rewrote the history of his people.

In less than a hundred years the Triple Alliance conquered a large part of Mesoamerica, with the characteristic that they allowed the subject peoples to preserve their culture and religion.

Mayan area

The Mayan area is one of the largest in Mesoamerica. Some authors divide it into two sectors: the Yucatan Peninsula, in the north, and the Highlands, in the south. The first includes, in addition to the Yucatán Peninsula, Tabasco, Petén and Belize. It is an area of ​​lowlands and a hot climate, battered by hurricanes and tropical storms from the Caribbean Sea. It is a calcareous platform, slightly elevated towards the south, where the so-called Sierrita breaks the plain of the landscape. It lacks surface water currents, since the soil is too permeable; On the other hand, underground streams and cenotes are abundant. On the other hand, the Highlands include the highlands of Guatemala, Chiapas, western Honduras (Copán "Copán (archaeological site)") and El Puente "El Puente (archaeological zone)") and western and central El Salvador (the central area of El Salvador had commercial contact with Central America, but was more greatly influenced by the Mayan area, an example of this are the famous sites of San Andrés "San Andrés (El Salvador)"), Joya de Cerén and Cihuatán). It is a region with a cold-temperate climate, and with abundant rainfall. The mountain slopes are covered with thick vegetation that threatens the development of agriculture. The Mayan Highlands are no less exposed to the influence of Caribbean cyclones that frequently cause destruction in the area.

The first important cultural developments of the Mayan area occurred in the southern area. The first pottery, produced in the Belizean town of Cuello&action=edit&redlink=1 "Cuello (Belize) (not yet written)") seems to indicate that the development of pottery in the Mayan area was derived from South American traditions. The first city with monumental architecture was Nakbé (c. 1000 BC), followed by El Mirador "El Mirador (Mayan city)") (c. 600 BC), the largest city of all and the largest in pre-Columbian America, located in the Mirador basin, in Petén, Guatemala, where the Preclassic culture began with all the attributes of the Classic. In the Pacific lowlands of Guatemala, Takalik Abaj is developed, the only city in Mesoamerica with Olmec and then Mayan occupation.

Centuries later, the first population centers developed that would become cities in the Classic period. Among them we must count Kaminaljuyú in the highlands of Guatemala, Quiriguá, Uaxactún and Tikal, the latter of which would have been the largest of the Mayan cities between the centuries and AD. C. The fall and abandonment of the great Mayan cities was due to a combination of factors: internal wars, ecological disaster, climate change, migrations from northern Mesoamerica. In this way, the heart of the Mayan culture moved to the lands of what is currently called the Yucatan Peninsula. In this region, the cities of Chichén Itzá, Uxmal, Tulum, Mayapán, Cobá and Izamal, among many others, would flourish, following the Mayan migration to the Yucatán Peninsula that occurred from the highlands of Guatemala beginning in the century AD. C. and later, within the Peninsula itself, predominantly from east to west, from the century AD. C. Currently 27 Mayan groups survive, 21 of them in Guatemala.

Oaxaca

Without a doubt it is one of the most important Mesoamerican areas. The Zapotec civilization originated in the central valleys of Oaxaca, who established the 260-day calendar, later used by the majority of Mesoamerican peoples, and their own writing system that was different from the Olmec and Mayan. Monte Albán became the paradigm of this civilization, and after its fall the region was occupied by the Mixtecs.

Since Mesoamerican times, the Oaxacan region has been one of the most diverse. It is an extremely mountainous territory, framed by the Sierra Madre del Sur and the Mixteco Shield or Nudo. It includes a portion of the Balsas River basin, characterized by its dryness and complex topography. Its water channels are short and have little capacity. In that sense, it is quite similar to the central region of Mexico.

There were two main stages in the cultural history of the Oaxacan people. On the one hand, the central valleys of Oaxaca saw the development of the Zapotec culture, one of the oldest and best known in the Mesoamerican area. This culture developed from the regional chiefdoms that controlled the agricultural land (very fertile, although too dry) of the small valleys of Etla, Tlacolula and Miahuatlán. Some of the first examples of great architecture in Mesoamerica belong to this region, such as the ceremonial center of San José Mogote. The hegemony of this ceremonial center in the Valley region passed into the hands of Monte Albán, the classic capital of the Zapotecs. The fall of Teotihuacán in the century AD. C. allowed the greatest apogee of the Zapotec culture. However, the city of Monte Albán was abandoned in the century AD. C., and gave rise to a series of regional centers that competed for political hegemony.

To the west of the central valleys, the Mixtec region "Mixteca (region)" is located. It is an extremely mountainous terrain with very variable altitudes, reaching more than The climates vary from temperate mountain to dry tropical, and in general rainfall is scarce. There are few surface water currents, and currently, much of the area has an alarming degree of deforestation. La Mixteca is also an area occupied since time immemorial. Already since the Preclassic period, some important population centers had formed in the region, such as Yucuita and Cerro de las Minas. However, the Mixtec capitals never reached the magnitude of their Zapotec neighbors. The greatest apogee of Mixtec culture was reached in the postclassical period, when Lord Ocho Venado of Tututepec and Tilantongo undertook a campaign of political unification of the Mixtec city-states and came to occupy the central valleys of Oaxaca.

Warrior

Guerrero is traditionally considered a region belonging to the western area. However, the most recent discoveries have reoriented the division of Mesoamerican cultural areas, and in recent works, Guerrero appears as an independent cultural area. The Mesoamerican Warrior occupies approximately the surface of the state of the same name, located in southern Mexico. It can be divided into three regions with different characteristics: to the north, the depression of the Balsas River, where this water current plays the most important role in shaping the regional geography. The Balsas depression is a low region, with a warm climate and little rain, whose dryness is lessened by the presence of the riverbed and its numerous tributaries. The central part corresponds to the Sierra Madre del Sur, with a slightly more temperate climate, a region rich in mineral deposits and with few agricultural qualities. The southern part of the Guerrero area is made up of the coast of the Pacific Ocean, a very narrow, warm and humid coastal plain, full of mangroves and palm trees, battered by hurricanes coming from the Pacific.

Guerrero was the scene of the first pottery traditions of Mesoamerica. The oldest remains of her have been found in Puerto Marqués, near Acapulco, and are approximately 3,500 years old, even prior to the vestiges corresponding to the Olmecs on the opposite coast of the Gulf of Mexico. During the preclassic period, the Balsas basin became an area of ​​vital importance for the development of the Olmec culture, which left traces of its presence in sites such as Teopantecuanitlán and the Juxtlahuaca grottoes. Later was the development of a sculptural tradition known as Mezcala, characterized by its tendency to geometrize the human body. During the Postclassic period, most of Guerrero remained under the rule of the Mexica, and independent of the Tlapanec lordship of Yopitzinco.

Western Mexico

The area spoken of here served as a "bridge" between Mesoamerica and Oasisamerica. The cultures of this area, such as the Tarascans and Caxcans, developed ways of life different from other places in Mesoamerica. An example of this is the beautiful pyramids of Guachimontones, in Teuchitlán Jalisco.

The so-called West is one of the least known areas of Mesoamerica. It is, however, an extensive region, which includes the slopes of the Sierra Madre Occidental, a part of the Sierra Madre del Sur and the middle and lower basin of the Lerma River. The foothills of the mountain were covered with pine and oak forests, but forestry activity has reduced their size. The land has an agricultural vocation due to its fertility and the availability of hydraulic resources, especially in the coastal plain of Sinaloa, the Bajío "Bajío (Mexico)") and the Tarascan Plateau. The climates vary from the cold mountain climate in eastern Michoacán to the tropical climate of the coasts of Jalisco and Nayarit.

The region was the habitat of Uto-Aztec speaking peoples, such as the Coras "Cora (ethnicity)"), Huichols and Tepehuanos. The incorporation of these peoples into the sphere of Mesoamerican civilization was very gradual, and it is presumed that the first ceramic developments in the region were linked to the traditions of the Andean peoples of Ecuador and Peru. The changes that clearly affected the rest of the regions are less observable in the West, which is why the cultural traditions of the preclassic period, such as those of Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit or that of Tumbas de Tiro, survived well into the Classic period (150-750/900 AD). The best known of the Western societies is the Purépecha "Purépecha (ethnic group)") or Tarasca, which competed in the century AD. C. with the power of the Mexica.

Northern Mexico

The northern part of Mesoamerica was part of this great cultural area only during the classical period (150-750 AD), when the heyday of Teotihuacán and population growth favored migrations towards the north and trade with the distant Oasis-American lands. It is a flat territory, between the Madre Oriental and Occidental mountain ranges. The climate is dry, almost desert-like, and the vegetation is scarce, so agriculture in the North was only possible through the channeling of surface water currents (among which the Pánuco River and the tributaries of the Lerma stand out) and the storage of rainwater. Excessive dependence on good weather led the people of Northern Mesoamerica to abandon the region in the mid-century AD. C., in which they faced a prolonged drought and the invasions of Arid-American peoples.

The population centers in the North were dependent on the trade network that was established between Teotihuacán and the societies of Oasis America. Sites such as La Quemada in Zacatecas, or La Ferrería in Durango "Durango (Mexico)"), served as forts to monitor trade routes. When agriculture and the social system collapsed in the North, the region's occupants migrated to the West, the Gulf and Central Mexico.

The recent discovery of the Tamtoc archaeological site, in the Huasteca of Potosí, calls into question what was previously established, since the city of Tamtoc flourished around the year , much earlier than what was thought until now.[20]​.

Central America

The Mesoamerican area known as Central America occupies the western part of Honduras and Nicaragua and the surrounding areas of the Gulf of Nicoya in Costa Rica, where the kingdoms of Nicoya "Nicoya (kingdom)") and Chorotega "Chorotega (Costa Rica)") existed. It is a region with a tropical climate, with significant telluric activity, which also includes the two large Mediterranean lakes of Central America: Nicaragua and Managua. As in the case of the Northern region, Central America was part of the Mesoamerican world only temporarily until the end of the classical period. The Central American peoples are usually considered to be part of the so-called transition zone between the Intermediate Area, the Andean world and Mesoamerica.

The first contacts between the Mesoamerican nuclear area occurred in the preclassic period, as indicated by the Olmec influence in the area as can be observed in archaeological sites such as Los Naranjos "Los Naranjos (Honduras)"). However, relations were interrupted for a time and Central America received a greater influence from the cultures of the Colombian highlands. An example of this is the early development of metallurgy in Central America with respect to the rest of the Mesoamerican peoples in the Mexican context, however in the famous site of Quelepa in the eastern area of ​​El Salvador the trade and great influence of Teotihuacán and Copán "Copán (archaeological site)") is seen first and then with the sites of Veracruz.

For the Postclassic period, the entire area was included plus the west in the Mesoamerican sphere, this time extended to the department of Escuintla "Escuintla (department)") in Guatemala, and was invaded by Nahua peoples such as the Pipils and Nicaraos, speakers of Nahuat, a dialect of the Mexica language, and the influence of the Toltecs and Aztecs is perceived in the culture and architecture. Also Otomangue peoples such as the Mangues (c. century AD) and the Subtiaba (c. century AD) migrated from Chiapas to Nicaragua and Honduras, respectively.

The Nicoya region, in the current province of Guanacaste in Costa Rica, became the southern border of Mesoamerica when it was occupied in the year 800 AD. C. by the Chorotegas, who spoke the Otomangue language and came from the Valley of Mexico.[21]​ In Nicoya there was a cultural center that developed for 2000 years, which managed to achieve a complex social organization and a high degree of cultural development, in which there were complex cities and governments, specialized agriculture that included irrigation, artistic manifestations such as polychrome ceramics, which were used as a precious commodity for commercial exchange with other civilizations in the area, as well as the production of jade objects. and sculptures in volcanic stone (the Nicoyan ceremonial metate stands out), manufactured with its own style that includes both Mesoamerican and Intermediate Area influences,[22]​[23]​ a consequence of the function of a cultural bridge that Costa Rica had during the pre-Hispanic era.[24]​.

Contenido

Los pueblos mesoamericanos constituyen un mosaico étnico y lingüístico que perdura hasta la actualidad. La lengua constituye uno de los criterios para definir a una nación o pueblo. Siguiendo este criterio, los pueblos de Mesoamérica pueden agruparse en grandes contingentes, que comparten más elementos entre sí que con el resto de los pueblos de la región. Cabe aclarar que el criterio lingüístico es útil para abordar la clasificación, pero no constituye el único elemento. Algunos de los pueblos que aquí se presentan como parte de una gran familia podrían no ser tan afines entre sí, a pesar de hablar lenguas emparentadas.

Ottomanguean-speaking peoples

The speakers of Proto-Otomanguean must have participated in the domestication of corn and participated in the construction of the flourishing of large cities such as Cuicuilco, Teotihuacán and Cholula.

Otomanguean-speaking peoples are scattered throughout much of Mesoamerica, but are concentrated in what is called "Central Mexico." They are divided into two large branches, one eastern and one western. Most of the western branch lives in the Neovolcanic Axis. The valleys of Mexico, Toluca and the Moctezuma River basin constitute the historical home of the Otomíes, Mazahuas, Matlatzincas, Tlahuicas. Other Otopame-speaking peoples (jonaces) and pames (indigenous people) settled further north, in the Tunal Grande and the Sierra Gorda (Sierra Gorda (Mexico)).

The presence of the Otomangueans in their territories predated the arrival of the Nahuas to central Mexico, dating back several millennia before the Christian era. That is why it is likely that they were among the inhabitants of places such as Tlapacoya, Cuicuilco, Tlatilco, Teotihuacán, Cholula and others whose ethnic affiliation is a matter of debate. Around 3500 BC. C. the two sides of the family separated, but contact between the Otomanguean peoples was maintained in pre-Hispanic times.[26]​.

Mayan speaking peoples

The group of Mayan-speaking peoples is basically concentrated in the Yucatan Peninsula, the highlands of Guatemala&action=edit&redlink=1 "Los Altos (Guatemala) (not yet written)") and Chiapas, western Honduras, northern El Salvador. Only the Huastec people are found outside this region. Linguists point out that the Huastec migration occurred around the year 2200 BC. C., when they left the ethnic territory (located approximately in the area where Kanjobal is currently spoken). The other Mayan groups expanded through the described area and maintained contact with the Lenca and Xinca peoples on the southern limit of Mesoamerica, as well as with their western neighbors, the Mixe-Zoquean speaking peoples. The great relationship between these families led some specialists to propose that the Olmecs were ethnic and linguistic ancestors of the Mayans, a hypothesis that has recently been discarded.

corn

Corn was the basis of the Mesoamerican diet during pre-Hispanic times and continues to play that role in the modern nations that currently occupy the area. The milpa, for its part, is the system that has traditionally been used for growing grass in the region.

The cultivation of Zea mays was one of the original elements included by Kirchhoff in the Mesoamerican complex. Searching for the origins of agriculture, Richard MacNeish entered the dry lands of the Tamaulipas mountain range and discovered in the La Perra cave) the remains of a primitive corn that was dated to 2500 BC. Following his research towards the south, he arrived at the Tehuacán valley where he considered that the conditions could exist to house testimonies that shed light on the processes that led to the domestication of vegetables and the development of agriculture in Mesoamerica.[27]​ The discoveries of MacNeish in the Tehuacán caves provided evidence that supported the hypothesis of the Mesoamerican origin of corn.

Corn was domesticated around 5000 BC. C., probably from teosinte, and came to occupy an essential role in Mesoamerica. In this region, several dozen varieties adapted to the climatic conditions of the various Mesoamerican regions are known. These species can be grouped into two large groups, called alliances. The Isthmic alliance brings together the varieties originating from Oaxaca, the Mixteca and the Yucatan Peninsula; The Balsas-Western Mexico alliance includes races typical of the Balsas depression, Chiapas, Tierra Caliente and Jalisco. The domains of these alliances almost always overlap with the ethnic territories of the Ottomanguean-speaking nations. This fact, added to the glottochronological data that indicates that the proto-language with the oldest lexicon related to corn is "proto-Otomangue", support the hypothesis that the ancestors of these peoples were related to the domestication of corn.[28]​.

An entire technological complex arose in Mesoamerica around the use of this cereal that also lasts to this day. This group of technologies includes planting techniques and the invention of the nixtamalization process; the development of grinding instruments (metates) and the diversification of their use (ranging from flour to tamales, including pinole and tortillas).[29]​ The role of this cereal was also relevant in mythology and religion: corn dough is the material from which human beings are made in the myth of the Legend of the Suns[30]​ and Popol vuh.[31]​.

All Mesoamerican peoples had a deity of corn, and it was present since the time of the Olmecs.[32]​ Among the Mexica there were three gods of corn: Xilonen was the deity of the young ear, Cintéotl was the god of ripe corn and Ilamatecuhtli was the patron saint of dry ears.[33]​.

Although the basis of agriculture and the diet of the people of the region was corn, recent research tends to demonstrate that the dietary supplement of the Mesoamericans, particularly the Mayan groups, which allowed them to sustain very large populations, especially during the classical period, and particularly in the southern region of Mesoamerica where important crowds were concentrated (Tikal, Copán "Copán (archaeological site)"), Calakmul), was Cassava, also called Yuca, a tuber with high calorific content from which a very nutritious flour is prepared, which to date is an integral part of the diet of the various populations that live in the Mayan region and also in the Caribbean Sea basin.[34]​ The following reference establishes the cultivation of cassava in the Mayan culture, 1400 years ago in Joya de Cerén (El Salvador).[35]​.

Another important crop and food was cocoa: a paste is obtained from its seed to make a drink (chocolate or xocolatl in Nahuatl) prepared with water.

Paul Kirchoff, al mismo tiempo que delimitó el área mesoamericana en términos geográficos, propuso una serie de características que definían a las culturas de la región y que eran comunes a todas ellas. Entre esos rasgos culturales, notó el uso de dos calendarios, uno ritual de 260 días, y otro de 365 días. La numeración con base veinte y la escritura pictográfica-jeroglífica, el sacrificio humano, el culto a ciertas divinidades (entre las que sobresalen los cultos a las divinidades del agua, el fuego y la Serpiente Emplumada), y varios elementos más. Los anteriores son rasgos culturales más o menos compartidos por todos los pueblos de la Mesoamérica precolombina.

Si bien Paul Kirchhoff dio una definición general de Mesoamérica, actualmente la noción va más allá de simplemente criterios materiales (cultivo de maíz, empleo de algodón, politeísmo, etc.), e incluye aspectos culturales que se originaron a partir de las primeras sociedades sedentarias. Christian Duverger argumenta que la máxima expresión de la civilización mesoamericana fue la cultura mexica. Sin embargo, esta perspectiva ha sido combatida por otros autores (como López Austin, López Luján y Florescano), quienes sostienen que la civilización mesoamericana es el resultado de la participación de múltiples pueblos con diferentes creencias. A pesar de la diversidad étnica, Mesoamérica alcanzó un grado de relativa homogeneidad gracias a los contactos existentes entre las diferentes regiones por virtud de los intercambios comerciales o las campañas militares.

260 day calendar

The 260-day calendar which was called Xihuitl or civil, grouped into 13 months of 20 days, which was called Tonalpohualli among the central peoples, Tzolkin among the Mayans and Pije among the Zapotecs, whose beginning was from 1200 BC. C., reflects the evolution of the use of time measurement, not only to know what days to cultivate, what religious celebrations should be held, what was the movement of the stars; but it was also used for divination purposes and to establish the various destinies of men.

The names used to identify days, months and years in the Mesoamerican world come largely from the magical-religious vision that the inhabitants of Mesoamerica had of the natural environment with which they lived at the beginning of the Early Preclassic period: animals, flowers, the stars and death. The presence of this calendar is in all Mesoamerican cultural zones: from the Olmecs, the Oaxaca region, the Mayan zone and the Neovolcanic Axis.

glyphic writing

Glyphic writing and its study have gone through various stages. From the beginning it was discussed whether the Mesoamerican glyphic system (excluding the Mayan system) was an example of a system of signs that expressed ideas, mainly religious. A system that does not use phonetics. In relation to the use of pictographic elements and their relationship with icons, Mesoamerican writing always handled a great variety of meanings, not only an artistic vision, but also a religious and cultural one. The glyphs include characters, animals, calendrical elements, toponyms of places, among others, which are present in all Mesoamerican cultures, even in Teotihuacán, where the images are beautiful and artistically crafted. The glyphs that predominate are pictographic and ideographic.

The usefulness of writing among the Mesoamericans was varied: it served to allow the interpretation of the signals sent by the stars in relation to the name and destiny of people. Another use was for the explanation of the myths and stories of the people, which were captured in glyphs, both on stones or on paper. This work was carried out by the priests, who were the only ones who could understand the images.

But a very important aspect of writing was that it was used by rulers to legitimize their power. Mesoamerican was a writing embodied in public monuments, wall paintings, stelae and pyramidal structures, which gave every common person a simple explanation of the power of their lords, a kind of propaganda.

The Mesoamericans also used the vigesimal number system.

Offerings to the Earth

Burying rich offerings in ceremonial centers"), comes from the times of the beginning of the sedentary lifestyle of the once nomadic groups. Delimiting the ceremonial and territorial space to establish a cosmic order on earth, to justify the dominance of the ruling classes over the rest of society.

A praise to the primeval gods: the old fire coming from the volcanoes, and the Mother-Earth. Offerings that are shown to every individual belonging to a Mesoamerican society through an earthen mound, which over time transforms into monumental pyramid-type constructions.

The offerings are important for the ceremonial center: they give ideological and religious power. Hence, the looting of offerings means something more than the search for riches: the weakening and eradication of religious and political power at the ceremonial center.

human sacrifices

The act of sacrifice has great religious-political significance. Sacrifice means the renewal of divine cosmic energy. The gods gave life to man, sacrificing their own. Man must give his life to maintain the established divine order.

Blood means life in Mesoamerican belief: human blood is the liquid that satisfies the thirst of the gods (in this case the Sun God), blood has part of the blood of the gods. With blood, not only the deities are revitalized, but also the earth, plants and animals (for example, the eagle and the jaguar). Blood is like water, necessary for earthly life and heavenly life.

And this obligation to revitalize the cosmic order is reflected in Mesoamerican societies through images that evoke sacrifice: eagles and jaguars devouring human hearts; the presence of jade circles or chalchihuites that represent hearts; images that simultaneously reflect a request for rain and a request for blood, with the same purpose: to replenish divine energy; the presence of plants and flowers that symbolize both nature and blood sprouting life.

What importance does sacrifice have in the social and religious aspects of Mesoamerican cultures? First, the presence of death converted into god. Death is the consequence of man's sacrifice, but it is not the end: it is the continuation of the cosmic cycle. Death generates life, divine energy is released after death and returned to the gods, so that they generate new life. Second, it justifies war, since in this activity the most valuable sacrifices are obtained: warriors who possess the energy necessary to strengthen the gods in their constant divine activities. Capturing prisoners and war become both a means of climbing the social ladder, and it becomes a divine game. Third, justify the control of real power, of two sectors of Mesoamerican societies: the priests, who control religious ideology; and the warriors, who provide sacrifices to the ceremonies through war and the conquest of territories (with their corresponding tributes).

Polytheism

The great extension of the Mesoamerican pantheon occurred thanks to the incorporation of new ideological-religious elements to the original religion: Fire-Earth-Water-Nature. The important incorporation of astral divinities (sun, stars, constellations, Venus) and their representation in anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and also anthropozoomorphic sculptures and forms of everyday objects.

The qualities of the gods and their attributes changed over time and with the cultural influence of other Mesoamerican groups. Gods who at the same time are three different cosmic entities and at the same time are only one. Mesoamerican religion has an important characteristic: the existence of dualism between the divinities. The confrontation between opposite poles: positive, exemplified with light, the masculine, strength, war, the sun, etc.; and the negative, the darkness, the feminine, the sedentary lifestyle, peace, the moon, etc.

dualistic system of thought

Dualistic thinking must be understood as the ability of indigenous people to think about opposites under a single modality, and the Mesoamerican spirit is marked by this, both in religion and politics as well as in popular beliefs and daily behaviors. This thought is born from the superposition of the Nahuas and the natives, that is, from a cultural fusion between the two; There are countless manifestations around this type of thinking, but only the most representative examples will be taken: nagualism and the Mesoamerican ball game.

The ability of human beings to cover themselves with an animal aspect, or the practice of Nahual, is known as nagualism or nahualism. This word is given on the one hand to the animal incarnation of a man and on the other to the man who has the power to incarnate in that animal, but what is at the bottom of this belief is the affirmation that one can be a man and an animal at the same time; Furthermore, it is strictly individual, not like totemism, which has a collective value. There are nahualli well known like the jaguar and the eagle; also more modest animals such as the dog, the armadillo, the opossum, etc.

Within pre-Hispanic art, nahualism has received various forms of interpretation, the first form is little understandable to us, since one has the impression of being in front of an armadillo or a jaguar, but in reality what it represents is a nahualli of a god or a sovereign. The second form is presented more directly, the man and his double are represented together as an anthropozoomorphic creature, that is, a part of the human, be it the head, the arms; and an animal part such as legs, beak, tail, etc. Nahualism is a typical idea from Mesoamerica that refers exclusively to the man-animal relationship.

The ball game is one of the most important cultural features of Mesoamerica. It is not a sport although due to its name it is most often associated with this term. It must be understood as a rite and the land where it is played is always located between ceremonial centers"). This game had a cosmic essence, it was related to the movement of the sun and the movement of the universe; said movement was represented with the help of the ball, which was made of hardened rubber that was obtained from the sap of the fig tree; they mainly used this material for its ability to bounce.

There were many rules in the game, but these changed depending on the regions where it was played. There was one where you could only play with your hands, another where you used your hips and elbows, or one where you only used a stick or bat. For each type there were different terrains: one with benches so that the ball would bounce at hip height, another with the ground removed. In general, all the fields had the shape of an I and at the ends you could find bird heads as in Copán "Copán (archaeological site)") or large rings through which the ball had to pass, as in Xochicalco. The ball game concluded with a human sacrifice; what is not known is whether the sacrificed person was the captain of the winning or losing team.

Medicine

As for Mesoamerican knowledge, it can be found in two main axes: the magical spirit and the logical spirit, which, despite being different, coexisted. In the field of medicine there were two schools: one with a shamanic tradition; Shaman being understood as a healer priest who dealt with certain illnesses, the most frequent of which was the loss of the soul. The shaman resorted to psychotropic drugs (peyote, tobacco, red beans loaded with mescaline) and magical manipulations (incantations "Incantation (magic)", offerings) for the recovery of his patients.

The other medicine consisted of pragmatic knowledge. In Mesoamerica there were healers who knew how to treat fractures, heal and bandage wounds; and certain obstetric interventions "Obstetrics (midwifery)") were even practiced. In addition, they also cured with plants or using the active ingredient of aspirin, which by this time they already knew and extracted from the bark of the willow.

Math

Among the Mesoamericans, mathematics was not simply numbers, but was given a value and symbolic content thanks to dualistic thinking. The Mesoamerican mathematical system was vigesimal, that is, it consisted of a base 20 and the numbers were represented by points that were worth one unit and bars that gave it a value of 5. This type of representation was combined with a symbolic numerology: 2 is related to the origin, since every origin is taken as unfolded; the 3rd with the domestic fire; the 4 linked to the four corners of the universe; the 5 expressing instability; 9 refers to the underground world, and the night; 13 is the number of light; 20 of fullness and 400 of infinity.

One of the great contributions to mathematics, especially of the Mexica, was the invention of the nepohualtzintzin, which is an abacus used to perform arithmetic operations quickly. The device, made of wood, thread and corn grains, is also known as the "Aztec computer." The Mayans were the first civilization in Mesoamerica and many other regions that had the numerical sign zero as a mathematical concept.

Astronomy

As far as astronomy is concerned, it is born with the observation of the stars and the symbolic construction of cosmic life. The Mesoamericans understood that the sky was organized through regular cycles, causing a succession of seasons and astronomical phenomena. They associated figures such as animals, plants, with the different constellations. Astronomical knowledge was accumulated over millennia. This process culminated with the invention of the calendar (whose roots are found in the Middle Preclassic period), supported by both the observation of the stars and mathematics:

symbolic space-time

These two terms associate it with the four cardinal points, space "Space (physics)") and time are linked to the calendar, thus ensuring the rotation of qualities that space has. That is, in Mesoamerica, a date or an event was always linked to a direction of the universe and the calendar expresses a symbolic topography peculiar to this period. The days were associated, according to their name, with a cardinal point that gave them a magical meaning.

• - The signs of the east are: crocodile, snake, water, reed, movement. The idea of ​​plant fertility or, in other words, tropical exuberance is associated with the east; He is also linked to the world of priests.

• - The signs of the north are: wind, death, dog, jaguar, flint. This point contrasts with the east because symbolically it is arid, cold and oppressive. It is considered the nocturnal part of the universe, the abode of the dead. The dog (xoloitzcuintle) here has a very unique meaning, since it is the one that accompanies the deceased during the trip and makes him cross the river from beyond the grave that leads him towards nothingness.

• - The signs of the west are: house, deer, monkey, eagle, rain. It is a direction associated with the vegetation cycle, specifically with the temperate highland ecosystem, with thin rain and change of seasons.

• - The signs of the south are: rabbit, lizard, dry grass, buzzard, flower. It is related on the one hand to the bright and hot midday Sun, on the other to the rain full of alcoholic beverages. The rabbit, the main symbol, is associated with farmers and pulque.

With this it can be said that a Mesoamerican characteristic is symbolic geography, which refers to imaginary areas and not to specific places; If this were not the case, then the signs would not apply to Mesoamerica in general, but rather there would be a large number for each topographic zone.

Territory and ceremonial centers

The ceremonial centers are the axis of the populations of Mesoamerica. These determine the existence of urbanism, which is nothing more than a portion of the space that characterizes the ceremonial centers, which in turn constitute the heart of the sacred space. These centers have the function of orienting the space and transmitting the orientation to the space that surrounds them. The cities with their ceremonial center always constituted the political entity and each man could identify himself according to the city in which he lived.

Ceremonial centers were always built to be seen. The pyramids were constructions that stood out from the rest of the city, to manifest their gods and their abilities. Another characteristic feature of the ceremonial centers are the historical sediments. Every ceremonial construction was built in several construction phases, one on top of the other, so that what is observed today is usually the last stage of construction. In short, the ceremonial centers are the architectural translation of the identity of each city projected in the veneration of its gods and masters.

Journey to the beyond

Various types of afterlife were conceived in Mesoamerica and therefore various types of funerals were practiced: simple or multiple, graves, masonry chambers, urns, etc. In addition to this, they also practiced cremation, but today it is known that depending on the social rank that a person occupied, or the type of death that occurred, both factors determined the type of burial. With all this, the idea of ​​a post mortem journey was reached, in which the grave was the starting point to the afterlife.

The Mesoamericans believed in three destinies: the celestial journey in which only those who had died on the battlefield, on the sacrificial stone or women who died in childbirth were found. This destination was known as Cincalco (house of corn). The second was the trip to the underworld, which consisted of an underground pilgrimage that would take the dead to the northern end of the world. This place was called Mictlán (place of the dead). The third destination was the trip to the paradise of the sun, which was in an easterly direction. It was a place dominated by the sun, and in Nahuatl it was called Tonatiuhichan ('house of the Sun').

In each burial, food and drinks had to be placed in clay utensils so that the dead could be fed during the trip; They also wore masks to protect them from the cold. A reminiscence of these beliefs can be seen today in that some indigenous people still place weights between the fingers of the deceased in order to cover travel expenses along the way.

Political-religious art

Artistic expression was conditioned by ideology, which mixed both religion and power; Many of the works that survived the conquest were public monuments. This type of art was made mainly to be seen, which was the key to the counting of time, the greatness of the city and the veneration of the gods. There is, in addition to this, another type of pre-Hispanic art that has to do with the hidden aspect; It differs from the first in that it cannot be observed but rather its value is in what it represents, for example, the clay vessels that were used in burials or the invisible faces of statues.

The art remained anonymous, since no signature of the person who made it was ever found; Furthermore, it was said that it was an abstract art, but not referring to the absence of figurative expression, but in the sense that it is disconnected from any naturalistic reference.

Apart from all this, pre-Cortesian art was also considered hyper-intellectual, capable of freeing itself from all realistic obligations. Continuing with this idea, two observations arise: the first refers to the austere image that archeology has designated it: usually there was a preference towards noble things, collection or hoarding objects; and the stones were considered perishable over time so they were not so appreciated, although while it is true the latter is essential for Mesoamerican ceremonial centers.

The complexity of the parallel developments of the various Mesoamerican peoples is a factor that has led specialists to consider the relevance of a single chronology for all of Mesoamerica. This complex reality, both in time and space, can shed some light on the diversity of chronologies that have appeared to diachronically address the future of Mesoamerican civilization.

The first attempts at periodization for the region appear in the 19th century, with the astonishment of American and European travelers at the forgotten remains of ancient Mesoamerican cities - especially those of the Mayan Area. The most common chronology for Mesoamerican history divides the pre-Columbian history of this region of the world into three major periods, the Preclassic, the Classic and the Postclassic. This periodization has been criticized by several authors,[36]​ especially because it has its origin in a analogy between the chronology used for Ancient Greece and the civilization process") that took place in Mesoamerica before the arrival of the Spanish.[37]​.

Despite criticism, the traditional periodization for Mesoamerica is widely used in academia, although the dates and characterizations of each of the three major periods can vary somewhat. Here the periodization that appears in The Historical Past, a work by Alfredo López Austin and Leonardo López Luján, has been chosen.[38] This chronology points to the development of the oldest ceramics as the initial milestone of the Mesoamerican civilization (century BC) and indicates as its conclusion the conquest of Middle America by the Spanish in the third decade of the century. It must be emphasized that the dates are approximate and cannot only be taken as an approximation. Each of the regions that constitute Mesoamerica and each of its peoples had a particular history whose specific processes could hardly be captured by a chronology, which is only an interpretive model.[39]​.

Preclassic Period

Mesoamerica begins a prolonged process of full sedentarization "Sedentaryism (prehistory)" starting in the century BC. C. (or approximately 4600 years ago), although agriculture - which was the basis of the economy of all Mesoamerican peoples and the main factor that favored their sedentary lifestyle - was discovered several millennia before.[40]​ The appearance of ceramics is taken as the beginning of Mesoamerican civilization, the oldest vestiges of which correspond to the finds of Puerto Marqués (on the coast of the state of Guerrero, century BC)[41]​ and the phase Purrón from the Tehuacán Valley (central Mexico, century BC).[42]​ These early testimonies of ceramic technology in Mesoamerica - which are also a source of controversy among specialists[43]​ - concentrated only in a few sites such as those indicated, have motivated among some authors the opinion that the appearance of these materials is probably due to a link between the peoples of the coast of Ecuador and the first Mesoamericans.[44]​.

According to the chronology adopted in this article, the period referred to is divided into three major stages: Early Preclassic (20th century - BC), Middle Preclassic (20th century - BC) and Late (20th century BC - AD).[45] During the first stage, the manufacture of ceramics became widespread throughout the region, the agriculture of corn and other vegetables was consolidated and a process of social stratification that concludes with the appearance of the first stratified societies on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific of Guatemala. In the early preclassic, the Capacha culture was an important driving force in the Mesoamerican civilizing process, and its pottery achieved wide diffusion.

Around the year 1500 BC. C., Western cultures entered a recessive phase, accompanied by their assimilation among the peoples who had maintained relations with them. In this way, Tlatilco emerged in the Valley of Mexico and the Olmec culture emerged in the Gulf. Tlatilco was one of the main Mesoamerican population centers of the time. It specialized in the exploitation of the resources of Lake Texcoco and corn agriculture. Some authors assume that Tlatilco was founded and inhabited by the ancestors of the current Otomi people. On the other hand, the Olmecs had entered an expansive phase, which led them to build the first works of monumental architecture in La Venta and San Lorenzo. The Olmecs exchanged tropical products from their nuclear area, and controlled the mineral deposits of Guerrero and Morelos, where they established several enclaves such as Teopantecuanitlán and Atlihuayán). Mogote. This last population ceded hegemony in the Oaxacan highlands to Monte Albán towards the end of the middle preclassic period. At that same time, in the Bajío "Bajío (Mexico)"), the Chupícuaro culture flourished, while in the Gulf, the Olmecs entered into decline.

Among the great cultural milestones that marked the Middle Preclassic period is the development of the first writing systems and vigesimal numbering in the Olmec nuclear area and Monte Albán. During this period, Mesoamerican societies were stratified societies. The links between the different centers of power had allowed the consolidation of regional elites that controlled the exploitation of resources and the work of the peasant classes. Social differentiation was based on the possession of certain technical knowledge, such as astronomy, writing, and commerce. Furthermore, in the Middle Preclassic, the urbanization process that defined classical societies began. Some population centers such as Tlatilco, Monte Albán and Cuicuilco would flourish in the last stage of the Preclassic, while the Olmec populations contracted and were no longer protagonists in the area.

Towards the end of the preclassical period, the political and commercial hegemony of the region moved to the population centers located in the Valley of Mexico. Around Lake Texcoco there were several villages that ended up becoming true cities, such as the aforementioned Tlatilco and Cuicuilco. The first was located on the northern shore of the lake, while the second was located on the slopes of the Ajusco mountain range. Tlatilco maintained strong relations with Western cultures, while Cuicuilco controlled trade with the Mayan Area, Oaxaca, and the Gulf Coast. The rivalry between the two would end with the decline of the first. On the other hand, in Monte Albán, in the Oaxacan area, the Zapotecs had begun a cultural development independent of the Olmecs, reworking the elements of that culture and acquiring their own characteristics. In the highlands of Guatemala, Kaminaljuyú also advanced in the direction of what would become the classic Mayan culture, although its links with the Center and the Gulf continued to set the guidelines for the beginnings of that culture. In all regions of Mesoamerica, with the exception of the West, where the tradition of the "Tombs of Tire" had taken root), the cities were enriched with monumental constructions carried out on urban plans that were surprising for their complexity. The circular pyramid of Cuicuilco, the central plaza of Monte Albán and the pyramid of the Moon in Teotihuacán date from this date.

Around year 0, Cuicuilco had disappeared, and hegemony in the basin of Mexico had passed to Teotihuacán. The first two centuries of the Christian era were the period in which the City of the Gods would consolidate itself as the largest city in ancient Mesoamerica and its main political, economic and cultural center in the following seven centuries.

For many years, the Olmec culture was considered the mother culture of Mesoamerica, due to the great influence it exerted throughout the region. However, from the most recent perspectives, this culture is considered more as a process to which all contemporary peoples contributed and that crystallized on the coasts of Veracruz and Tabasco. The ethnic identity of the Olmecs is still highly debated. Based on linguistic evidence, archaeologists and anthropologists are inclined to assume that they were a people speaking an Otomanguean language; or more probably, of the ancestors of the current Zoque people "Zoque (ethnicity)") who live in northern Chiapas and Oaxaca. According to this second hypothesis, the Zoquean groups would have migrated south after the ruin of the main population centers on the Gulf plain. Be that as it may, the bearers of the Olmec culture arrived in the lee about eight thousand years before Christ, introducing themselves like a wedge into the strip of proto-Mayan peoples that inhabited the coast, a fact that would explain the separation of the Huastecs "Huasteca (ethnicity)") of northern Veracruz from the rest of the Mayan peoples located in the Yucatan Peninsula and Guatemala.

The Olmec culture represents a milestone in Mesoamerican history, to the extent that several of the characteristics that define the region appear with this culture. Among others, we can mention the state organization, the development of the ritual calendar of 260 days and the "civil" calendar of 365, the first writing system, urban planning and the multiethnic character of its populations. The development of this culture begins around the century BC. C., although it was consolidated until the century BC. C. Its main sites were La Venta where the colossal heads were found, San Lorenzo and Tres Zapotes in the nuclear area. However, throughout Mesoamerica numerous sites present archaeological evidence of Olmec occupation, especially in the Balsas River basin, where Teopantecuanitlán is located. This site is extremely enigmatic, as it is dated several centuries before the main populations of the Gulf, a fact that has not ceased to cause controversy and the hypothesis that suggests that the origin of the Olmec culture occurred in this region.

Among the best-known cultural expressions of this culture are the colossal heads, sculpted on monoliths up to three meters high, weighing several tons. If we take into account that the sites where they were located are several tens of kilometers from the quarries where the basalt is obtained, and that the Mesoamerican peoples lacked iron tools, Olmec lapidary is a true feat. It is unknown what the function of these monuments was. Some authors propose that they were memorials to ball game players who had been exceptionally notable, or that they are portraits of members of the Olmec ruling elite. The Olmecs are also known for their small jade carvings (the most prized material in Mesoamerica), and other smaller basalt carvings. Both Olmec figurines and sculpture abound in representations of the jaguar-man, which according to José María Covarrubias, may be an antecedent of the cult of the rain deity, or perhaps he is an ancestor of the future Tezcatlipoca, in his dedication to Tepeyóllotl, the 'heart of the mountain'.

The reasons for the Olmec decline are unknown for certain. It is associated with political conflicts between the elites of the main centers of power, and with the invasion of other towns. As has been said, the Zoques could be descendants of the Olmecs, expelled from the nuclear area. However, it is not ruled out that some groups may have reached the Oaxaca Valley, the Mayan highlands or the central basin of Mexico, where they contributed to the development of the Zapotec and Mayan cultures, and to the heyday of Teotihuacán in the classic period.

Classic Period

The classical period of Mesoamerica covers the years 200 to 900 AD. C. The date of completion may vary in each region: for example, in Central Mexico it is related to the fall of the regional centers of the epiclassic period, around the year 900; in the Gulf, with the decline of El Tajín, in the year 800; in the Mayan area, with the abandonment of the highland cities in the century; and in Oaxaca, with the disappearance of Monte Albán around the year 850. Normally, the Mesoamerican classic is characterized as the stage in which the arts, science, urban planning, architecture and social organization reached their peak. This is true, but no less true is the fact that it was a time dominated by the presence of Teotihuacán throughout the region, and that competition between the different Mesoamerican states caused continuous wars.

This stage of Mesoamerican history is divided into two phases. The first is known as the Middle Classic, and covers the year 200 to 600 AD. C. The second is the Late Classic, which goes from 600 to 800/900 AD. C. The first stage was dominated by Teotihuacán. In fact, it begins with the expansionist policy of this city, which led it to control the main trade routes of Mesoamerica. During this time, the urbanization process that has its origins in the last two centuries of the early preclassic period is consolidated. The main centers of the time were Monte Albán, Tikal and Calakmul, and of course Teotihuacán, which concentrated 80% of the 200,000 inhabitants of the Texcoco Lake basin.

The cities of this stage are characterized by their cosmopolitan character, that is, by their multiethnic composition, which implied the coexistence in the same population center of several languages, cultural practices and people from the most diverse regions. Political alliances between regional elites intensified, almost all of them allied with Teotihuacán. Likewise, social differentiation became more evident, a small ruling class ruled over the majority of the population, which was obliged to pay taxes and participate in the construction of public works, such as irrigation systems, religious buildings, and communication routes. The growth of cities cannot be explained without the advancement of agricultural techniques and the intensification of trade networks that involved not only the peoples of Mesoamerica, but also the distant cultures of Oasis America.

The arts of Mesoamerica at this time reached some of their most refined peaks. Especially notable are the Mayan stelae, exquisite monuments commemorating events related to the lineages of the highland cities. In Teotihuacán, on the other hand, architecture made great advances: in this city the classic style of construction of pyramidal bases was defined, made up of slope-tablero units. The Teotihuacan architectural style was repeated and reworked in different cities throughout Mesoamerica, the clearest examples being the Zapotec capital of Monte Albán and the city of Tikal, in the Guatemalan Petén. Centuries later, long after the abandonment of Teotihuacán, the postclassic towns would follow the construction patterns of Teotihuacán, especially in Tollan-Xicocotitlan, Tenochtitlan and Chichén Itzá.

Classic Mayans

The Mayans were creators of one of the most well-known and studied Mesoamerican cultures. Some authors such as Michael D. Coe believe that the culture of the Mayans is completely different from the rest of the Mesoamerican peoples. However, many of the cultural elements present in the Mayans are common to the rest of Mesoamerica, such as the use of two calendars, vigesimal numbering, the cultivation of corn, human sacrifices and certain myths such as the Fifth Sun, or cults, such as that of the Feathered Serpent and the deity of rain, which in Mayan is called Chaac.

The beginnings of Mayan culture date back to the development of Kaminaljuyú, in the middle preclassic period. However, their most conspicuous features do not emerge until the first century of the Christian era, and they appear—according to some authors—as heirs of the Olmecs of the Gulf who had migrated to the highlands of Chiapas and Guatemala. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Mayans never formed a united state; rather, they were organized into small chiefdoms that waged war on each other. In fact, López Austin and López Luján point out that if something characterized the classic Mayans, it was their great bellicosity. They were probably a people with a greater warrior vocation than the Teotihuacans, and this would destroy the image of a peaceful society dedicated to religious contemplation that is commonly held of the Mayans. Of course, they practiced human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism, as confirmed by the murals of Bonampak, one of their most important cities in the classical period.

The appearance of the great Mayan cities was late compared to the rest of Mesoamerica. In contrast, the development of writing and the calendar were quite early, and some of the oldest memorials come from sites located in the region. A few years ago, archaeologists assumed that the Mayan archaeological zones had only served as ceremonial centers, and that the plain population lived in villages located around them. However, the most recent excavations indicate that the Mayan sites had urban services as complex as those of Teotihuacán (drainage, aqueducts, pavements). The construction of these sites was carried out on the basis of a highly stratified society, dominated by the priestly class, which at the same time was the political elite.

This elite controlled agriculture, which was practiced through the slash and burn system and, as in the rest of the Mesoamerican area, imposed taxes in kind and labor on the lowest strata of the population, which allowed sufficient resources to be concentrated for the construction of public monuments that legitimized the power and stratification of society. During the classic period, the Mayan political elite maintained strong ties with Teotihuacán. After the fall of Teotihuacán, Tikal also entered into recession, and its power passed into the hands of other cities located on the banks of the Usumacinta River, such as Piedras Negras, Palenque "Palenque (Mexico)"). However, something that contradicts the Teotihuacan military dominance in Tikal is the fact that the peak of construction in Tikal is after 700 AD. C., when Teotihuacán fell. Finally, it seems that the great drought that hit Central America in the century destroyed the Mayan political system, causing popular revolts and the overthrow of the dominant groups. Many cities were abandoned and were not heard from again until the 2nd century, when archaeological exploration intensified and, to a large extent, the descendants of the Mayans led American and European archaeologists to the cities that the jungle had swallowed.

Epiclassical Period

After the decline of Teotihuacán, strong political instability arose among the various societies of central Mexico, which were directly or indirectly controlled and influenced by Teotihucan. Between 650 and 1000 there was a period of transition of regional centers of power of a militaristic nature that dominated minor political entities and that consolidated the later characteristics of the Postclassic. In this period, some eminently hostile, militaristic societies were formed, breaking the stability imposed by the Teotihuacan hegemony with the result of important demographic movements in the region. In this period, cities such as Cacaxtla, Xochicalco, Tula Chico), Cantona and Cholula were developed.

Postclassic Period

The Postclassic period covers the period between the year 900 and the conquest of Mesoamerica by the Spanish, which occurred between 1521 and 1697. This is a period where military activity takes on great importance. The political elites associated with the priestly class were relieved of their position by the warrior groups. In turn, at least half a century before the arrival of the Spanish, the warriors were ceding their positions of privilege to a very powerful group that had nothing to do with the nobility structure, the pochtecas, merchants who gained great political power by virtue of their economic power.[46]​.

The postclassical period is divided into two parts. The first is the early postclassic, which spans the centuries to , and is characterized by the Toltec hegemony of Tollan-Xicocotitlan (Tula). The century marks the beginning of the late postclassic stage, which begins with the arrival of the Chichimec peoples, linguistically related to the Toltecs and the Mexica who came to settle in the Valley of Mexico in the year 1325, after a long pilgrimage of two centuries from Aztlán, a site whose precise location is unknown. Many of the social changes observed in this final period of Mesoamerican civilization are related to the migratory movements of northern peoples. These people came from Oasis America, Arid America and the northern part of Mesoamerica, pushed by a climate change that threatened their subsistence. The migrations of the northerners caused, in turn, the displacement of peoples settled for centuries in the Mesoamerican core area; some of them reached Central America.

There were numerous cultural changes that occurred at this time. One of them was the generalization of metallurgy, which was imported from South America, and whose oldest remains come, like those of ceramics, from the West. The knowledge of metals by the Mesoamerican peoples did not reach great development. Rather, their use was very limited (a few copper axes, needles, and especially body ornaments). The most refined techniques of Mesoamerican metallurgy were developed by the Mixtecs, who produced exquisitely crafted luxury items.

Architecture also saw notable advances. The use of architectural nails was introduced to support the coverings of the temples, the mortar "Mortar (construction)") was improved for construction, the use of stone columns and roofs was introduced, which had only been used in the Mayan area during the classic period.

In agriculture, irrigation systems became more complex; and in the Valley of Mexico, especially, the chinampas technique was taken to its maximum expression by the Mexica, who built a city of 200,000 inhabitants on them.

The political system also faced important transformations. During the early postclassic period, political elites with a warrior vocation legitimized themselves through their adherence to a complex of religious beliefs that López Austin calls "zuyuanidad." According to this, the ruling classes proclaimed themselves descendants of the Feathered Serpent, one of the creative powers and cultural hero in Mesoamerican mythology. Likewise, they declared themselves heirs of a no less mythical city, called Tollan in Nahua, and Zuyuá in Mayan (from which the complex described by López Austin takes its name). Many of the important capitals of the period were identified with this toponym (such as Tollan-Xicocotitlan, Tollan Chollollan, Tollan Teotihuacán).

The Mesoamericans invented different forms of writing, highlighting the glyphs of the Mixtecs and Nahuas, these represented ideas and things. They recorded dates, places, people, numbers and knowledge about man and nature. A more advanced writing was created by the Mayans, their glyphs represented words, sounds and numbers.

The Mesoamericans were great observers, they studied the stars and their movements, the sun and the seasons, the rainy season, the days, months and years in which astral events occurred, this allowed them to create two types of calendars: the solar and the Tonalpohualli. The Mayans created the Dresden Codex, written in the 17th century, it is the most important astronomical book surviving from the Mesoamerican culture.

They cultivated sciences such as medicine, botany, zoology, mathematics, geography, astronomy and ecology. They developed skills in crafts such as goldsmithing.

But the most important legacy that the Mesoamerican cultures left to humanity were perhaps their agro-gastronomic traditions: the cultivation and use of corn, tomatoes, beans, pumpkins, chili, cocoa, avocado, amaranth and other products that the entire world knows today.

The Mesoamericans discovered many healing plants that are still used today. This part of medicine is called herbalism.

In crafts, the fabrics and embroidery used to decorate dresses are distinguished today; and, still today, we can find hats, bags and rugs that are woven with palm and henequen branches.

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• - López Austin, Alfredo; and López Luján, Leonardo (2001): The indigenous past. Mexico City: The College of Mexico. ISBN 968-16-4890-0.

• - Manzanilla, Linda, and López Luján, Leonardo (1989): Historical Atlas of Mesoamerica. Mexico City: Larousse.

• - Mac Neish, Robert S. (1967): «A summary of the subsistence», in S. Byers (ed.), The Prehistory of the Tehuacán Valley, volume 1: «Environment and subsistence», pp. 290-309. Austin (Texas): University of Texas Press.

• - Miller, Mary Ellen (2001). The art of Mesoamerica. Barcelona (Spain): Destination (The world of art collection). ISBN 84-233-3095-8.

• - Nalda, Enrique (1981): Mexico. A town in History, volume I. Puebla de Zaragoza (Mexico): UAP-Nueva Imagen.

• - Niederberger, Christine (2005): [ «Mesoamerican societies: ancient civilizations and their birth»], in Rojas Rabiela, Teresa (dir.): The original societies, Unesco Collection on the History of Latin America.

• - Paddock, John (1970): Ancient Oaxaca. Discoveries in Mexican Archeology and History. Palo Alto (California): Stanford University Press.

• - Palerm, Ángel (1972): Agriculture and civilization in Mesoamerica. Mexico: Ministry of Public Education. ISBN 968-13-0994-4.

• - Piña Chan, Román (1976): A model of social and cultural evolution of pre-Columbian Mexico. Mexico: Department of Pre-Hispanic Monuments of the INAH, Archeology Series 2.

• - Ramírez, Felipe (2009): «The Central Highlands, from the Preclassic to the Epiclassic». In Pablo Escalante Gonzalbo (coordinator): Ancient Mexico. From Tehuantepec to Baja California. Economic Research and Teaching Center-Economic Culture Fund/Volume I/Cap. 2/Mexico.

• - Taube, Karl (2007). "Jadeite and the worldview of the Olmecs", in Mexican Archaeology, XV (87): pp. 43-48. Mexico City: Roots.

• - Wolf, Eric Robert (1959): Sons of the shaking Earth. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

• - Portal:Mesoamerica. Content related to Mesoamerica.

• - Conference - The notion of Mesoamerica, an epistemological impediment of Mexican anthropology, Dr Jesús Jáuregui.

• - National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico).

• - National Institute of Anthropology and History (Mexico).

• - National Archeology Foundation of El Salvador. Archived March 4, 2016 at the Wayback Machine.

• - [Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History.].

• - National Museum of Costa Rica.

• - Select bibliography on the war in Mesoamerica.

• - Academic texts on war and metallurgy in Mesoamerica.