87
votes
Did Aztecs know how many continents there are on earth?
Do you know how many continents there are on Earth? (I don't!) Is Europe a separate continent from Asia? Is Australia the biggest island or the smallest continent? Is Antarctica an ice-locked ...
- 8,170
31
votes
Accepted
Did Aztecs know how many continents there are on earth?
I was hoping that someone with better resources on Aztec mythology would speak up, but in absence of that, I'll tell you what I found looking into this online. Chief among it was that I could find ...
- 122k
16
votes
Why did Pre-Columbian Americans not build city walls?
The implication of the question is that Meso-American cultures didn't employ any architectural defenses ("walls"). I don't think that's true at all.
Below is a pictoral recreation of Cahokia. That ...
- 122k
14
votes
Accepted
What is this tool/thing in an Aztec painting?
It's cuitlatl, a symbol of excrement, sin, perhaps fire.
We see plate 57 from the Codex Borgia. It depicts Tlazolteotl goddess of earth and filth, here as a moon goddess and goddess of pulque, ...
- 80.8k
14
votes
What was the first instance of Native Americans using gunpowder weapons in battle and did they ever make their own powder?
Chichimec war 1550/1600
According to the book American Indian Quarterly published by University of Nebraska Press, gunpowder weapons were first used by native americans during the Chichimec war which ...
- 3,142
9
votes
Has there been significant progress in our knowledge of the Aztecs and/or Maya since the '60s?
Any source prior to the 2015 discovery of tzompantli towers in Mexico City will likely understate the scope of ritual execution engaged in by the Aztecs:
Some conquistadors wrote about the tzompantli ...
- 72.5k
8
votes
Given that there were there larger, more organised civilisations in South America compared to NA, why did they not colonise North America themselves?
It wasn't worth the effort
This comes close to the question why the Roman Empire didn't take over Ireland or Germany: there was nothing there that warranted the effort; the costs would be prohibitive. ...
- 22.7k
8
votes
Why did Pre-Columbian Americans not build city walls?
I believe many did.
Hopewell (mound builders) :
This Hopewell mound in Newark Ohio looks an awe-full lot like a circular wall with a gate in the upper left hand corner.
regarding the Inca, these look ...
- 702
8
votes
Was there contact between the Inca, Maya and Aztecs?
Aztecs did know about Mayas but the Mayan civilization was already dead. But of course, they did traded with its descendants - even prehistoric men traded with their neighbours.
And no direct contacts ...
- 7,275
8
votes
Accepted
What events led to the Aztecs and Mayans adopting cocoa beans as a currency?
It's a stretch to say that the barter economy was "replaced" with a "cocoa bean economy". However, cocoa beans were certainly an important trade item, and appear to have taken on ...
- 23.1k
7
votes
Was there contact between the Inca, Maya and Aztecs?
This article on Pre-Columbian Trade by Chester S. Chard would suggest they did. For instance:
There is no evidence that Maya traders themselves reached the highlands of Mexico; they traded their ...
5
votes
What were the major ethnic / cultural / politcal divisions of pre-conquest Mesoamerica?
The Mexica
The epicenter of Mesoamerica was the "The Triple Alliance", this was dominated by the ruling tribe, the Mexica (the people from Aztlan- Aztec). Note: They weren't actually the Aztecs.
...
- 169
5
votes
What does this image symbolize or mean and who is in the image?
These are a reconstruction and indeed to be found in the Codex Borgia family of codices (original plate 59) and are now commonly described as:
[…] Plate 59: Page 2 of the numerological marriage ...
- 80.8k
5
votes
Given that there were there larger, more organised civilisations in South America compared to NA, why did they not colonise North America themselves?
'Why didn't X happen?' questions are inherently speculative, so in that spirit, here's my wild, uninformed speculations...
Logistics
For Central American states, invading North America would mean ...
- 919
4
votes
What was the first instance of Native Americans using gunpowder weapons in battle and did they ever make their own powder?
In what became the USA, the Dutch West India Company began trading in what became New York State, building fort and trading post in 1614 at what became Albany. The Dutch traded with the Iroquois for ...
- 19.4k
3
votes
Is there any documentation that indicates the Aztecs were as violent as they are made out?
While, as the other answer says Mesoamerican civilizations did not shed much more blood than European ones, they did it in a different way.
Aztecs sacrificed random people, Europeans executed ...
- 27k
2
votes
Why were the Maya's cities abandoned?
It appears that the real demise of the Mayan Empire was a number of factors, including drought, warfare, and disease. NASA archaeologist Tom Sever used satellite images combined with archeological ...
- 6,267
2
votes
Accepted
Were pre-columbian peoples aware of "America" as a three parts continent?
The answer is Yes.
One example would be the Chimu civilization (circa 900 CE–1470 CE), a civilization predating the height of the Inca Empire and centered further north had extensive, durable contacts ...
- 2,729
1
vote
What was the first instance of Native Americans using gunpowder weapons in battle and did they ever make their own powder?
I understand that one of the first instances where indigenous peoples used firearms (at least in South America) was in 1558 during the battle of Quiapo, where a Mapuche army of 6,000 warriors had ...
1
vote
Accepted
Why was it Spain, not Tlaxcala, that dominated over Mesoamerica despite the Tlaxcaltecs being the major force in the conquest of Tenochtitlan?
When Cortez was fighting the Aztecs, there was a rough, three way balance of power, between the Aztecs, the Tlaxcalans, and the Spaniards. The Aztecs lost because they were on the wrong "side" of a ...
- 104k
1
vote
Was there contact between the Inca, Maya and Aztecs?
The Aztecs and the Mayas did know about each other. After all, they were right next to each other. But I don't think there is any evidence that one of those two civilizations met the Incas. Probably ...
1
vote
Did Cahokia have any communication with Mexica or Mayan civilization?
A fair number of Mississippian/Cahokian archaeologists will whisper an acknowledgement that there were likely ties over drinks. Such speculation was taboo among the old guard professors. Recently, ...
- 11
1
vote
Did Cahokia have any communication with Mexica or Mayan civilization?
As a one time interpretive guide at the Gila national monument in New Mex, a puebloan, Mimbres cliff community, I was able to pick up a few 'trade secrets', as it were. Its pretty much confirmed that ...
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