Mesoamerica

• Mesoamerica refers to the diverse civilizations that shared similar cultural characteristics in the geographic areas comprising the modern-day countries of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
• Mesoamerica, particularly the Valley of Mexico, was the heartland for the earliest of civilizations in the Americas.
• The domestication of maize, beans, squash and chili, as well as the turkey and dog, caused a transition from Paleo-Indian hunter-gatherer tribal grouping to the organization of sedentary agricultural villages.
• The Maya often decorated their buildings with intricate stone carvings, stucco statues, and paint.
• The Maya were an advanced society that flourished in Mesoamerica long before the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century.
• The Maya were skilled architects, building great cities of stone that remain even a thousand years after their civilization fell into decline.
• The larger masonry structures are the most commonly remembered and explored examples of Mayan architecture, which include public buildings, palaces, temples, and ball courts.
• In the succeeding formative period, agriculture and cultural traits such as a complex mythological and religious tradition, a vigesimal numeric system, and a complex calendric system, a tradition of ball playing, and a distinct architectural style, were diffused through the area.
• While Mesoamerican civilization did not know of the wheel and basic metallurgy, neither of these technologies became culturally important.
• The Maya civilization was responsible for a number of remarkable scientific achievements in astronomy, architecture and engineering, agriculture, mathematics and communications.
• The ancient Maya were keen astronomers and they believed that the will and actions of the gods could be read in the stars, moon, and planets; many of their most important buildings were built with astronomy in mind.
• The Mayans believed that the Earth is at the center of all celestial bodies and that the sun, the moon and the stars moved around it.
• The mita was the leader of the tax inspectors.
• The Inca had mailmen who were runners that had to run and had no weapons for safety.
• Roads and bridges allowed horses to easily cross the Andes Mountains for the first time.
• Hiram Bingham discovered the ancient city of Machu Picchu in 1912.
• The Incas sacrificed llamas, clothes, and food instead of humans.
• The Inca built an advanced network of roads for communication, allowing commoners to travel, transporting goods, and moving army troops.
• Quechua is the writing language of the Inca.
• The Inca are remembered as fine stoneworkers because they were the first to use cement.
• The construction of roads and bridges provided important jobs for the empire's citizens.
• Originally, the Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro only wanted to convert the Incas to Christianity.
• Most of the Inca Empire was found in Peru in the modern day.
• Roads and bridges were important to the Inca empire as they made it easier for messengers, soldiers, and tradesmen to move across large areas.
• The Incas believed in a single god, Inti, the sun god.
• The Incas established a system of relay messengers to convey important information throughout the empire.
• One of the most important medical advances developed by the Inca was the use of herbs to battle hormonal imbalances.
• Atahualpa was executed on August 29, 1533.
• Manco Inca, brother of Atahualpa, was named as the new Sapa Inca by the Spaniards.
• Atahualpa knew then that their visit was not peaceful and that the Spaniards were after gold and silver.
• Manco Inca had the support of the nobility in Cusco and served as a puppet to capture the Inca capital city.
• Atahualpa was never let go and was charged of treason and crimes against the Spanish state.
• Atahualpa offered two full rooms of silver and one of gold as payment for his freedom.
• Francisco Pizarro, a Spanish conquistador, is best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of Peru.
• After the capture of Cajamarca and with no Inca resistance, the conquerors made their way south to capture the capital of the empire, Cusco.
• The Inca Empire was a large, powerful, and sophisticated ancient civilization despite the challenges it faced, such as the difficult geography, large population, and communication issues.
• The Inca Empire was eventually conquered by the Spanish, but its legacy - in ruins, in artifacts, and in descendants - still lives today.
• Manco Inca collaborated with the Spaniards but in 1536 he tried to recapture Cusco but failed, retreating to the mountains of Vilcabamba where he created a neo-Inca government that lasted for 36 years.
• Mach’acuay was said to oversee all snakes on Earth.
• Mach’acuay emerges head-first in August and begins to set in February, which matches the activity of real snakes in the Andes.