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252-453: The Aztecs ( / ˈ æ z t ɛ k s / AZ -teks ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico , particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to the 16th centuries. Aztec culture
504-508: A pantheon (featuring Tezcatlipoca , Tlaloc , and Quetzalcoatl ), and the calendric system of a xiuhpohualli of 365 days intercalated with a tonalpohualli of 260 days. Particular to the Mexica of Tenochtitlan was the patron god Huitzilopochtli , twin pyramids , and the ceramic styles known as Aztec I to IV. From the 13th century, the Valley of Mexico was the heart of dense population and
756-551: A Chiapas independent of Mexico and some favored unification with Guatemala. Elites in highland cities pushed for incorporation into Mexico. In 1822, then-Emperor Agustín de Iturbide decreed that Chiapas was part of Mexico. In 1823, the Junta General de Gobierno was held and Chiapas declared independence again. In July 1824, the Soconusco District of southwestern Chiapas split off from Chiapas, announcing that it would join
1008-672: A cave in Oaxaca. Earlier maize samples have been documented at the Los Ladrones cave site in Panama , c. 5500 BCE. Slightly thereafter, semi- agrarian communities began to cultivate other crops throughout Mesoamerica. Maize was the most common domesticate, but the common bean, tepary bean, scarlet runner bean, jicama , tomato and squash all became common cultivates by 3500 BCE. At the same time, these communities exploited cotton , yucca , and agave for fibers and textile materials. By 2000 BCE, corn
1260-402: A complex combination of ecological systems, topographic zones, and environmental contexts. These different niches are classified into two broad categories: the lowlands (those areas between sea level and 1000 meters) and the altiplanos , or highlands (situated between 1,000 and 2,000 meters above sea level). In the low-lying regions, sub-tropical and tropical climates are most common, as
1512-572: A convergence of geographic and cultural attributes. These sub-regions are more conceptual than culturally meaningful, and the demarcation of their limits is not rigid. The Maya area, for example, can be divided into two general groups: the lowlands and highlands. The lowlands are further divided into the southern and northern Maya lowlands. The southern Maya lowlands are generally regarded as encompassing northern Guatemala , southern Campeche and Quintana Roo in Mexico, and Belize . The northern lowlands cover
1764-517: A form of tribute and way of locking in a labor supply for tax payments. The conquistadors brought previously unknown diseases. This, as well as overwork on plantations, dramatically decreased the indigenous population. The Spanish also established missions, mostly under the Dominicans , with the Diocese of Chiapas established in 1538 by Pope Paul III . The Dominican evangelizers became early advocates of
2016-505: A gender hierarchy, but of gender complementarity, with gender roles being separate but equal. Among the nobles, marriage alliances were often used as a political strategy with lesser nobles marrying daughters from more prestigious lineages whose status was then inherited by their children. Nobles were also often polygamous, with lords having many wives. Polygamy was not very common among the commoners and some sources describe it as being prohibited. The main unit of Aztec political organization
2268-458: A hereditary leader ( tlatoani ) from a legitimate noble dynasty. The Early Aztec period was a time of growth and competition among altepetl . Even after the confederation of the Triple Alliance was formed in 1427 and began its expansion through conquest, the altepetl remained the dominant form of organization at the local level. The efficient role of the altepetl as a regional political unit
2520-539: A larger area in the Americas, but it has also previously been used more narrowly to refer to Mesoamerica. An example is the title of the 16 volumes of The Handbook of Middle American Indians . "Mesoamerica" is broadly defined as the area that is home to the Mesoamerican civilization, which comprises a group of peoples with close cultural and historical ties. The exact geographic extent of Mesoamerica has varied through time, as
2772-534: A major uprising of the Mexica against the Spanish. During the fighting, Moctezuma was killed, either by the Spaniards who killed him as they fled the city, or by the Mexica themselves who considered him a traitor. Cuitláhuac , a kinsman and adviser to Moctezuma, succeeded him as tlatoani, mounting the defense of Tenochtitlan against the Spanish invaders and their indigenous allies. He ruled for only 80 days, perhaps dying in
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#17328371084913024-534: A million from El Salvador alone. The Mexican government resisted direct international intervention in the camps, but eventually relented somewhat because of finances. By 1984, there were 92 camps with 46,000 refugees in Chiapas, concentrated in three areas, mostly near the Guatemalan border. To make matters worse, the Guatemalan army conducted raids into camps on Mexican territories with significant casualties, terrifying
3276-413: A more active role in the state's politics. However, it did not solve the economic issues that many peasant farmers face, especially the lack of land to cultivate. This problem has been at crisis proportions since the 1970s, and the government's reaction has been to encourage peasant farmers—mostly indigenous—to migrate into the sparsely populated Lacandon Jungle, a trend since earlier in the century. From
3528-469: A much more direct approach to conquest and control was taken. Such strategic provinces were often exempt from taxation. The Aztecs even invested in those areas, by maintaining a permanent military presence, installing puppet rulers, or even moving entire populations from the center to maintain a loyal base of support. In this way, the Aztec system of government distinguished between different strategies of control in
3780-477: A mythical place of origin for several ethnic groups in central Mexico. The term was not used as an endonym by the Aztecs themselves, but it is found in the different migration accounts of the Mexica, where it describes the different tribes who left Aztlan together. In one account of the journey from Aztlan, Huitzilopochtli , the tutelary deity of the Mexica tribe, tells his followers on the journey that "now, no longer
4032-535: A network of trade routes for the exchange of luxury goods, such as obsidian , jade , cacao , cinnabar , Spondylus shells, hematite , and ceramics. While Mesoamerican civilization knew of the wheel and basic metallurgy , neither of these became technologically relevant. Among the earliest complex civilizations was the Olmec culture, which inhabited the Gulf Coast of Mexico and extended inland and southwards across
4284-703: A period commonly known as the Tikal Hiatus . The Late Classic period (beginning c. 600 CE until 909 CE) is characterized as a period of interregional competition and factionalization among the numerous regional polities in the Maya area. This largely resulted from the decrease in Tikal's socio-political and economic power at the beginning of the period. It was therefore during this time that other sites rose to regional prominence and were able to exert greater interregional influence, including Caracol, Copán , Palenque , and Calakmul (which
4536-651: A political crisis after the royal government collapsed in Mexico City in 1821, ending the Mexican War of Independence . During this war, a group of influential Chiapas merchants and ranchers sought the establishment of the Free State of Chiapas. This group became known as the La Familia Chiapaneca . However, this alliance did not last with the lowlands preferring inclusion among the new republics of Central America and
4788-591: A politically destabilized Chiapas. Although Mexico is not a signatory to the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees , international pressure forced the government to grant official protection to at least some of the refugees. Camps were established in Chiapas and other southern states, and mostly housed Mayan peoples . However, most Central American refugees from that time never received any official status, estimated by church and charity groups at about half
5040-823: A portion of the Sierra Madre chain is known as the Eje Volcánico Transversal , or the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt. There are 83 inactive and active volcanoes within the Sierra Madre range, including 11 in Mexico, 37 in Guatemala, 23 in El Salvador, 25 in Nicaragua, and 3 in northwestern Costa Rica. According to the Michigan Technological University, 16 of these are still active. The tallest active volcano
5292-692: A regionally important center during the Postclassic. The latter portion of the Postclassic is generally associated with the rise of the Mexica and the Aztec Empire . One of the more commonly known cultural groups in Mesoamerica, the Aztec politically dominated nearly all of central Mexico, the Gulf Coast, Mexico's southern Pacific Coast (Chiapas and into Guatemala), Oaxaca, and Guerrero . The Tarascans (also known as
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#17328371084915544-494: A small rabbit was worth 30 beans, a turkey egg cost three beans, and a tamal cost a single bean. For larger purchases, standardized lengths of cotton cloth, called quachtli , were used. There were different grades of quachtli, ranging in value from 65 to 300 cacao beans. About 20 quachtli could support a commoner for one year in Tenochtitlan. Another form of distribution of goods was through the payment of taxes . When an altepetl
5796-536: A small ragtag army overwhelmingly defeated the army helped by chamulas from San Cristóbal. There were three years of peace after that until troops allied with the "First Chief" of the revolutionary Constitutionalist forces, Venustiano Carranza , entered in 1914 taking over the government, with the aim of imposing the Ley de Obreros (Workers' Law) to address injustices against the state's mostly indigenous workers. Conservatives responded violently months later when they were certain
6048-410: A smallpox epidemic, although early sources do not give the cause. He was succeeded by Cuauhtémoc , the last independent Mexica tlatoani, who continued the fierce defense of Tenochtitlan. The Aztecs were weakened by disease, and the Spanish enlisted tens of thousands of Indian allies, especially Tlaxcalans , for the assault on Tenochtitlan. After the siege and destruction of the Aztec capital, Cuauhtémoc
6300-428: A source of bronze tools and jewelry. On the negative side, imperial taxes imposed a burden on commoner households, who had to increase their work to pay their share of taxes. Nobles, on the other hand, often made out well under the imperial rule because of the indirect nature of imperial organization. The empire had to rely on local kings and nobles and offered them privileges for their help in maintaining order and keeping
6552-405: A strict sumptuary code limiting the types of luxury goods that could be consumed by commoners. In 1517, Moctezuma received the first news of ships with strange warriors having landed on the Gulf Coast near Cempoallan and he dispatched messengers to greet them and find out what was happening, and he ordered his subjects in the area to keep him informed of any new arrivals. In 1519, he was informed of
6804-551: A successful coronation campaign far south of Tenochtitlan against the Zapotecs in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec . Axayacatl also conquered the independent Mexica city of Tlatelolco, located on the northern part of the island where Tenochtitlan was also located. The Tlatelolco ruler Moquihuix was married to Axayacatl's sister, and his alleged mistreatment of her was used as an excuse to incorporate Tlatelolco and its important market directly under
7056-557: A syncretic form of Catholicism and indigenous beliefs. This split had existed in Chiapas since the 1970s, with the latter group supported by the caciques and others in the traditional power-structure. Protestants and Word of God Catholics (allied directly with the bishopric in San Cristóbal ) tended to oppose traditional power structures. The Bishop of Chiapas, Samuel Ruiz , and the Diocese of Chiapas reacted by offering to mediate between
7308-484: A system that collected human waste for use as fertilizer. Through intensive agriculture, the Aztecs were able to sustain a large urbanized population. The lake was also a rich source of proteins in the form of aquatic animals such as fish, amphibians, shrimp, insects and insect eggs, and waterfowl. The presence of such varied sources of protein meant that there was little use for domestic animals for meat (only turkeys and dogs were kept), and scholars have calculated that there
7560-480: A technological departure from previous construction techniques. Major Puuc sites include Uxmal , Sayil , Labna , Kabah , and Oxkintok . While generally concentrated within the area in and around the Puuc hills , the style has been documented as far away as at Chichen Itza to the east and Edzna to the south. Chichén Itzá was originally thought to have been a Postclassic site in the northern Maya lowlands. Research over
7812-553: A typical altepetl had from 10,000 to 15,000 inhabitants, and covered an area between 70 and 100 square kilometers (27 and 39 sq mi). In the Morelos Valley, altepetl sizes were somewhat smaller. Smith argues that the altepetl was primarily a political unit, made up of the population with allegiance to a lord, rather than as a territorial unit. He makes this distinction because in some areas minor settlements with different altepetl allegiances were interspersed. The Aztec Empire
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8064-515: A war against the Acolhua of Texcoco and killed their ruler Ixtlilxochitl . Even though Ixtlilxochitl was married to Chimalpopoca's daughter, the Mexica ruler continued to support Tezozomoc. Tezozomoc died in 1426, and his sons began a struggle for the rulership of Azcapotzalco. During this power struggle, Chimalpopoca died, probably killed by Tezozomoc's son Maxtla who saw him as a competitor. Itzcoatl , brother of Huitzilihhuitl and uncle of Chimalpopoca,
8316-441: A wave of Spanish and mestizo farmers who migrated to the state and added to the elite group of wealthy landowning families. There was some technological progress such as a highway from San Cristóbal to the Oaxaca border and the first telephone line in the 1880s, but Porfirian era economic reforms would not begin until 1891 with Governor Emilio Rabasa . This governor took on the local and regional caciques and centralized power into
8568-488: A way to distinguish present-day Mexicans from pre-conquest Mexicans. This usage has been the subject of debate in more recent years, but the term "Aztec" is still more common. Knowledge of Aztec society rests on several different sources: The many archeological remains of everything from temple pyramids to thatched huts can be used to understand many of the aspects of what the Aztec world was like. However, archeologists often must rely on knowledge from other sources to interpret
8820-622: A weekly market (every five days), while larger cities held markets every day. Cortés reported that the central market of Tlatelolco, Tenochtitlan's sister city, was visited by 60,000 people daily. Some sellers in the markets were petty vendors; farmers might sell some of their produce, potters sold their vessels, and so on. Other vendors were professional merchants who traveled from market to market seeking profits. The pochteca were specialized long-distance merchants organized into exclusive guilds . They made long expeditions to all parts of Mesoamerica bringing back exotic luxury goods, and they served as
9072-471: A year at differing times. Archaeological excavations in the Aztec-ruled provinces show that incorporation into the empire had both costs and benefits for provincial peoples. On the positive side, the empire promoted commerce and trade, and exotic goods from obsidian to bronze managed to reach the houses of both commoners and nobles. Trade partners also included the enemy Purépecha (also known as Tarascans),
9324-605: Is Popocatépetl at 5,452 m (17,887 ft). This volcano, which retains its Nahuatl name, is located 70 km (43 mi) southeast of Mexico City. Other volcanoes of note include Tacana on the Mexico–Guatemala border, Tajumulco and Santamaría in Guatemala, Izalco in El Salvador, Arenal in Costa Rica, and Concepción and Maderas on Ometepe , which is an island formed by both volcanoes rising out of Lake Cocibolca in Nicaragua. One important topographic feature
9576-449: Is Tuxtla Gutiérrez . Other important population centers in Chiapas include Ocosingo , Tapachula , San Cristóbal de las Casas , Comitán , and Arriaga . Chiapas is the southernmost state in Mexico, and it borders the states of Oaxaca to the west, Veracruz to the northwest, and Tabasco to the north, and the Petén , Quiché , Huehuetenango , and San Marcos departments of Guatemala to
9828-475: Is a list of some of the specialized resources traded from the various Mesoamerican sub-regions and environmental contexts: Mesoamerican architecture is the collective name given to urban, ceremonial and public structures built by pre-Columbian civilizations in Mesoamerica. Although very different in styles, all kinds of Mesoamerican architecture show some kind of interrelation, due to very significant cultural exchanges that occurred during thousands of years. Among
10080-420: Is also one of only five regions of the world where writing is known to have independently developed (the others being ancient Egypt , India , Sumer , and China ). Beginning as early as 7000 BCE, the domestication of cacao , maize , beans , tomato , avocado , vanilla , squash and chili , as well as the turkey and dog , resulted in a transition from paleo-Indian hunter-gatherer tribal groupings to
10332-619: Is another Classic-period polity that expanded and flourished during this period, but the Zapotec capital exerted less interregional influence than the other two sites. During the Early Classic, Teotihuacan participated in and perhaps dominated a far-reaching macro-regional interaction network. Architectural and artifact styles (talud-tablero, tripod slab-footed ceramic vessels) epitomized at Teotihuacan were mimicked and adopted at many distant settlements. Pachuca obsidian, whose trade and distribution
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10584-453: Is argued to have been economically controlled by Teotihuacan, is found throughout Mesoamerica. Tikal came to dominate much of the southern Maya lowlands politically, economically, and militarily during the Early Classic. An exchange network centered at Tikal distributed a variety of goods and commodities throughout southeast Mesoamerica, such as obsidian imported from central Mexico (e.g., Pachuca) and highland Guatemala (e.g., El Chayal , which
10836-451: Is defined by a mosaic of cultural traits developed and shared by its indigenous cultures. In the pre-Columbian era , many indigenous societies flourished in Mesoamerica for more than 3,000 years before the Spanish colonization of the Americas began on Hispaniola in 1493. In world history, Mesoamerica was the site of two historical transformations: (i) primary urban generation, and (ii)
11088-455: Is home to the ancient Mayan ruins of Palenque , Yaxchilán , Bonampak , Lacanha , Chinkultic , El Lagartero and Toniná . It is also home to one of the largest indigenous populations in the country, with twelve federally recognized ethnicities. The official name of the state is Chiapas, which is believed to have come from the ancient city of Chiapan, which in Náhuatl means "the place where
11340-521: Is known that most of Chiapas was not Olmec, but had close relations with them, especially the Olmecs of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec . Olmec-influenced sculpture can be found in Chiapas and products from the state including amber , magnetite , and ilmenite were exported to Olmec lands. The Olmecs came to what is now the northwest of the state looking for amber with one of the main pieces of evidence for this called
11592-449: Is marked by the rise and dominance of several polities. The traditional distinction between the Early and Late Classic is marked by their changing fortune and their ability to maintain regional primacy. Of paramount importance are Teotihuacán in central Mexico and Tikal in Guatemala; the Early Classic's temporal limits generally correlate to the main periods of these sites. Monte Albán in Oaxaca
11844-409: Is not known what ended the civilization but theories range from over population size, natural disasters, disease, and loss of natural resources through over exploitation or climate change. Nearly all Mayan cities collapsed around the same time, 900 CE. From then until 1500 CE , social organization of the region fragmented into much smaller units and social structure became much less complex. There
12096-404: Is often known as the "Aztec Empire". The usage of the term "Aztec" in describing the empire centered in Tenochtitlan has been criticized by Robert H. Barlow , who preferred the term "Culhua-Mexica", and by Pedro Carrasco, who prefers the term "Tenochca empire". Carrasco writes about the term "Aztec" that "it is of no use for understanding the ethnic complexity of ancient Mexico and for identifying
12348-456: Is often narrowly restricted to the Mexica of Tenochtitlan, it is also broadly used to refer to Nahua polities or peoples of central Mexico in the prehispanic era , as well as the Spanish colonial era (1521–1821). The definitions of Aztec and Aztecs have long been the topic of scholarly discussion ever since German scientist Alexander von Humboldt established its common usage in the early 19th century. Most ethnic groups of central Mexico in
12600-696: Is one notable difference between Mesoamerica and the cultures of the South American Andes. Other animals, including the duck , dogs , and turkey , were domesticated . Turkey was the first to be domesticated locally, around 3500 BCE. Dogs were the primary source of animal protein in ancient Mesoamerica, and dog bones are common in midden deposits throughout the region. Societies of this region did hunt certain wild species for food. These animals included deer, rabbit , birds, and various types of insects. They also hunted for luxury items, such as feline fur and bird plumage. Mesoamerican cultures that lived in
12852-462: Is possible to talk about an "Aztec civilization" including all the particular cultural patterns common for most of the peoples inhabiting central Mexico in the late postclassic period. Such usage may also extend the term "Aztec" to all the groups in Central Mexico that were incorporated culturally or politically into the sphere of dominance of the Aztec empire. When used to describe ethnic groups ,
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#173283710849113104-401: Is roughly 200 km (120 mi). The northern side of the Isthmus is swampy and covered in dense jungle—but the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, as the lowest and most level point within the Sierra Madre mountain chain, was nonetheless a main transportation, communication, and economic route within Mesoamerica. Outside of the northern Maya lowlands, rivers are common throughout Mesoamerica. Some of
13356-568: Is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec , a low plateau that breaks up the Sierra Madre chain between the Sierra Madre del Sur to the north and the Sierra Madre de Chiapas to the south. At its highest point, the Isthmus is 224 m (735 ft) above mean sea level. This area also represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean in Mexico. The distance between the two coasts
13608-413: Is the cultures and customs of the contemporary Nahuatl speakers who can often provide insights into what prehispanic ways of life may have been like. Scholarly study of Aztec civilization is most often based on scientific and multidisciplinary methodologies, combining archeological knowledge with ethnohistorical and ethnographic information. It is a matter of debate whether the enormous city of Teotihuacan
13860-590: Is the largest lake in Mesoamerica. Lake Chapala is Mexico's largest freshwater lake, but Lake Texcoco is perhaps most well known as the location upon which Tenochtitlan , capital of the Aztec Empire, was founded. Lake Petén Itzá , in northern Guatemala, is notable as where the last independent Maya city, Tayasal (or Noh Petén), held out against the Spanish until 1697. Other large lakes include Lake Atitlán , Lake Izabal , Lake Güija , Lemoa and Lake Xolotlan . Almost all ecosystems are present in Mesoamerica;
14112-572: Is true for most of the coastline along the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea . The highlands show much more climatic diversity, ranging from dry tropical to cold mountainous climates ; the dominant climate is temperate with warm temperatures and moderate rainfall. The rainfall varies from the dry Oaxaca and north Yucatán to the humid southern Pacific and Caribbean lowlands. Several distinct sub-regions within Mesoamerica are defined by
14364-517: Is usually given as 1325. In 1376 the Mexica royal dynasty was founded when Acamapichtli , son of a Mexica father and a Colhua mother, was elected as the first Huey Tlatoani of Tenochtitlan. In the first 50 years after the founding of the Mexica dynasty, the Mexica were a tributary of Azcapotzalco, which had become a major regional power under the ruler Tezozomoc . The Mexica supplied the Tepaneca with warriors for their successful conquest campaigns in
14616-566: Is your name Azteca, you are now Mexitin [Mexica]". In today's usage, the term "Aztec" often refers exclusively to the Mexica people of Tenochtitlan (now the location of Mexico City), situated on an island in Lake Texcoco , who referred to themselves as Mēxihcah ( Nahuatl pronunciation: [meːˈʃiʔkaʔ] , a tribal designation that included the Tlatelolco ), Tenochcah ( Nahuatl pronunciation: [teˈnot͡ʃkaʔ] , referring only to
14868-619: The encomienda system, the Aztec education system was abolished and replaced by a very limited church education, and Aztec religious practices were forcibly replaced with Catholicism . The highest class was the pīpiltin or nobility. The pilli status was hereditary and ascribed certain privileges to its holders, such as the right to wear particularly fine garments and consume luxury goods, as well as to own land and direct corvee labor by commoners. The most powerful nobles were called lords (Nahuatl languages: teuctin ) and they owned and controlled noble estates or houses, and could serve in
15120-613: The Cora and Huichol , the Chontales, the Huaves, and the Pipil, Xincan and Lencan peoples of Central America. Central American Area: Los Naranjos By roughly 6000 BCE, hunter-gatherers living in the highlands and lowlands of Mesoamerica began to develop agricultural practices with early cultivation of squash and chili. The earliest example of maize dates to c. 4000 BCE and comes from Guilá Naquitz ,
15372-800: The Grijalva River , the Motagua River , the Ulúa River , and the Hondo River . The northern Maya lowlands, especially the northern portion of the Yucatán peninsula, are notable for their nearly complete lack of rivers (largely due to the absolute lack of topographic variation). Additionally, no lakes exist in the northern peninsula. The main source of water in this area is aquifers that are accessed through natural surface openings called cenotes . With an area of 8,264 km (3,191 sq mi), Lake Nicaragua
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#173283710849115624-466: The Isthmus of Tehuantepec . Frequent contact and cultural interchange between the early Olmec and other cultures in Chiapas , Oaxaca , and Guatemala laid the basis for the Mesoamerican cultural area. All this was facilitated by considerable regional communications in ancient Mesoamerica , especially along the Pacific coast. In the subsequent Preclassic period , complex urban polities began to develop among
15876-653: The Itza at Tayasal and the Kowoj at Zacpeten , remained independent until 1697. Some Mesoamerican cultures never achieved dominant status or left impressive archaeological remains but are nevertheless noteworthy. These include the Otomi , Mixe–Zoque groups (which may or may not have been related to the Olmecs), the northern Uto-Aztecan groups, often referred to as the Chichimeca , that include
16128-833: The Kaqchikel at Iximche in the Guatemalan highlands. The Pipil resided in El Salvador , the Nicarao were in western Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica , and the Ch'orti' were in eastern Guatemala and northwestern Honduras . In central Mexico, the early portion of the Postclassic correlates with the rise of the Toltec and an empire based at their capital, Tula (also known as Tollan ). Cholula , initially an important Early Classic center contemporaneous with Teotihuacan, maintained its political structure (it did not collapse) and continued to function as
16380-608: The Maya , with the rise of centers such as Aguada Fénix and Calakmul in Mexico; El Mirador , and Tikal in Guatemala, and the Zapotec at Monte Albán . During this period, the first true Mesoamerican writing systems were developed in the Epi-Olmec and the Zapotec cultures. The Mesoamerican writing tradition reached its height in the Classic Maya logosyllabic script . In Central Mexico,
16632-872: The Monte Alto Culture may have preceded the Olmec. Radiocarbon samples associated with various sculptures found at the Late Preclassic site of Izapa suggest a date of between 1800 and 1500 BCE. During the Middle and Late Preclassic period, the Maya civilization developed in the southern Maya highlands and lowlands, and at a few sites in the northern Maya lowlands. The earliest Maya sites coalesced after 1000 BCE, and include Nakbe , El Mirador , and Cerros . Middle to Late Preclassic Maya sites include Kaminaljuyú , Cival , Edzná , Cobá , Lamanai , Komchen , Dzibilchaltun , and San Bartolo , among others. The Preclassic in
16884-400: The Nahua peoples began moving south into Mesoamerica from the North, and became politically and culturally dominant in central Mexico, as they displaced speakers of Oto-Manguean languages . During the early post-Classic period, Central Mexico was dominated by the Toltec culture, and Oaxaca by the Mixtec . The lowland Maya area had important centers at Chichén Itzá and Mayapán . Towards
17136-482: The Nahua peoples . Linguistically, the term "Aztecan" is still used about the branch of the Uto-Aztecan languages (also sometimes called the Uto-Nahuan languages) that includes the Nahuatl language and its closest relatives Pochutec and Pipil . To the Aztecs themselves the word "Aztec" was not an endonym for any particular ethnic group. Rather, it was an umbrella term used to refer to several ethnic groups, not all of them Nahuatl-speaking, that claimed heritage from
17388-460: The Pacific Ocean , but it is still abundant enough to allow the farming of bananas and many other tropical crops near Tapachula . On the several parallel sierras or mountain ranges running along the center of Chiapas, the climate can be quite moderate and foggy, allowing the development of cloud forests like those of Reserva de la Biosfera El Triunfo, home to a handful of horned guans , resplendent quetzals , and azure-rumped tanagers . Chiapas
17640-424: The Postclassic are differentiated by the cyclical crystallization and fragmentation of the various political entities throughout Mesoamerica. The Mesoamerican Paleo-Indian period precedes the advent of agriculture and is characterized by a nomadic hunting and gathering subsistence strategy. Big-game hunting, similar to that seen in contemporaneous North America, was a large component of the subsistence strategy of
17892-412: The Purépecha ) were located in Michoacán and Guerrero. With their capital at Tzintzuntzan , the Tarascan state was one of the few to actively and continuously resist Aztec domination during the Late Postclassic. Other important Postclassic cultures in Mesoamerica include the Totonac along the eastern coast (in the modern-day states of Veracruz , Puebla , and Hidalgo ). The Huastec resided north of
18144-516: The Soconusco and Tuxtla, all under the regional colonial government of Guatemala . Chiapas, Soconusco and Tuxla regions were united to the first time as an intendencia during the Bourbon Reforms in 1790 as an administrative region under the name of Chiapas. However, within this intendencia, the division between Chiapas and Soconusco regions would remain strong and have consequences at the end of
18396-503: The Zapatista movement in the 1990s. Although the Zapatista movement couched its demands and cast its role in response to contemporary issues, especially in its opposition to neoliberalism, it operates in the tradition of a long line of peasant and indigenous uprisings that have occurred in the state since the colonial era. This is reflected in its indigenous vs. Mestizo character. However,
18648-510: The chia sage grows." After the Spanish arrived (1522), they established two cities called Chiapas de los Indios and Chiapas de los Españoles (1528), with the name of Provincia de Chiapas for the area around the cities. The first coat of arms of the region dates from 1535 as that of the Ciudad Real ( San Cristóbal de las Casas ). Chiapas painter Javier Vargas Ballinas designed the modern coat of arms. Hunter gatherers began to occupy
18900-445: The mācehuallis were dedicated to arts and crafts. Their works were an important source of income for the city. Macehualtin could become enslaved, (Nahuatl languages: tlacotin ) for example if they had to sell themselves into the service of a noble due to debt or poverty, but enslavement was not an inherited status among the Aztecs. Some macehualtin were landless and worked directly for a lord (Nahuatl languages: mayehqueh ), whereas
19152-451: The 15th century, but were unable to displace the native Chiapa tribe. However, they had enough influence so that the name of this area and of the state would come from Nahuatl . When the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, they found the indigenous peoples divided into Mayan and non-Mayan, with the latter dominated by the Zoques and Chiapanecas . The first contact between Spaniards and
19404-482: The 1970s on, some 100,000 people set up homes in this rainforest area, with many being recognized as ejidos , or communal land-holding organizations. These migrants included Tzeltals, Tojolabals, Ch'ols and mestizos, mostly farming corn and beans and raising livestock. However, the government changed policies in the late 1980s with the establishment of the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve , as much of
19656-460: The 1990s. Another important factor to this movement would be the role of the Catholic Church from the 1960s to the 1980s. In 1960, Samuel Ruiz became the bishop of the Diocese of Chiapas, centered in San Cristóbal. He supported and worked with Marist priests and nuns following an ideology called liberation theology . In 1974, he organized a statewide "Indian Congress" with representatives from
19908-592: The 19th and 20th centuries, much like the Mexico/U.S. border around the same time. This is in spite of tensions caused by Mexico's annexation of the Soconusco region in the 19th century. The border between Mexico and Guatemala had been traditionally poorly guarded, due to diplomatic considerations, lack of resources and pressure from landowners who need cheap labor sources. The arrival of thousands of refugees from Central America stressed Mexico's relationship with Guatemala, at one point coming close to war as well as
20160-443: The 20th century, Chiapas's traditional agricultural economy has diversified somewhat with the construction of more roads and better infrastructure by the federal and state governments. Tourism has become important in some areas of the state, especially in San Cristóbal de las Casas and Palenque. Its economy is important to Mexico as a whole as well, producing coffee, corn, cacao, tobacco, sugar, fruit, vegetables and honey for export. It
20412-525: The 20th century. The territory was reorganized into municipalities in 1916. The current state constitution was written in 1921. There was political stability from the 1940s to the early 1970s; however, regionalism regained with people thinking of themselves as from their local city or municipality over the state. This regionalism impeded the economy as local authorities restrained outside goods. For this reason, construction of highways and communications were pushed to help with economic development. Most of
20664-814: The Aztec empire. It has information naming the polities that the Triple Alliance conquered, the types of taxes rendered to the Aztec Empire, and the class/gender structure of their society. Many written annals exist, written by local Nahua historians recording the histories of their polity. These annals used pictorial histories and were subsequently transformed into alphabetic annals in Latin script. Well-known native chroniclers and annalists are Chimalpahin of Amecameca-Chalco; Fernando Alvarado Tezozomoc of Tenochtitlan; Alva Ixtlilxochitl of Texcoco, Juan Bautista Pomar of Texcoco, and Diego Muñoz Camargo of Tlaxcala. There are also many accounts by Spanish conquerors who participated in
20916-637: The Aztec forces were repelled by a well-organized defense. Axayacatl was soundly defeated in a battle at Tlaximaloyan (today Tajimaroa), losing most of his 32,000 men and only barely escaping back to Tenochtitlan with the remnants of his army. In 1481 at Axayacatls death, his older brother Tizoc was elected ruler. Tizoc's coronation campaign against the Otomi of Metztitlan failed as he lost the major battle and only managed to secure 40 prisoners to be sacrificed for his coronation ceremony. Having shown weakness, many cities rebelled and consequently, most of Tizoc's short reign
21168-582: The Bajío area around Guanajuato which reached a population peak in the 6th century, after which the population quickly diminished during a subsequent dry period. This depopulation of the Bajío coincided with an incursion of new populations into the Valley of Mexico, which suggests that this marks the influx of Nahuatl speakers into the region. These people populated central Mexico, dislocating speakers of Oto-Manguean languages as they spread their political influence south. As
21420-732: The Carranza forces would take their lands. This was mostly by way of guerrilla actions headed by farm owners who called themselves the Mapaches . This action continued for six years, until President Carranza was assassinated in 1920 and revolutionary general Álvaro Obregón became president of Mexico. This allowed the Mapaches to gain political power in the state and effectively stop many of the social reforms occurring in other parts of Mexico. The Mapaches continued to fight against socialists and communists in Mexico from 1920 to 1936, to maintain their control over
21672-589: The Central American Federation. In September of the same year, a referendum was held on whether the intendencia would join Central America or Mexico, with many of the elite endorsing union with Mexico. This referendum ended in favor of incorporation with Mexico (allegedly through manipulation of the elite in the highlands), but the Soconusco region maintained a neutral status until 1842, when Oaxacans under General Antonio López de Santa Anna occupied
21924-648: The Chiapas highlands, and Kaminaljuyú in the central Guatemala highlands, were important southern highland Maya centers. The latter site, Kaminaljuyú, is one of the longest occupied sites in Mesoamerica and was continuously inhabited from c. 800 BCE to around 1200 CE. Other important highland Maya groups include the Kʼicheʼ of Utatlán , the Mam in Zaculeu , the Poqomam in Mixco Viejo , and
22176-543: The Church's efforts to reach out to the indigenous population was that starting in the 1970s, a shift began from traditional Catholic affiliation to Protestant, Evangelical and other Christian sects. The 1980s saw a large wave of refugees coming into the state from Central America as a number of these countries, especially Guatemala , were in the midst of violent political turmoil. The Chiapas/Guatemala border had been relatively porous with people traveling back and forth easily in
22428-539: The Diocese of Chiapas. What they held in common was indigenous identity vis-à-vis the non-indigenous, using the old 19th century "caste war" word "Ladino" for them. The adoption of liberal economic reforms by the Mexican federal government clashed with the leftist political ideals of these groups, notably as the reforms were believed to have begun to have negative economic effects on poor farmers, especially small-scale indigenous coffee-growers. Opposition would coalesce into
22680-496: The EZLN paralyzed the Mexican government, which balked at the political risks of direct confrontation. The major reason for this was that the rebellion caught the attention of the national and world press, as Marcos made full use of the then-new Internet to get the group's message out, putting the spotlight on indigenous issues in Mexico in general. Furthermore, the opposition press in Mexico City, especially La Jornada , actively supported
22932-506: The Indian force armed only with sticks and machetes . The indigenous force was quickly dispersed and routed with government troops pursuing pockets of guerrilla resistance in the mountains until 1870. The event effectively returned control of the indigenous workforce back to the highland elite. The Porfirio Díaz era at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th was initially thwarted by regional bosses called caciques , bolstered by
23184-690: The Lacandon Jungle had been destroyed or severely damaged. While armed resistance has wound down, the Zapatistas have remained a strong political force, especially around San Cristóbal and the Lacandon Jungle, its traditional bases. Since the Accords, they have shifted focus in gaining autonomy for the communities they control. Since the 1994 uprising, migration into the Lacandon Jungle has significantly increased, involving illegal settlements and cutting in
23436-562: The Mayan Indians which led to unsuccessful non violent protests and eventually armed struggle started by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in January 1994. These events began to lead to political crises in the 1970s, with more frequent land invasions and takeovers of municipal halls. This was the beginning of a process that would lead to the emergence of the Zapatista movement in
23688-519: The Mesoamerican Paleo-Indian. These sites had obsidian blades and Clovis -style fluted projectile points . The Archaic period (8000–2000 BCE) is characterized by the rise of incipient agriculture in Mesoamerica. The initial phases of the Archaic involved the cultivation of wild plants, transitioning into informal domestication and culminating with sedentism and agricultural production by
23940-509: The Mexica from Chapultepec and executed the first Aztec royal family except Queen Chimalxochitl II . In 1299, Colhuacan ruler Cocoxtli permitted them to settle in the empty barrens of Tizapan, where they were eventually assimilated into Culhuacan culture. The noble lineage of Colhuacan traced its roots back to the legendary city-state of Tula, and by marrying into Colhua families, the Mexica now appropriated this heritage. After living in Colhuacan,
24192-590: The Mexica of Tenochtitlan, excluding Tlatelolco) or Cōlhuah ( Nahuatl pronunciation: [ˈkoːlwaʔ] , referring to their royal genealogy tying them to Culhuacan ). Sometimes the term also includes the inhabitants of Tenochtitlan's two principal allied city-states, the Acolhuas of Texcoco and the Tepanecs of Tlacopan , who together with the Mexica formed the Aztec Triple Alliance that controlled what
24444-506: The Mexica tribe tell how they traveled with other tribes, including the Tlaxcalteca , Tepaneca , and Acolhua , but that eventually their tribal deity Huitzilopochtli told them to split from the other Aztec tribes and take on the name "Mexica". At the time of their arrival, there were many Aztec city-states in the region. The most powerful were Colhuacan to the south and Azcapotzalco to the west. The Tepanecs of Azcapotzalco soon expelled
24696-509: The Mexica were again expelled and were forced to move. According to Aztec legend, in 1323, the Mexica were shown a vision of an eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus , eating a snake. The vision indicated the location where they were to build their settlement. The Mexica founded Tenochtitlan on a small swampy island in Lake Texcoco, the inland lake of the Basin of Mexico. The year of foundation
24948-514: The Olmec include San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán , La Venta , and Tres Zapotes . Specific dates vary, but these sites were occupied from roughly 1200 to 400 BCE. Remains of other early cultures interacting with the Olmec have been found at Takalik Abaj , Izapa , and Teopantecuanitlan , and as far south as in Honduras . Research in the Pacific Lowlands of Chiapas and Guatemala suggest that Izapa and
25200-417: The Pacific and Gulf coasts, conquering the province of Xoconochco in Chiapas. he also intensified the flower wars waged against Tlaxcala and Huexotzinco and secured an alliance with Cholula. He also consolidated the class structure of Aztec society, by making it harder for commoners (Nahuatl languages: macehualtin ) to accede to the privileged class of the pipiltin through merit in combat. He also instituted
25452-555: The Pacific to the Atlantic oceans. The empire reached its maximum extent in 1519, just before the arrival of a small group of Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés . Cortés allied with city-states opposed to the Mexica, particularly the Nahuatl-speaking Tlaxcalteca as well as other central Mexican polities, including Texcoco, its former ally in the Triple Alliance. After the fall of Tenochtitlan on 13 August 1521 and
25704-618: The Roman Catholic Church, and Mexican army, and Conservatives, who favored centralized autocratic government, retention of elite privileges, did not lead to any military battles in the state. Despite that it strongly affected Chiapas politics. In Chiapas, the Liberal-Conservative division had its own twist. Much of the division between the highland and lowland ruling families was for whom the Indians should work for and for how long as
25956-672: The Simojovel Ax. Mayan civilization began in the pre-Classic period as well, but did not come into prominence until the Classic period (300–900 CE). Development of this culture was agricultural villages during the pre-Classic period with city building during the Classic as social stratification became more complex. The Mayans built cities on the Yucatán Peninsula and west into Guatemala . In Chiapas, Mayan sites are mostly concentrated along
26208-704: The Spanish crown and converted, at least nominally, to Christianity, and, in return, were recognized as nobles by the Spanish crown. Nobles acted as intermediaries to convey taxes and mobilize labor for their new overlords, facilitating the establishment of Spanish colonial rule. Aztec culture and history are primarily known through archaeological evidence found in excavations such as that of the renowned Templo Mayor in Mexico City; from Indigenous writings ; from eyewitness accounts by Spanish conquistadors such as Cortés and Bernal Díaz del Castillo ; and especially from 16th- and 17th-century descriptions of Aztec culture and history written by Spanish clergymen and literate Aztecs in
26460-494: The Spanish invasion, such as Bernal Díaz del Castillo who wrote a full history of the conquest. Spanish friars also produced documentation in chronicles and other types of accounts. Of key importance is Toribio de Benavente Motolinia , one of the first twelve Franciscans arriving in Mexico in 1524. Another Franciscan of great importance was Fray Juan de Torquemada , author of Monarquia Indiana . Dominican Diego Durán also wrote extensively about pre-Hispanic religion as well as
26712-905: The Spanish or Nahuatl language, such as the famous illustrated, bilingual (Spanish and Nahuatl), twelve-volume Florentine Codex created by the Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún , in collaboration with Indigenous Aztec informants. Important for knowledge of post-conquest Nahuas was the training of indigenous scribes to write alphabetic texts in Nahuatl , mainly for local purposes under Spanish colonial rule. At its height, Aztec culture had rich and complex philosophical , mythological , and religious traditions , as well as remarkable architectural and artistic accomplishments. The Nahuatl words aztēcatl ( Nahuatl pronunciation: [asˈteːkat͡ɬ] , singular) and aztēcah ( Nahuatl pronunciation: [asˈteːkaʔ] , plural ) mean "people from Aztlán ",
26964-555: The Spanish. One famous example of this is the Battle of Tepetchia , where many jumped to their deaths in the Sumidero Canyon . Indigenous resistance was weakened by continual warfare with the Spaniards and disease. By 1530 almost all of the indigenous peoples of the area had been subdued with the exception of the Lacandons in the deep jungles who actively resisted until 1695. However,
27216-542: The Tarascans of Michoacan. Products were distributed through a network of markets; some markets specialized in a single commodity (e.g., the dog market of Acolman), and other general markets with the presence of many different goods. Markets were highly organized with a system of supervisors taking care that only authorized merchants were permitted to sell their goods, and punishing those who cheated their customers or sold substandard or counterfeit goods. A typical town would have
27468-476: The Tepanecs. The accession of a new ruler in the dominant city-state was often an occasion for subjected cities to rebel by refusing to pay taxes. This meant that new rulers began their rule with a coronation campaign, often against rebellious provinces, but also sometimes demonstrating their military might by making new conquests. Motecuzoma tested the attitudes of the cities around the valley by requesting laborers for
27720-519: The Totonac, mainly in the modern-day states of Tamaulipas and northern Veracruz. The Mixtec and Zapotec cultures, centered at Mitla and Zaachila respectively, inhabited Oaxaca. The Postclassic ends with the arrival of the Spanish and their subsequent conquest of the Aztecs between 1519 and 1521. Many other cultural groups did not acquiesce until later. For example, Maya groups in the Petén area, including
27972-1116: The Tzeltal communities in the Los Alto region in 1712. Soon, the Tzoltzils and Ch'ols joined the Tzeltales in rebellion, but within a year the government was able to extinguish the rebellion. As of 1778, Thomas Kitchin described Chiapas as "the metropolis of the original Mexicans," with a population of approximately 20,000, and consisting mainly of indigenous peoples. The Spanish introduced new crops such as sugar cane , wheat, barley and indigo as main economic staples along native ones such as corn, cotton, cacao and beans. Livestock such as cattle, horses and sheep were introduced as well. Regions would specialize in certain crops and animals depending on local conditions and for many of these regions, communication and travel were difficult. Most Europeans and their descendants tended to concentrate in cities such as Ciudad Real , Comitán , Chiapa and Tuxtla . Intermixing of
28224-539: The Tzeltal, Tzotzil, Tojolabal and Ch'ol peoples from 327 communities as well as Marists and the Maoist People's Union . This congress was the first of its kind with the goal of uniting the indigenous peoples politically. These efforts were also supported by leftist organizations from outside Mexico, especially to form unions of ejido organizations. These unions would later form the base of the EZLN organization. One reason for
28476-510: The Union of Unions, or UU. It had a membership of 12,000 families from over 180 communities. By 1988, this organization joined with other to form the ARIC-Union of Unions (ARIC-UU) and took over much of the Lacandon Jungle portion of the state. Most of the members of these organization were from Protestant and Evangelical sects as well as "Word of God" Catholics affiliated with the political movements of
28728-590: The United States and France. These foreign immigrants would introduce coffee production to the areas, as well as modern machinery and professional administration of coffee plantations. Eventually, this production of coffee would become the state's most important crop. Although the Liberals had mostly triumphed in the state and the rest of the country by the 1860s, Conservatives still held considerable power in Chiapas. Liberal politicians sought to solidify their power among
28980-560: The Zapatista-controlled village of Acteal in the Chenhaló municipality just north of San Cristóbal. This allowed many media outlets in Mexico to step up their criticisms of the government. Despite this, the armed conflict was brief, mostly because the Zapatistas, unlike many other guerilla movements, did not try to gain traditional political power. It focused more on trying to manipulate public opinion in order to obtain concessions from
29232-421: The abuse of the indigenous peoples declined by the end of the 16th century, and was replaced by haciendas . However, the use and misuse of Indian labor remained a large part of Chiapas politics into modern times. Maltreatment and tribute payments created an undercurrent of resentment in the indigenous population that passed on from generation to generation. One uprising against high tribute payments occurred in
29484-433: The architect of major political reforms in this period, consolidating the power of the noble class (Nahuatl languages: pipiltin ) and instituting a set of legal codes, and the practice of reinstating conquered rulers in their cities bound by fealty to the Mexica tlatoani. In 1469, the next ruler was Axayacatl ( lit. "Water mask"), son of Itzcoatl's son Tezozomoc and Motecuzoma I's daughter Atotoztli II . He undertook
29736-489: The area, and declared it reincorporated into Mexico. Elites of the area would not accept this until 1844. Guatemala would not recognize Mexico's annexation of the Soconusco region until 1895, even though the border between Chiapas and Guatemala had been agreed upon in 1882. The State of Chiapas was officially declared in 1824, with its first constitution in 1826. Ciudad Real was renamed San Cristóbal de las Casas in 1828. In
29988-433: The arrival of the Spanish fleet of Hernán Cortés, who soon marched toward Tlaxcala where he allied with the traditional enemies of the Aztecs. On 8 November 1519, Moctezuma II received Cortés and his troops and Tlaxcalan allies on the causeway south of Tenochtitlan, and he invited the Spaniards to stay as his guests in Tenochtitlan. When Aztec troops destroyed a Spanish camp on the Gulf Coast, Cortés ordered Moctezuma to execute
30240-456: The border against the Tarascan state. Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin is known to world history as the Aztec ruler when the Spanish invaders and their indigenous allies began their conquest of the empire in a two-year-long campaign (1519–1521). His early rule did not hint at his future fame. He succeeded in the rulership after the death of Ahuitzotl. Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin ( lit. "He frowns like a lord,
30492-468: The capital to satisfy even the most conservative figures. Ahuitzotl also constructed monumental architecture in sites such as Calixtlahuaca, Malinalco, and Tepoztlan. After a rebellion in the towns of Alahuiztlan and Oztoticpac in Northern Guerrero, he ordered the entire population executed and repopulated with people from the valley of Mexico. He also constructed a fortified garrison at Oztuma defending
30744-524: The capture of the emperor Cuauhtémoc , the Spanish founded Mexico City on the ruins of Tenochtitlan. From there, they proceeded with the process of conquest and incorporation of Mesoamerican peoples into the Spanish Empire . With the destruction of the superstructure of the Aztec Empire in 1521, the Spanish used the city-states on which the Aztec Empire had been built to rule the indigenous populations via their local nobles. Those nobles pledged loyalty to
30996-440: The central Mexican highlands is represented by such sites as Tlapacoya , Tlatilco , and Cuicuilco . These sites were eventually superseded by Teotihuacán , an important Classic-era site that eventually dominated economic and interaction spheres throughout Mesoamerica. The settlement of Teotihuacan is dated to the later portion of the Late Preclassic, or roughly 50 CE. In the Valley of Oaxaca , San José Mogote represents one of
31248-546: The central valley of the state around 7000 BCE, but little is known about them. The oldest archaeological remains in the seat are located at the Santa Elena Ranch in Ocozocoautla whose finds include tools and weapons made of stone and bone. It also includes burials. In the pre Classic period from 1800 BCE to 300 CE, agricultural villages appeared all over the state although hunter gather groups would persist for long after
31500-534: The city and sacrificed Maxtla. Through this victory, Tenochtitlan became the dominant city-state in the Valley of Mexico, and the alliance between the three city-states provided the basis on which the Aztec Empire was built. Itzcoatl proceeded by securing a power basis for Tenochtitlan, by conquering the city-states on the southern lake – including Culhuacan , Xochimilco , Cuitlahuac, and Mizquic. These states had an economy based on highly productive chinampa agriculture, cultivating human-made extensions of rich soil in
31752-455: The city of Teotihuacan ascended at the height of the Classic period; it formed a military and commercial empire whose political influence stretched south into the Maya area and northward. Upon the collapse of Teotihuacán around 600 CE, competition between several important political centers in central Mexico, such as Xochicalco and Cholula , ensued. At this time during the Epi-Classic period,
32004-472: The city of Tonalá but incurred no resistance. The only other insurgent activity was the publication of a newspaper called El Pararrayos by Matías de Córdova in San Cristóbal de las Casas. Following the end of Spanish rule in New Spain , it was unclear what new political arrangements would emerge. The isolation of Chiapas from centers of power, along with the strong internal divisions in the intendencia caused
32256-724: The city-states Tenochtitlan, Texcoco , and Tlacopan; these allied to defeat the Tepanec state of Azcapotzalco, which had previously dominated the Basin of Mexico . Soon Texcoco and Tlacopan were relegated to junior partnership in the alliance, with Tenochtitlan the dominant power. The empire extended its reach by a combination of trade and military conquest. It was never a true territorial empire controlling territory by large military garrisons in conquered provinces but rather dominated its client city-states primarily by installing friendly rulers in conquered territories, constructing marriage alliances between
32508-421: The city-states of Tlaxcalan, Cholula and Huexotzinco emerged as major competitors to the imperial expansion, and they supplied warriors to several of the cities conquered. Motecuzoma therefore initiated a state of low-intensity warfare against these three cities, staging minor skirmishes called " Flower Wars " (Nahuatl xochiyaoyotl ) against them, perhaps as a strategy of exhaustion. In the Valley of Oaxaca , which
32760-461: The civilization extended North and South from its heartland in southern Mexico. The term was first used by the German ethnologist Paul Kirchhoff , who noted that similarities existed among the various pre-Columbian cultures within the region that included southern Mexico, Guatemala , Belize , El Salvador , western Honduras , and the Pacific lowlands of Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica . In
33012-528: The close of the period. Transformations of natural environments have been a common feature at least since the mid Holocene. Archaic sites include Sipacate in Escuintla , Guatemala, where maize pollen samples date to c. 3500 BCE. The first complex civilization to develop in Mesoamerica was that of the Olmec , who inhabited the Gulf Coast region of Veracruz throughout the Preclassic period. The main sites of
33264-560: The coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico to the north, which was Olmec territory. One of these people's ancient cities is now the archeological site of Chiapa de Corzo , in which was found the oldest calendar known on a piece of ceramic with a date of 36 BCE. This is three hundred years before the Mayans developed their calendar. The descendants of Mokaya are the Mixe-Zoque. During the pre Classic era, it
33516-462: The colonial period. From the colonial period Chiapas was relatively isolated from the colonial authorities in Mexico City and regional authorities in Guatemala. One reason for this was the rugged terrain. Another was that much of Chiapas was not attractive to the Spanish. It lacked mineral wealth, large areas of arable land, and easy access to markets. This isolation spared it from battles related to Independence. José María Morelos y Pavón did enter
33768-509: The commanders responsible for the attack, and Moctezuma complied. At this point, the power balance had shifted toward the Spaniards who now held Moctezuma as a prisoner in his palace. As this shift in power became clear to Moctezuma's subjects, the Spaniards became increasingly unwelcome in the capital city, and, in June 1520, hostilities broke out, culminating in the massacre in the Great Temple , and
34020-462: The commoners. A calpolli was at once a territorial unit where commoners organized labor and land use since the land was not private property, and also often a kinship unit as a network of families that were related through intermarriage. Calpolli leaders might be or become members of the nobility, in which case they could represent their Calpolli interests in the altepetl government. In the valley of Morelos, archeologist Michael E. Smith estimates that
34272-412: The community's male members. The changing social order had severe negative effects on the indigenous population with alcoholism spreading, leading to more debts as it was expensive. The struggles between Conservatives and Liberals nationally disrupted commerce and confused power relations between Indian communities and Ladino authorities. It also resulted in some brief respites for Indians during times when
34524-582: The control of a Toltec empire. Chronological data refutes this early interpretation, and it is now known that Chichén Itzá predated the Toltec; Mexican architectural styles are now used as an indicator of strong economic and ideological ties between the two regions. The Postclassic (beginning 900–1000 CE, depending on area) is, like the Late Classic, characterized by the cyclical crystallization and fragmentation of various polities. The main Maya centers were located in
34776-639: The control of the tlatoani of Tenochtitlan. Axayacatl then conquered areas in Central Guerrero, the Puebla Valley, on the gulf coast and against the Otomi and Matlatzinca in the Toluca Valley. The Toluca Valley was a buffer zone against the powerful Tarascan state in Michoacan , against which Axayacatl turned next. In the major campaign against the Tarascans (Nahuatl languages: Michhuahqueh ) in 1478–1479
35028-559: The cult, Liberal landowners had also lost control of much of their Indian labor and Liberal politicians were having a harder time collecting taxes from indigenous communities. An Indian army gathered at Zontehuitz then attacked various villages and haciendas. By the following June the city of San Cristóbal was surrounded by several thousand Indians, who offered the exchanged of several Ladino captives for their religious leaders and stones. Chiapas governor Dominguéz came to San Cristóbal with about three hundred heavily armed men, who then attacked
35280-438: The decades after the official end of the war, the provinces of Chiapas and Soconusco unified, with power concentrated in San Cristóbal de las Casas. The state's society evolved into three distinct spheres: indigenous peoples, mestizos from the farms and haciendas and the Spanish colonial cities. Most of the political struggles were between the last two groups especially over who would control the indigenous labor force. Economically,
35532-399: The degree it was necessary to ensure the payment of taxes. It was also a discontinuous empire because not all dominated territories were connected; for example, the southern peripheral zones of Xoconochco were not in direct contact with the center. The hegemonic nature of the Aztec empire can be seen in the fact that generally local rulers were restored to their positions once their city-state
35784-412: The diocese's attempts to re establish itself among Chiapan indigenous communities against Protestant evangelization. This would lead to a breach between the Church and the Zapatistas. The Zapatista story remained in headlines for a number of years. One reason for this was the December 1997 massacre of forty-five unarmed Tzotzil peasants, mostly women and children, by a government-backed paramilitary in
36036-445: The domestic sphere. Women could however also work outside of the home as small-scale merchants, doctors, priests, and midwives. Warfare was highly valued and a source of high prestige, but women's work was metaphorically conceived of as equivalent to warfare, and as equally important in maintaining the equilibrium of the world and pleasing the gods. This situation has led some scholars to describe Aztec gender ideology as an ideology not of
36288-413: The dominant element in the political entity we are studying". In other contexts, Aztec may refer to all the various city-states and their peoples, who shared large parts of their ethnic history and cultural traits with the Mexica, Acolhua, and Tepanecs, and who often also used the Nahuatl language as a lingua franca . An example is Jerome A. Offner's Law and Politics in Aztec Texcoco . In this meaning, it
36540-437: The early 20th century and into the Mexican Revolution , the production of coffee was particularly important but labor-intensive. This would lead to a practice called enganche (hook), where recruiters would lure workers with advanced pay and other incentives such as alcohol and then trap them with debts for travel and other items to be worked off. This practice would lead to a kind of indentured servitude and uprisings in areas of
36792-489: The east and southeast. Chiapas has a significant coastline on the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. In general, Chiapas has a humid, tropical climate. In the northern area bordering Tabasco, near Teapa , rainfall can average more than 3,000 mm (120 in) per year. In the past, natural vegetation in this region was lowland, tall perennial rainforest , but this vegetation has been almost completely cleared to allow agriculture and ranching. Rainfall decreases moving towards
37044-474: The economy could absorb. There were some attempts to resettle peasant farmers onto non cultivated lands, but they were met with resistance. President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz awarded a land grant to the town of Venustiano Carranza in 1967, but that land was already being used by cattle-ranchers who refused to leave. The peasants tried to take over the land anyway, but when violence broke out, they were forcibly removed. In Chiapas poor farmland and severe poverty afflict
37296-460: The elaboration of tools and musical instruments. Sometimes entire calpollis specialized in a single craft, and in some archeological sites large neighborhoods have been found where- only a single craft specialty was practiced. The Aztecs did not produce much metalwork but did have knowledge of basic smelting technology for gold , and they combined gold with precious stones such as jade and turquoise . Copper products were generally imported from
37548-455: The empire. Charles Gibson enumerates many groups in central Mexico that he includes in his study The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule (1964). These include the Culhuaque, Cuitlahuaque, Mixquica, Xochimilca, Chalca, Tepaneca, Acolhuaque, and Mexica. In older usage, the term was commonly used about modern Nahuatl-speaking ethnic groups, as Nahuatl was previously referred to as the "Aztec language". In recent usage, these ethnic groups are referred to as
37800-452: The end of first grade. Grievances, strongest in the San Cristóbal and Lacandon Jungle areas, were taken up by a small leftist guerrilla band led by a man called only " Subcomandante Marcos ." This small band, called the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN) , came to the world's attention when on January 1, 1994 (the day the NAFTA treaty went into effect) EZLN forces occupied and took over
38052-479: The end of the post-Classic period, the Aztecs of Central Mexico built a tributary empire covering most of central Mesoamerica. The distinct Mesoamerican cultural tradition ended with the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Eurasian diseases such as smallpox and measles , which were endemic among the colonists but new to North America, caused the deaths of upwards of 90% of the indigenous people, resulting in great losses to their societies and cultures. Over
38304-539: The enlargement of the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan. Only the city of Chalco refused to provide laborers, and hostilities between Chalco and Tenochtitlan would persist until the 1450s. Motecuzoma then reconquered the cities in the valley of Morelos and Guerrero, and then later undertook new conquests in the Huaxtec region of northern Veracruz, and the Mixtec region of Coixtlahuaca and large parts of Oaxaca, and later again in central and southern Veracruz with conquests at Cosamalopan, Ahuilizapan, and Cuetlaxtlan. During this period
38556-407: The era. Recent excavations in the Soconusco region of the state indicate that the oldest civilization to appear in what is now modern Chiapas is that of the Mokaya , which were cultivating corn and living in houses as early as 1500 BCE, making them one of the oldest in Mesoamerica. There is speculation that these were the forefathers of the Olmec , migrating across the Grijalva Valley and onto
38808-488: The establishment of the "three stones cult" in Tzajahemal. Agustina Gómez Checheb was a girl tending her father's sheep when three stones fell from the sky. Collecting them, she put them on her father's altar and soon claimed that the stone communicated with her. Word of this soon spread and the "talking stones" of Tzajahemel soon became a local indigenous pilgrimage site. The cult was taken over by one pilgrim, Pedro Díaz Cuzcat , who also claimed to be able to communicate with
39060-401: The farming occurred outside the densely populated areas, within the cities there was another method of (small-scale) farming. Each family had a garden plot where they grew maize, fruits, herbs, medicines, and other important plants. When the city of Tenochtitlan became a major urban center, water was supplied to the city through aqueducts from springs on the banks of the lake, and they organized
39312-490: The father's and mother's side of the family equally, and inheritance was also passed both to sons and daughters. This meant that women could own property just as men and that women therefore had a good deal of economic freedom from their spouses. Nevertheless, Aztec society was highly gendered with separate gender roles for men and women. Men were expected to work outside of the house, as farmers, traders, craftsmen, and warriors, whereas women were expected to take responsibility for
39564-428: The formation of New World cultures from the mixtures of the indigenous Mesoamerican peoples with the European, African, and Asian peoples who were introduced by the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Mesoamerica is one of the six areas in the world where ancient civilization arose independently (see cradle of civilization ), and the second in the Americas, alongside the Caral–Supe in present-day Peru . Mesoamerica
39816-411: The former nomadic hunter-gatherer peoples mixed with the complex civilizations of Mesoamerica, adopting religious and cultural practices, the foundation for later Aztec culture was laid. After 900 CE, during the postclassic period, many sites almost certainly inhabited by Nahuatl speakers became powerful. Among them are the site of Tula, Hidalgo , and also city-states such as Tenayuca , and Colhuacan in
40068-401: The government, which wants to open the rainforest up to multinational corporations. Added to this is the possibility that significant oil and gas deposits exist under this area. The Zapatista movement has had some successes. The agricultural sector of the economy now favors ejidos and other commonly-owned land. There have been some other gains economically as well. In the last decades of
40320-452: The government. This has linked the Zapatistas to other indigenous and identity-politics movements that arose in the late-20th century. The main concession that the group received was the San Andrés Accords (1996), also known as the Law on Indian Rights and Culture. The Accords appear to grant certain indigenous zones autonomy, but this is against the Mexican constitution , so its legitimacy has been questioned. Zapatista declarations since
40572-632: The hands of large landholders who when made the local Indian population work for three to five days a week just for the right to continue to cultivate the lands. This requirement caused many to leave and look for employment elsewhere. Most became "free" workers on other farms, but they were often paid only with food and basic necessities from the farm shop. If this was not enough, these workers became indebted to these same shops and then unable to leave. The opening up of these lands also allowed many whites and mestizos (often called Ladinos in Chiapas) to encroach on what had been exclusively indigenous communities in
40824-455: The highest government positions or as military leaders. Nobles made up about five percent of the population. The second class was the mācehualtin , originally peasants, but later extended to the lower working classes in general. Eduardo Noguera estimates that in later stages only 20 percent of the population was dedicated to agriculture and food production. The other 80 percent of society were warriors, artisans, and traders. Eventually, most of
41076-433: The highlands annexation to Mexico. In 1821, a number of cities in Chiapas, starting in Comitán, declared the state's separation from the Spanish empire. In 1823, Guatemala became part of the United Provinces of Central America , which united to form a federal republic that would last from 1823 to 1839. With the exception of the pro-Mexican Ciudad Real (San Cristóbal) and some others, many Chiapanecan towns and villages favored
41328-517: The highlands. He also changed state policies to favor foreign investment, favored large land mass consolidation for the production of cash crops such as henequen, rubber, guayule, cochineal and coffee. Agricultural production boomed, especially coffee, which induced the construction of port facilities in Tonalá . The economic expansion and investment in roads also increased access to tropical commodities such as hardwoods, rubber and chicle . These still required cheap and steady labor to be provided by
41580-453: The historical context of artifacts. There are many written texts by the indigenous people and Spaniards of the early colonial period that contain invaluable information about pre-colonial Aztec history. These texts provide insight into the political histories of various Aztec city-states, and their ruling lineages. Such histories were produced as well in pictorial codices . Some of these manuscripts were entirely pictorial, often with glyphs . In
41832-616: The history of the Mexica. An invaluable source of information about many aspects of Aztec religious thought, political and social structure, as well as the history of the Spanish conquest from the Mexica viewpoint is the Florentine Codex . Produced between 1545 and 1576 in the form of an ethnographic encyclopedia written bilingually in Spanish and Nahuatl, by Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún and indigenous informants and scribes, it contains knowledge about many aspects of precolonial society from religion, calendrics , botany , zoology , trades and crafts and history. Another source of knowledge
42084-400: The indigenous groups by weakening the Roman Catholic Church. The more radical of these even allowed indigenous groups the religious freedoms to return to a number of native rituals and beliefs such as pilgrimages to natural shrines such as mountains and waterfalls. This culminated in the Chiapas "caste war", which was an uprising of Tzotzils beginning in 1868. The basis of the uprising was
42336-410: The indigenous population. By the end of the 19th century, the four main indigenous groups, Tzeltals, Tzotzils, Tojolabals and Ch’ols were living in "reducciones" or reservations, isolated from one another. Conditions on the farms of the Porfirian era was serfdom, as bad if not worse than for other indigenous and mestizo populations leading to the Mexican Revolution . While this coming event would affect
42588-462: The indigenous' people's plight, with Bartolomé de las Casas winning a battle with the passing of a law in 1542 for their protection. This order also worked to make sure that communities would keep their indigenous name with a saint's prefix leading to names such as San Juan Chamula and San Lorenzo Zinacantán . He also advocated adapting the teaching of Christianity to indigenous language and culture. The encomienda system that had perpetrated much of
42840-419: The instability led to uncollected taxes. One other effect that Liberal land reforms had was the start of coffee plantations, especially in the Soconusco region. One reason for this push in this area was that Mexico was still working to strengthen its claim on the area against Guatemala's claims on the region. The land reforms brought colonists from other areas of the country as well as foreigners from England,
43092-466: The judges and supervisors of the Tlatelolco market. Although the economy of Aztec Mexico was commercialized (in its use of money, markets, and merchants), land and labor were not generally commodities for sale, though some types of land could be sold between nobles. In the commercial sector of the economy, several types of money were in regular use. Small purchases were made with cacao beans , which had to be imported from lowland areas. In Aztec marketplaces,
43344-416: The jungle area to clear forest and grow crops and raise livestock, especially cattle. Economic development in general raised the output of the state, especially in agriculture, but it had the effect of deforesting many areas, especially the Lacandon. Added to this was there were still serf like conditions for many workers and insufficient educational infrastructure. Population continued to increase faster than
43596-432: The low flatlands of the northern Yucatán Peninsula. The tallest mountain in Mesoamerica is Pico de Orizaba , a dormant volcano located on the border of Puebla and Veracruz . Its peak elevation is 5,636 m (18,490 ft). The Sierra Madre mountains, which consist of several smaller ranges, run from northern Mesoamerica south through Costa Rica . The chain is historically volcanic . In central and southern Mexico,
43848-421: The lowlands and coastal plains settled down in agrarian communities somewhat later than did highland cultures because there was a greater abundance of fruits and animals in these areas, which made a hunter-gatherer lifestyle more attractive. Fishing also was a major provider of food to lowland and coastal Mesoamericans creating a further disincentive to settle down in permanent communities. Ceremonial centers were
44100-440: The main shortage was of labor. These families split into Liberals in the lowlands, who wanted further reform and Conservatives in the highlands who still wanted to keep some of the traditional colonial and church privileges. For most of the early and mid 19th century, Conservatives held most of the power and were concentrated in the larger cities of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapa (de Corzo), Tuxtla and Comitán. As Liberals gained
44352-452: The main two groups, the Tzotzils and Tzeltals of the central highlands were subdued enough to establish the first Spanish city, today called San Cristóbal de las Casas , in 1528. It was one of two settlements initially called Villa Real de Chiapa de los Españoles and the other called Chiapa de los Indios. Soon after, the encomienda system was introduced, which reduced most of the indigenous population to serfdom and many even as slaves as
44604-434: The majority of commoners were organized into calpollis which gave them access to land and property. Commoners were able to obtain privileges similar to those of the nobles by demonstrating prowess in warfare. When a warrior took a captive he accrued the right to use certain emblems, weapons, or garments, and as he took more captives his rank and prestige increased. The Aztec family pattern was bilateral, counting relatives on
44856-494: The mid-1990s have called for a new constitution. As of 1999 the government had not found a solution to this problem. The revolt also pressed the government to institute anti-poverty programs such as "Progresa" (later called "Oportunidades") and the "Puebla-Panama Plan" – aiming to increase trade between southern Mexico and Central America. As of the first decade of the 2000s the Zapatista movement remained popular in many indigenous communities. The uprising gave indigenous peoples
45108-420: The more important ones served as loci of human occupation in the area. The longest river in Mesoamerica is the Usumacinta , which forms in Guatemala at the convergence of the Salinas or Chixoy and La Pasión River and runs north for 970 km (600 mi)—480 km (300 mi) of which are navigable—eventually draining into the Gulf of Mexico . Other rivers of note include the Río Grande de Santiago ,
45360-408: The more well known are the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System , the second largest in the world, and La Mosquitia (consisting of the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve , Tawahka Asangni, Patuca National Park , and Bosawás Biosphere Reserve ) a rainforest second in size in the Americas only to the Amazonas . The highlands present mixed and coniferous forest. The biodiversity is among the richest in
45612-511: The most well-known structures in Mesoamerica, the flat-top pyramids are a landmark feature of the most developed urban centers. Chiapas Chiapas ( Spanish pronunciation: [ˈtʃjapas] ; Nahuatl Chiapan ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( Spanish : Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas ), is one of the states that make up the 32 federal entities of Mexico . It comprises 124 municipalities as of September 2017 and its capital and largest city
45864-431: The movement was an economic one as well. Although the area has extensive resources, much of the local population of the state, especially in rural areas, did not benefit from this bounty. In the 1990s, two thirds of the state's residents did not have sewage service, only a third had electricity and half did not have potable water. Over half of the schools offered education only to the third grade and most pupils dropped out by
46116-458: The mythic place of origin, Aztlan . Alexander von Humboldt originated the modern usage of "Aztec" in 1810, as a collective term applied to all the people linked by trade, custom, religion, and language to the Mexica state and the Triple Alliance . In 1843, with the publication of the work of William H. Prescott on the history of the conquest of Mexico, the term was adopted by most of the world, including 19th-century Mexican scholars who saw it as
46368-445: The new temple in 1487. For the inauguration ceremony, the Mexica invited the rulers of all their subject cities, who participated as spectators in the ceremony in which an unprecedented number of war captives were sacrificed – some sources giving a figure of 80,400 prisoners sacrificed over four days. Probably the actual figure of sacrifices was much smaller, but still numbering several thousand. There have never been found enough skulls in
46620-441: The next centuries, Mesoamerican indigenous cultures were gradually subjected to Spanish colonial rule. Aspects of the Mesoamerican cultural heritage still survive among the indigenous peoples who inhabit Mesoamerica. Many continue to speak their ancestral languages and maintain many practices hearkening back to their Mesoamerican roots. The term Mesoamerica literally means "middle America" in Greek. Middle America often refers to
46872-437: The northern lowlands. Generally applied to the Maya area, the Terminal Classic roughly spans the time between c. 800/850 and c. 1000 CE. Overall, it generally correlates with the rise to prominence of Puuc settlements in the northern Maya lowlands , so named after the hills where they are mainly found. Puuc settlements are specifically associated with a unique architectural style (the "Puuc architectural style") that represents
47124-437: The northern lowlands. Following Chichén Itzá, whose political structure collapsed during the Early Postclassic, Mayapán rose to prominence during the Middle Postclassic and dominated the north for c. 200 years. After Mayapán's fragmentation, the political structure in the northern lowlands revolved around large towns or city-states, such as Oxkutzcab and Ti’ho ( Mérida, Yucatán ), that competed with one another. Toniná , in
47376-415: The nuclei of Mesoamerican settlements. The temples provided spatial orientation, which was imparted to the surrounding town. The cities with their commercial and religious centers were always political entities, somewhat similar to the European city-state , and each person could identify with the city where they lived. Ceremonial centers were always built to be visible. Pyramids were meant to stand out from
47628-449: The oldest permanent agricultural villages in the area, and one of the first to use pottery. During the Early and Middle Preclassic, the site developed some of the earliest examples of defensive palisades , ceremonial structures, the use of adobe , and hieroglyphic writing . Also of importance, the site was one of the first to demonstrate inherited status , signifying a radical shift in socio-cultural and political structure. San José Mogote
47880-473: The organization of sedentary agricultural villages. In the subsequent Formative period, agriculture and cultural traits such as a complex mythological and religious tradition , a vigesimal numeric system, a complex calendric system , a tradition of ball playing , and a distinct architectural style , were diffused through the area. Villages began to become socially stratified and develop into chiefdoms , and large ceremonial centers were built, interconnected by
48132-456: The outer regions of the empire, far from the core in the Valley of Mexico. Some provinces were treated as subject provinces, which provided the basis for economic stability for the empire, and strategic provinces, which were the basis for further expansion. Although the form of government is often referred to as an empire, most areas within the empire were organized as city-states, known as altepetl in Nahuatl. These were small polities ruled by
48384-618: The past few decades has established that it was first settled during the Early/Late Classic transition but rose to prominence during the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic. During its apogee, this widely known site economically and politically dominated the northern lowlands. Its participation in the circum-peninsular exchange route, possible through its port site of Isla Cerritos , allowed Chichén Itzá to remain highly connected to areas such as central Mexico and Central America. The apparent "Mexicanization" of architecture at Chichén Itzá led past researchers to believe that Chichén Itzá existed under
48636-548: The people of Chiapas came in 1522, when Hernán Cortés sent tax collectors to the area after Aztec Empire was subdued. The first military incursion was headed by Luis Marín, who arrived in 1523. After three years, Marín was able to subjugate a number of the local peoples, but met with fierce resistance from the Tzotzils in the highlands. The Spanish colonial government then sent a new expedition under Diego de Mazariegos . Mazariegos had more success than his predecessor, but many natives preferred to commit suicide rather than submit to
48888-465: The post-classic period shared essential cultural traits of Mesoamerica. So many of the characteristics that characterize Aztec culture cannot be said to be exclusive to the Aztecs. For the same reason, the notion of "Aztec civilization" is best understood as a particular horizon of a general Mesoamerican civilization. The culture of central Mexico includes maize cultivation, the social division between nobility ( pipiltin ) and commoners ( macehualtin ),
49140-438: The postconquest era, many other texts were written in Latin script by either literate Aztecs or by Spanish friars who interviewed the native people about their customs and stories. An important pictorial and alphabetic text produced in the early sixteenth century was Codex Mendoza , named after the first viceroy of Mexico and perhaps commissioned by him, to inform the Spanish crown about the political and economic structure of
49392-401: The protected biosphere reserve. The Zapatistas support these actions as part of indigenous rights, but that has put them in conflict with international environmental groups and with the indigenous inhabitants of the rainforest area, the Lacandons . Environmental groups state that the settlements pose grave risks to what remains of the Lacandon, while the Zapatistas accuse them of being fronts for
49644-465: The races was prohibited by colonial law but by the end of the 17th century there was a significant mestizo population. Added to this was a population of African slaves brought in by the Spanish in the middle of the 16th century due to the loss of native workforce. Initially, "Chiapas" referred to the first two cities established by the Spanish in what is now the center of the state and the area surrounding them. Two other regions were also established,
49896-448: The rebels and authorities. However, because of this diocese's activism since the 1960s, authorities accused the clergy of being involved with the rebels. There was some ambiguity about the relationship between Ruiz and Marcos and it was a constant feature of news coverage, with many in official circles using such to discredit Ruiz. Eventually, the activities of the Zapatistas began to worry the Roman Catholic Church in general and to upstage
50148-428: The rebels. These factors encouraged the rebellion to go national. Many blamed the unrest on infiltration of leftists among the large Central American refugee population in Chiapas, and the rebellion opened up splits in the countryside between those supporting and opposing the EZLN. Zapatista sympathizers have included mostly Protestants and Word of God Catholics, opposing those "traditionalist" Catholics who practiced
50400-442: The refugees and local populations. From within Mexico, refugees faced threats by local governments who threatened to deport them, legally or not, and local paramilitary groups funded by those worried about the political situation in Central America spilling over into the state. The official government response was to militarize the areas around the camps, which limited international access and migration into Mexico from Central America
50652-494: The region and received part of the tribute from the conquered city-states. In this way, the political standing and economy of Tenochtitlan gradually grew. In 1396, at Acamapichtli's death, his son Huitzilihhuitl ( lit. "Hummingbird feather") became ruler; married to Tezozomoc's daughter, the relationship with Azcapotzalco remained close. Chimalpopoca ( lit. "She smokes like a shield"), son of Huitzilihhuitl, became ruler of Tenochtitlan in 1417. In 1418, Azcapotzalco initiated
50904-415: The remainder of the northern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula . Other areas include Central Mexico, West Mexico, the Gulf Coast Lowlands, Oaxaca , the Southern Pacific Lowlands, and Southeast Mesoamerica (including northern Honduras ). There is extensive topographic variation in Mesoamerica, ranging from the high peaks circumscribing the Valley of Mexico and within the central Sierra Madre mountains to
51156-416: The rest of the city, to represent the gods and their powers. Another characteristic feature of the ceremonial centers is historic layers. All the ceremonial edifices were built in various phases, one on top of the other, to the point that what we now see is usually the last stage of construction. Ultimately, the ceremonial centers were the architectural translation of the identity of each city, as represented by
51408-464: The rise of city-states. The Mexica were late-comers to the Valley of Mexico, and founded the city-state of Tenochtitlan on unpromising islets in Lake Texcoco , later becoming the dominant power of the Aztec Triple Alliance or Aztec Empire. It was an empire that expanded its political hegemony far beyond the Valley of Mexico, conquering other city-states throughout Mesoamerica in the late post-classic period. It originated in 1427 as an alliance between
51660-500: The ruling dynasties, and extending an imperial ideology to its client city-states. Client city-states paid taxes, not tribute to the Aztec emperor, the Huey Tlatoani , in an economic strategy limiting communication and trade between outlying polities, making them dependent on the imperial center for the acquisition of luxury goods. The political clout of the empire reached far south into Mesoamerica conquering polities as far south as Chiapas and Guatemala and spanning Mesoamerica from
51912-445: The same altepetl, but enemies of Nahuatl speakers belonging to other competing altepetl states. In the basin of Mexico, altepetl was composed of subdivisions called calpolli , which served as the main organizational unit for commoners. In Tlaxcala and the Puebla valley, the altepetl was organized into teccalli units headed by a lord (Nahuatl languages: tecutli ), who would hold sway over a territory and distribute rights to land among
52164-409: The shallow lake Xochimilco. Itzcoatl then undertook further conquests in the valley of Morelos , subjecting the city-state of Cuauhnahuac (today Cuernavaca ). In 1440, Moteuczomatzin Ilhuicamina ( lit. "he frowns like a lord, he shoots the sky") was elected tlatoani; he was the son of Huitzilihhuitl, brother of Chimalpopoca and had served as the war leader of his uncle Itzcoatl in the war against
52416-486: The standard terminology of precolumbian anthropological studies. Conversely, the sister terms Aridoamerica and Oasisamerica , which refer to northern Mexico and the western United States, respectively, have not entered into widespread usage. Some of the significant cultural traits defining the Mesoamerican cultural tradition are: Located on the Middle American isthmus joining North and South America between ca. 10° and 22° northern latitude , Mesoamerica possesses
52668-408: The state capital, which he moved from San Cristóbal de las Casas to Tuxtla in 1892. He modernized public administration, transportation and promoted education. Rabasa also introduced the telegraph , limited public schooling, sanitation and road construction, including a route from San Cristóbal to Tuxtla then Oaxaca, which signaled the beginning of favoritism of development in the central valley over
52920-572: The state lost one of its main crops, indigo, to synthetic dyes. There was a small experiment with democracy in the form of "open city councils" but it was short-lived because voting was heavily rigged. The Universidad Pontificia y Literaria de Chiapas was founded in 1826, with Mexico's second teacher's college founded in the state in 1828. With the ouster of conservative Antonio López de Santa Anna , Mexican liberals came to power. The Reform War (1858–1861) fought between Liberals, who favored federalism and sought economic development, decreased power of
53172-925: The state's borders with Tabasco and Guatemala, near Mayan sites in those entities. Most of this area belongs to the Lacandon Jungle . Mayan civilization in the Lacandon area is marked by rising exploitation of rain forest resources, rigid social stratification, fervent local identity, waging war against neighboring peoples. At its height, it had large cities, a writing system, and development of scientific knowledge, such as mathematics and astronomy. Cities were centered on large political and ceremonial structures elaborately decorated with murals and inscriptions. Among these cities are Palenque , Xupa , Bonampak , Lacanha , Yaxchilan , Chinkultic , Toniná , Chinikiha , El Cayo , La Mar , El Palma , Oxlahuntun and Sak Tz'i . The Mayan civilization had extensive trade networks and large markets trading in goods such as animal skins, indigo , amber , vanilla and quetzal feathers. It
53424-534: The state's economy, but it also permitted the political rise of communal land owners called ejidatarios. In the mid-20th century, the state experienced a significant rise in population, which outstripped local resources, especially land in the highland areas. Since the 1930s, many indigenous and mestizos have migrated from the highland areas into the Lacandon Jungle with the populations of Altamirano, Las Margaritas, Ocosingo and Palenque rising from less than 11,000 in 1920 to over 376,000 in 2000. These migrants came to
53676-497: The state's indigenous population unlike in other areas of the country. Liberal governments expropriated lands that were previously held by the Spanish Crown and Catholic Church in order to sell them into private hands. This was not only motivated by ideology, but also due to the need to raise money. However, many of these lands had been in a kind of "trust" with the local indigenous populations, who worked them. Liberal reforms took away this arrangement and many of these lands fell into
53928-434: The state, Chiapas did not follow the uprisings in other areas that would end the Porfirian era. Japanese immigration to Mexico began in 1897 when the first thirty five migrants arrived in Chiapas to work on coffee farms, so that Mexico was the first Latin American country to receive organized Japanese immigration. Although this colony ultimately failed, there remains a small Japanese community in Acacoyagua , Chiapas. In
54180-432: The state, although they never led to large rebel armies as in other parts of Mexico. A small war broke out between Tuxtla Gutiérrez and San Cristobal in 1911. San Cristóbal, allied with San Juan Chamula , tried to regain the state's capital but the effort failed. San Cristóbal de las Casas, which had a very limited budget, to the extent that it had to ally with San Juan Chamula challenged Tuxtla Gutierrez which, with only
54432-488: The state. In general, elite landowners also allied with the nationally dominant party founded by Plutarco Elías Calles following the assassination of president-elect Obregón in 1928; that party was renamed the Institutional Revolutionary Party in 1946. Through that alliance, they could block land reform in this way as well. The Mapaches were first defeated in 1925 when an alliance of socialists and former Carranza loyalists had Carlos A. Vidal selected as governor, although he
54684-413: The state. These communities had had almost no contact with the Ladino world, except for a priest. The new Ladino landowners occupied their acquired lands as well as others, such as shopkeepers, opened up businesses in the center of Indian communities. In 1848, a group of Tzeltals plotted to kill the new mestizos in their midst, but this plan was discovered, and was punished by the removal of large number of
54936-425: The stones, and had knowledge of Catholic ritual, becoming a kind of priest. However, this challenged the traditional Catholic faith and non Indians began to denounce the cult. Stories about the cult include embellishments such as the crucifixion of a young Indian boy. This led to the arrest of Checheb and Cuzcat in December 1868. This caused resentment among the Tzotzils. Although the Liberals had earlier supported
55188-404: The tax revenue flowing. Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize , Guatemala , El Salvador , and parts of Honduras , Nicaragua and Costa Rica . As a cultural area, Mesoamerica
55440-404: The term "Aztec" refers to several Nahuatl-speaking peoples of central Mexico in the postclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology, especially the Mexica, the ethnic group that had a leading role in establishing the hegemonic empire based at Tenochtitlan. The term extends to further ethnic groups associated with the Aztec empire, such as the Acolhua, the Tepanec, and others that were incorporated into
55692-513: The time following the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century is classified as the Colonial period. The differentiation of early periods (i.e., up through the end of the Late Preclassic ) generally reflects different configurations of socio-cultural organization that are characterized by increasing socio-political complexity , the adoption of new and different subsistence strategies , and changes in economic organization (including increased interregional interaction). The Classic period through
55944-452: The towns of San Cristobal de las Casas , Las Margaritas , Altamirano , Ocosingo and three others. They read their proclamation of revolt to the world and then laid siege to a nearby military base, capturing weapons and releasing many prisoners from the jails. This action followed previous protests in the state in opposition to neoliberal economic policies. Although it has been estimated as having no more than 300 armed guerrilla members,
56196-407: The tradition of cultural history , the prevalent archaeological theory of the early to middle 20th century, Kirchhoff defined this zone as a cultural area based on a suite of interrelated cultural similarities brought about by millennia of inter- and intra-regional interaction (i.e., diffusion ). Mesoamerica is recognized as a near-prototypical cultural area. This term is now fully integrated into
56448-419: The upper hand nationally in the mid-19th century, one Liberal politician Ángel Albino Corzo gained control of the state. Corzo became the primary exponent of Liberal ideas in the southeast of Mexico and defended the Palenque and Pichucalco areas from annexation by Tabasco. However, Corzo's rule would end in 1875, when he opposed the regime of Porfirio Díaz . Liberal land reforms would have negative effects on
56700-435: The valley of Mexico and Cuauhnahuac in Morelos. In the ethnohistorical sources from the colonial period, the Mexica themselves describe their arrival in the Valley of Mexico. The ethnonym Aztec (Nahuatl Aztecah ) means "people from Aztlan ", Aztlan being a mythical place of origin toward the north. Hence the term applied to all those peoples who claimed to carry the heritage from this mythical place. The migration stories of
56952-873: The valley was the construction of chinampas on the lake, artificial islands that allowed the conversion of the shallow waters into highly fertile gardens that could be cultivated year-round. Chinampas are human-made extensions of agricultural land, created from alternating layers of mud from the bottom of the lake, and plant matter and other vegetation. These raised beds were separated by narrow canals, which allowed farmers to move between them by canoe. Chinampas were extremely fertile pieces of land, and yielded, on average, seven crops annually. Based on current chinampa yields, it has been estimated that one hectare (2.5 acres) of chinampa would feed 20 individuals and 9,000 hectares (22,000 acres) of chinampas could feed 180,000. The Aztecs further intensified agricultural production by constructing systems of artificial irrigation . While most of
57204-411: The veneration of their gods and masters. Stelae were common public monuments throughout Mesoamerica and served to commemorate notable successes, events, and dates associated with the rulers and nobility of the various sites. Given that Mesoamerica was broken into numerous and diverse ecological niches, none of the societies that inhabited the area were self-sufficient, although very long-distance trade
57456-444: The work was done around Tuxtla Gutiérrez and Tapachula. This included the Sureste railroad connecting northern municipalities such as Pichucalco, Salto de Agua, Palenque, Catazajá and La Libertad . The Cristobal Colon highway linked Tuxtla to the Guatemalan border. Other highways included El Escopetazo to Pichucalco, a highway between San Cristóbal and Palenque with branches to Cuxtepeques and La Frailesca. This helped to integrate
57708-483: The world, though the number of species in the red list of the IUCN grows every year. The history of human occupation in Mesoamerica is divided into stages or periods. These are known, with slight variation depending on region, as the Paleo-Indian , the Archaic , the Preclassic (or Formative), the Classic , and the Postclassic . The last three periods, representing the core of Mesoamerican cultural fluorescence, are further divided into two or three sub-phases. Most of
57960-493: The youngest child who is dead as he had lived in life but not death"), was a son of Axayacatl, and a war leader. He began his rule in standard fashion, conducting a coronation campaign to demonstrate his skills as a leader. He attacked the fortified city of Nopallan in Oaxaca and subjected the adjacent region to the empire. An effective warrior, Moctezuma maintained the pace of conquest set by his predecessor and subjected large areas in Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, and even far south along
58212-403: Was Ahuitzotl ( lit. "Water monster"), brother of Axayacatl and Tizoc and war leader under Tizoc. His successful coronation campaign suppressed rebellions in the Toluca Valley and conquered Jilotepec and several communities in the northern Valley of Mexico. A second 1521 campaign to the gulf coast was also highly successful. He began an enlargement of the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan, inaugurating
58464-456: Was allied with Caracol and may have assisted in the defeat of Tikal), and Dos Pilas Aguateca and Cancuén in the Petexbatún region of Guatemala. Around 710, Tikal arose again and started to build strong alliances and defeat its worst enemies. In the Maya area, the Late Classic ended with the so-called " Maya collapse ", a transitional period coupling the general depopulation of the southern lowlands and development and florescence of centers in
58716-402: Was also the main source of ethnic identity for the inhabitants, even though Altepetl was frequently composed of groups speaking different languages. Each altepetl would see itself as standing in political contrast to other altepetl polities, and war was waged between altepetl states. In this way, Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs of one Altepetl would be solidary with speakers of other languages belonging to
58968-408: Was assassinated two years later. The last of the Mapache resistance was overcome in the early 1930s by Governor Victorico Grajales, who pursued President Lázaro Cárdenas ' social and economic policies including persecution of the Catholic Church. These policies would have some success in redistributing lands and organizing indigenous workers but the state would remain relatively isolated for the rest of
59220-433: Was captured on 13 August 1521, marking the beginning of Spanish hegemony in central Mexico. Spaniards held Cuauhtémoc captive until he was tortured and executed on the orders of Cortés, supposedly for treason, during an ill-fated expedition to Honduras in 1525. His death marked the end of a tumultuous era in Aztec political history. After the fall of the Aztec Empire, entire Nahua communities were subject to forced labor under
59472-400: Was common only for very rare goods, or luxury materials. For this reason, from the last centuries of the Archaic period (8000 BCE– 1000 BCE) onward, regions compensated for the environmental inadequacies by specializing in the extraction of certain abundant natural resources and then trading them for necessary unavailable resources through established commercial trade networks. The following
59724-435: Was conquered, and the Aztecs did not generally interfere in local affairs as long as the tax payments were made and the local elites participated willingly. Such compliance was secured by establishing and maintaining a network of elites, related through intermarriage and different forms of exchange. Nevertheless, the expansion of the empire was accomplished through military control of frontier zones, in strategic provinces where
59976-419: Was conquered, the victor imposed a yearly tax, usually paid in the form of whichever local product was most valuable or treasured. Several pages from the Codex Mendoza list subject towns along with the goods they supplied, which included not only luxuries such as feathers, adorned suits, and greenstone beads, but more practical goods such as cloth, firewood, and food. Taxes were usually paid twice or four times
60228-422: Was elected the next Mexica tlatoani . The Mexica were now in open war with Azcapotzalco and Itzcoatl petitioned for an alliance with Nezahualcoyotl , son of the slain Texcocan ruler Ixtlilxochitl against Maxtla. Itzcoatl also allied with Maxtla's brother Totoquihuaztli ruler of the Tepanec city of Tlacopan. The Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan besieged Azcapotzalco, and in 1428 they destroyed
60480-420: Was eventually overtaken by Monte Albán , the subsequent capital of the Zapotec empire , during the Late Preclassic. The Preclassic in western Mexico, in the states of Nayarit , Jalisco , Colima , and Michoacán also known as the Occidente, is poorly understood. This period is best represented by the thousands of figurines recovered by looters and ascribed to the " shaft tomb tradition ". The Classic period
60732-553: Was inhabited by speakers of Nahuatl, or whether Nahuas had not yet arrived in central Mexico in the classic period. It is generally agreed that the Nahua peoples were not indigenous to the highlands of central Mexico, but that they gradually migrated into the region from somewhere in northwestern Mexico. At the fall of Teotihuacan in the 6th century CE, some city-states rose to power in central Mexico, some of them, including Cholula and Xochicalco, probably inhabited by Nahuatl speakers. One study has suggested that Nahuas originally inhabited
60984-404: Was invaded Moctezuma's forces in the 1450s, the Aztec Empire would oppress the Mixtec and Zapotec peoples, who they would also require to pay tributes . Motecuzoma I also consolidated the political structure of the Triple Alliance and the internal political organization of Tenochtitlan. His brother Tlacaelel served as his main advisor (Nahuatl languages: Cihuacoatl ) and he is considered
61236-416: Was largely responsible for the success of the empire's hegemonic form of control. Like all Mesoamerican peoples, Aztec society was organized around maize agriculture. The humid environment in the Valley of Mexico with its many lakes and swamps permitted intensive agriculture. The main crops in addition to maize were beans, squashes, chilies, and amaranth . Particularly important for agricultural production in
61488-502: Was no shortage of protein among the inhabitants of the Valley of Mexico. The excess supply of food products allowed a significant portion of the Aztec population to dedicate themselves to trades other than food production. Apart from taking care of domestic food production, women weaved textiles from agave fibers and cotton . Men also engaged in craft specializations such as the production of ceramics and obsidian and flint tools and of luxury goods such as beadwork , featherwork , and
61740-402: Was organized into city-states ( altepetl ), some of which joined to form alliances, political confederations, or empires. The Aztec Empire was a confederation of three city-states established in 1427: Tenochtitlan , the capital city of the Mexica or Tenochca, Tetzcoco , and Tlacopan , previously part of the Tepanec empire, whose dominant power was Azcapotzalco . Although the term Aztecs
61992-413: Was predominantly used by the Maya during the Early Classic), and jade from the Motagua valley in Guatemala. Tikal was often in conflict with other polities in the Petén Basin , as well as with others outside of it, including Uaxactun , Caracol , Dos Pilas , Naranjo , and Calakmul . Towards the end of the Early Classic, this conflict lead to Tikal's military defeat at the hands of Caracol in 562, and
62244-452: Was restricted. By 1990, it was estimated that there were over 200,000 Guatemalans and half a million from El Salvador, almost all peasant farmers and most under age twenty. In the 1980s, the politization of the indigenous and rural populations of the state that began in the 1960s and 1970s continued. In 1980, several ejido (communal land organizations) joined to form the Union of Ejidal Unions and United Peasants of Chiapas, generally called
62496-444: Was ruled by indirect means. Like most European empires, it was ethnically very diverse, but unlike most European empires, it was more of a hegemonic confederacy than a single system of government. Ethnohistorian Ross Hassig has argued that the Aztec empire is best understood as an informal or hegemonic empire because it did not exert supreme authority over the conquered lands; it merely expected taxes to be paid and exerted force only to
62748-426: Was some influence from the rising powers of central Mexico but two main indigenous groups emerged during this time, the Zoques and the various Mayan descendants. The Chiapans, for whom the state is named, migrated into the center of the state during this time and settled around Chiapa de Corzo, the old Mixe–Zoque stronghold. There is evidence that the Aztecs appeared in the center of the state around Chiapa de Corza in
63000-427: Was spent attempting to quell rebellions and maintain control of areas conquered by his predecessors. Tizoc died suddenly in 1485, and it has been suggested that he was poisoned by his brother and war leader Ahuitzotl who became the next tlatoani. Tizoc is mostly known as the namesake of the Stone of Tizoc a monumental sculpture (Nahuatl temalacatl ), decorated with a representation of Tizoc's conquests. The next ruler
63252-413: Was the city-state, in Nahuatl called the altepetl , meaning "water-mountain". Each altepetl was led by a ruler, a tlatoani , with authority over a group of nobles and a population of commoners. The altepetl included a capital that served as a religious center, the hub of distribution and organization of a local population that often lived spread out in minor settlements surrounding the capital. Altepetl
63504-506: Was the staple crop in the region, and remained so through modern times. The Ramón or Breadnut tree ( Brosimum alicastrum ) was an occasional substitute for maize in producing flour. Fruit was also important in the daily diet of Mesoamerican cultures. Some of the main ones consumed include avocado , papaya , guava , mamey , zapote , and annona . Mesoamerica lacked animals suitable for domestication, most notably domesticated large ungulates . The lack of draft animals for transportation
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