Mesoamerica The Forgotten Origins of Mexico
December 29th, 2010 11:51 AM
I recently had the opportunity to go to Mexico on a student exchange while attending university and living with a host family. My outlook on Mexico, its people, and its culture, drastically changed during my stay.
In my university classes and visits to museums, ruins, and pyramids, I was given a first-hand tour of the narrative history of Mexico. The origins of civilization in Mesoamerica began with the Olmec people who emerged at around 1000 B.C.E. The Olmec are considered to be the mother culture as many underlying themes for all Mesoamerican civilizations originated from them. Much of their artwork has been discovered, including a number of life-sized paintings on rock faces depicting animals and people, and, perhaps the most intriguing of Olmec discoveries, nine giant sculpted, greenstone heads. I was fortunate enough to see one of these astonishing, giant heads at the Museo de Antropologia in Mexico City. The impressive Olmec artwork given the limited resources they had available to them, shows that they were a technically advanced population for their time.
Other civilizations in Mesoamerica during the classic period (150- 650 C.E.) included the Zapotec, Monte Alban and Teotihuacán civilizations. A memorable moment was visiting the Teotihuacán ruins north of Mexico City where I was able to see the breathtaking pyramids - one for the sun and the other the moon representing the Mesoamerican theme of duality - and the great remains of what used to be a powerful urban centre in Mesoamerica.
The Maya (300-900 C.E.) civilization conquered the Olmecs and Zapotecs and left an influential mark in Mesoamerica. The Maya built an impressive civilization based around agriculture (corn), cities made of stone, landmarks, ceremonial centers, plazas, and the city-state. It is an unexplainable phenomenon in Mesoamerican history, but at some time between 750-900 C.E. all the major civilizations collapsed, abandoning the infrastructure and cities they had constructed.
The Toltec civilization came in the 11th century, followed by the Aztecs in the 13th century. The Aztecs expanded their influence through alliance and conquest, but were overthrown by the Spanish upon their arrival in 1519. When Cortés, a Spanish general, arrived in Mesoamerica there were 20 million people living in the Aztec empire. The Spaniards were astounded by the proficiency and advanced state of the Aztec civilization; however, in 1521 conquest was made a reality, after the Christian Spaniards agreed that the Aztec's human sacrifices to gods, followed by blood offerings and cannibalism, were nothing short of barbaric and would need to be put to an end. The colony of New Spain was founded in 1524 and Cortés was named the first viceroy. European immigrants introduced fatal diseases like smallpox into the colony, which coupled with the high suicide rates and death from overworking and exhaustion, effectively killed off the population of indigenous peoples. By 1570 the population of indigenous people had been drastically reduced to 2 million. After 300 years of colonial occupation, Mesoamerica had effectively been erased by the Spanish.
Next issue I will discuss the Independence movement, the Mexican Revolution, and how they gave root to the modern day Mexican identity.
Marcel Sangsari is a lifelong North Shore resident and currently a second year UBC student in the faculty of Arts.
copyright North Shore Magazine Issue Dec 05 - Jan 06
In my university classes and visits to museums, ruins, and pyramids, I was given a first-hand tour of the narrative history of Mexico. The origins of civilization in Mesoamerica began with the Olmec people who emerged at around 1000 B.C.E. The Olmec are considered to be the mother culture as many underlying themes for all Mesoamerican civilizations originated from them. Much of their artwork has been discovered, including a number of life-sized paintings on rock faces depicting animals and people, and, perhaps the most intriguing of Olmec discoveries, nine giant sculpted, greenstone heads. I was fortunate enough to see one of these astonishing, giant heads at the Museo de Antropologia in Mexico City. The impressive Olmec artwork given the limited resources they had available to them, shows that they were a technically advanced population for their time.
Other civilizations in Mesoamerica during the classic period (150- 650 C.E.) included the Zapotec, Monte Alban and Teotihuacán civilizations. A memorable moment was visiting the Teotihuacán ruins north of Mexico City where I was able to see the breathtaking pyramids - one for the sun and the other the moon representing the Mesoamerican theme of duality - and the great remains of what used to be a powerful urban centre in Mesoamerica.
The Maya (300-900 C.E.) civilization conquered the Olmecs and Zapotecs and left an influential mark in Mesoamerica. The Maya built an impressive civilization based around agriculture (corn), cities made of stone, landmarks, ceremonial centers, plazas, and the city-state. It is an unexplainable phenomenon in Mesoamerican history, but at some time between 750-900 C.E. all the major civilizations collapsed, abandoning the infrastructure and cities they had constructed.
The Toltec civilization came in the 11th century, followed by the Aztecs in the 13th century. The Aztecs expanded their influence through alliance and conquest, but were overthrown by the Spanish upon their arrival in 1519. When Cortés, a Spanish general, arrived in Mesoamerica there were 20 million people living in the Aztec empire. The Spaniards were astounded by the proficiency and advanced state of the Aztec civilization; however, in 1521 conquest was made a reality, after the Christian Spaniards agreed that the Aztec's human sacrifices to gods, followed by blood offerings and cannibalism, were nothing short of barbaric and would need to be put to an end. The colony of New Spain was founded in 1524 and Cortés was named the first viceroy. European immigrants introduced fatal diseases like smallpox into the colony, which coupled with the high suicide rates and death from overworking and exhaustion, effectively killed off the population of indigenous peoples. By 1570 the population of indigenous people had been drastically reduced to 2 million. After 300 years of colonial occupation, Mesoamerica had effectively been erased by the Spanish.
Next issue I will discuss the Independence movement, the Mexican Revolution, and how they gave root to the modern day Mexican identity.
Marcel Sangsari is a lifelong North Shore resident and currently a second year UBC student in the faculty of Arts.
copyright North Shore Magazine Issue Dec 05 - Jan 06
