Pre-Columbian Literature: The Aztecs, Mayans, Incas

In the fourth century, while in Europe continues the dismemberment of the Roman Empire through the struggles with the barbarians, in American Indian cultures flourish, namely: in the center of Mexico, Teotihuacan and Toltec, in the Yucatan Peninsula, the Maya in Central America, the quiche. From the eleventh century, a period of consolidation of feudalism in most of Europe, except Spain, absorbed in its wars against the Moors, the Incas, on the basis of earlier cultures, expand through the present territories of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, northern Chile and Argentina.

The Aztecs in the thirteenth century, they achieve a hegemonic position within Mexico dominating the aboriginal neighbors. In the fifteenth century the Aztecs dominate the Valley of Mexico, Montezuma was in power, the Mayans were in total decay, the Incas found at the time of flowering of the empire. Archaeologists and paleontologists agree that the Amerindians arrived from elsewhere and settled in the Americas. There are no vestiges of America where primitive humans could have carried the indigenous population, and therefore it is assumed that the first inhabitants came from Asia to America, probably by the Bering Strait.

This immigration began apparently ended the ice ages. Immigrants certainly belonged to the ethnic Mongolian, and therefore early American Indians would be akin to the Chinese. Immigrants occupied North America, then the center and finally the south. They were hunters and nomadic existence were a few other regions in search of edible plants and game. It is not known how or when they began to grow corn, known only cereal. The advent of agriculture brought an end to nomadism and cemented more sophisticated social structures, cultural events coming to the fore.

The Aztecs, in Mexico has been unable to discover their culture more remote, but has been able to define a very primitive has been called "archaic." In the first centuries BC, flourished a population that grew corn : the Olmec, who were skilled sculptors. In the tenth century AD, the inhabitants of the highlands were physically overwhelmed by a powerful invading Toltecs, who created an empire as remarkable as the next village. In the thirteenth century AD, the Aztecs settled in central Mexico.

After beating peoples ancestors, the Aztecs founded on some islets in Lake Texcoco, a city called Tenochtitlan, the "city of roses, cactus," according to tradition into 1325. Until the fifteenth century did not have great importance as a historical community, But in this century Pactan alliances with other peoples they subdued and soon came to dominate much of what is now Mexico. The tribes retained their autonomy annexed, while paying tribute to Tenochtitlan.

In the fifteenth century, the Aztecs had a lyric and epic poetry widely developed. They have preserved some pieces of his native language, Nahuatl, including the songs are attributed to Netzahualcoyol, King of Texcoco and the Sacred Hymns of the Nahua , a missionary of the natives collected shortly after the Spanish arrived.

In February 1519 Hernán Cortés landed on the coast of Mexico, nine months later he was received by the emperor Moctezuma as a guest of honor at Tenochtitlan, the Aztec chief town, and stayed there peacefully for a few months, until the killing done in the sanctuary of Cholula (six thousand Indians slain), while his cult officiated, triggered the reaction of the Aztecs and the conquistadors were forced to leave.

A year later, Cuauhtemoc, last Aztec emperor, gave the smoking ruins of Tenochtitlan, the imperial city, center of a civilization cut short in the middle of its evolution. Disappears a culture of which there are few witnesses, including those of its destroyers and some Indians who have the tragedy of his people annihilated.

The Maya, the Spanish who came to the Mayan domains found a territory populated by diverse communities, were the remains of a civilization that links its origins in Aztec culture. In the cities of Piedras Negras and Tikal, in the fourth century, begins the period of the ancient empire that extends to the tenth century and provides outstanding urban centers in Palenque and Copan, within a territory covering Guatemala, Honduras and the base of the Yucatan Peninsula.

In the beginning, the Maya tribes have settled in northern Peten and Tikal. Its economy was based on maize, cotton, cocoa and certain national fiber. By the will of the ruling class temples were built in the form of a truncated pyramid in which stood a rectangular building with several rooms and approached by steps side also built palaces.

They may have been the primitive methods of cultivation were gradually disabling the land, one of the reasons that forced the Maya to migrate to other regions. It is in the east of the Yucatan peninsula, says the new empire to flourish with the cities of Chichen Itza, Mayapan and Uxmal, linked through partnership agreements. The society was constituted by the nobility, the clergy, the people and slaves.

With time came to subdue Mayapán other cities and kept them under his control nearly two centuries until the rise of the defeated vassals populations. This struggle began total dismemberment of existing political organization and with the destruction of power of Mayapan began the decline of Mayan civilization in the mid-fifteenth century.

In 1527 came a Spanish expedition under the command of Francisco Montejo, who like other conquerors, just wanted to find gold and conquer earth, and his men behaved with great propriety regarding the Indians, burning their sacred books and destroying their idols . After fifteen years of bitter struggle and violence, managed to wipe out the last rebellion of the Indians and the Yucatán became another Spanish possession.

That conquest meant the disappearance of a culture that still arouses admiration and wonder. Are preserved, however, some literary works, among them is the "Popol Vuh" which was estimated as a sacred book of the Maya-Quiche. The Father Francisco Jimenez included the transcription and translation in the first volume of his "History of the origin of the Indians of this province of Guatemala."

An unknown Indian place in the Latin alphabet version of the myth of the Quiche (currently 10% of Guatemala's population currently speaks Quiche), powerful and civilized people in the time of the conquest. The author claims to write the statement, publication and the narration of what was hidden, that is, the revelations are recorded in paintings disappeared at the hands of Christian fervor and fire. But today, it is assumed that the manuscript completed before the year 1559, rather than playing a single text, compiles and presents the history of the ancestors of the author, it took oral and pictorial tradition.

The Incas: Cortes had penetrated to the heart of the Aztec empire, Montejo had discovered the origins of the Mayan culture. In the Andes, thousands of feet above sea level, had a splendid civilization and desarrtollado rich, numerous archaeological discoveries testify today. Investigators believe that on the coasts of Peru and was a flourishing culture during the first five centuries of our era (the time when the Maya lived its golden age).

It was characterized by efficient agriculture, excellent textile crafts, fine ceramics and highly developed sculpture and architecture. As in Central America that golden age was followed by a prolonged period of decline, followed in turn by a renaissance. With the difference that the Mayan civilization fell again in the fifteenth century, while the Indian culture of Peru reached its further development along this century.

The Incas were not the only nor the first civilized people of that part of the world, but the heirs of other civilizations that flourished many centuries before. The first emperor Inca history has been noted in all likelihood ruled in the early twelfth century . The Inca Empire was politically and culturally constituted a long time and their rulers had organized a centralized administration in his famous capital Cuzco, northwest of Lake Titicaca.

The fundamental unit of all social structures over time, were born and developed in the Andes was the "ayllu" means the tribe, the clan. At the top of the social pyramid was the ruler, the Inca . A road network facilitates inspection of all areas of the country, Awakening the admiration of the Spanish. franked imperial roads lined canyons and cliffs high, and often on the mountain tunnels, saved the difficult steps, over rivers and valleys suspension bridges built cleverly extended and along the highway travelers could rest. I invite you to visit the Digital Library http://www.magazineofsales.com where you'll find items of proven quality for your personal and spiritual development: Output Labor, Health (Natural Treatments), Sports, Entertainment, Computing, Languages, and more.