Our world and Mesoamerican civilizations, What difference is there??

Mindy Kim

Period 2

5/18/10

S. Studies

Comparing to today’s world, there are many aspects of comparison and differences between Mesoamerican civilizations. Between the civilizations of Olmecs, Aztecs, Incas, and Mayas, there are many comparisons and contrasts in the Political, Economic, Social-cultural, Technological, and Environmental. Different civilizations have different comparisons and contrasts between today’s world and the past.

The Olmecs had an influence to other cultures included in the Social-cultural aspect. “Many historians consider the Olmec civilization the mother culture of Mesoamerica.”(McDougall Littell Pg. 377) A mother culture is a way of life that influenced later cultures. The Olmec civilization influenced later successful cultures including the Aztecs and the Mayans. Similar to influences of culture, there were many influences made in modern United States. As an example, there was a dance called Modern Dance which influenced from Europe to anywhere. “Modern dance is a more relaxed, free style of dance in which choreographers uses emotions and moods to design their own steps, in contrast to ballet's structured code of steps.” (www.Wikepedia.com, 5/18/10) Modern dance was an influence to possibly other dances and countries compared to the Olmecs who influenced different cutures as a mother culture.

Progressing to other Mesoamerican civilizations, the Aztecs had the Political aspect when the Aztec empire was falling. “The empire was at its height in 1402 when a new emperor, Montezuma II, came to power.” (McDougall Littell P. 400) As he came into control, many Aztec subjects were against him due to his harsh treatment and extensive amount of tribute. Soon, some Aztec subjects began to rebel as his fault led to the fall of the empire. Similar to the Aztecs, Hitler during World War II led to the decline of Germany. One of his fellow generals was asked to follow a plan, but the general never followed through. “The withdrawal had so weakened the front that the Russians had broken through into Berlin.” (www.Wikepedia.com, 5/18/10) With the fault that the plan didn’t follow through for Germany, the Aztecs from long ago and the Germans from World War II was not that much different.

The Mayas had a very efficient technological or mathematical system that had accurate calendars and the time of the solar eclipses. “By using their math system, the Maya made great advances in astronomy.” (McDougall Littell Pg.385) The mathematics was also used to build a very accurate calendar. This also helped farmers when to plant seeds and harvest the crops. The calendars enabled the Maya to keep very precise records of events. Due to the accurate calendar system, it is so precise that from today’s time, the calculations are only 33 seconds apart. As one can also understand, the Mayan calendar is also made of gears that show the year, time, etc. Even the accurate calendar has an end. With the calculations, the end of the world is precisely Sunday December 23, 2012. Due to the worries of having this happen, Mayan shamans today still calculate if ancient Mayans were correct. With the ancient accurate calendar, it still influences us, humans, today.

Once again to the Olmecs, they had a prosperous trade which leads to the economic aspect. Most of the Olmec cities served as trading centers. “The Olmec mainly traded for luxury items needed by the elite.”(McDougal Littell Pg. 376) Elite is an upper class of priests and nobles who ruled Olmec society. As the Olmecs traded, they received many luxurious items, but not only that; they also received knowledge and ideas from other cultures. Similar to our modern world, we trade money for knowledge(books) and even luxurious items(diamond rings). In today’s world, it is known as buying objects. However, there is no difference, a person can buy something and an ancient Mayan can trade an item for another. People today, worked like the Mayans to earn their money and trade for other items. The ways of trading and buying are similar yet different at the same time.

The area where the Incas lived, the central Andes, was a land of diverse terrain. There were tropical rainforests that covered that of the north as the center had green, fertile valleys surrounded by two mountain ranges. “In the 1100s, the Inca began to travel north from the highland plateau.” (McDougall Littell Pg. 409) There their capital city was founded which was named Cuzco. The modern city of Los Cerritos is located between the borders of Orange County and Los Angeles. The climate is not so hot nor is it too cold. The city of Cerritos also has the climate of the Mediterranean Sea and shares the same weather of that along the Mediterranean Sea. Cerritos doesn’t have much of the fog that is from far away, but there is a cooling breeze from the San Gabriel River. Due to this, Cerritos is rarely affected by the smog. The Inca had larger land and different climates based on the area as Cerritos had a smaller piece of land and same fluctuations of the climates throughout the whole city.

These comparisons and contrasts between the Aztecs, Mayas, Olmecs, and the Incas were described with the Political, Economic, Social-cultural, Technological, and Environmental aspects. Between today’s world and the ancient Mesoamerican civilizations, there were several differences, but other than that most of the aspects are similar with one another. Mesoamerican civilizations are definitely from a different time, however, the way their culture works is no different from ours. We are all one.