How Did Early Civilization Influence Mesoamerican Civilization

Early civilizations influence our culture in many different aspects. Ranging from religion to governmental structures, civilizations have blended their traditions and practices and make the people we are today. The influences early African and Mesoamerican civilizations had on history were as important as the influences of the large eurasian empire, Mesopotamia.
Religion has come far through time. Mesopotamia practiced polytheistic religions and built ziggurats, temples used for worshiping the gods. The structure of these buildings resembled the step pyramids of the Mesoamerican civilization. In addition, the people of both civilizations didn’t benefit from following their own religion, for the Sumerian gods were thought to have hated the Sumerians and the Aztec gods decreased their population by feeding off of human sacrifices. In the early African civilizations, many groups in Northern Africa adopted Islam. Stated as one of the five
Since farming was their only source of food, they had to develop innovative technologies in order to make the process easier. This relates to how early African civilizations depended on trade to obtain necessary resources. However, we sometimes fail to realize the prominence of technologies developed by early African civilizations. For instance, the people of Great Zimbabwe relied on iron tools for farming. A Moroccan traveler commented on how much the city of Timbuktu impressed him. “Various manuscripts and written books are brought here … and sold for more money than other merchandise (DBQ 7: Africa Before European Arrival).” This implies that early African civilizations were also rich in ideas. For the Mesoamerican civilizations, the Mayans were the first people to use the number zero and the Aztecs were able to treat cavities. Some of the Mesoamerican contributions were simply for their entertainment. The Mayans developed a game using rubber