Mesoamerican Societies: Inka, Olmec, And Maya

1491 Essay

In this essay I will discuss three societies from the book and describe and compare some of their innovations. Sharing some of my opinions on the authors writing and the different societies can bring more thought into the inquiry. Among the many societies discussed, I chose some Mesoamerican societies such as, the Inka, Olmec, and Maya. The Inka culture was once one of the world’s cultural wellsprings. More than three hundred years ago, Spaniards ravaged their culture and the history of their fall was not documented until 1847 by William H. Prescott. In 1491, the Incas ruled the greatest (and biggest according to Mann’s exclamation when comparing different empires in history) empire on earth. They dominated thirty-two degrees
They used to be described as “mysterious’ and they were the “mother culture” of Mesoamerica” (207) but recently archeologists are coming to believe that neither is true. What I took out of this paragraph on page 207 is that, the Olmec has existed but hasn’t come into view and was hidden, now, it has emerged out of nowhere fully formed like the society have been quietly developing themselves until they were found. Researchers say they emerged after the development of maize agriculture. The Olmec spoke a language in the Mixe-Zoquean family and is presumably a word from the language Nahuatl. Some scientists discovered that they may have invented rubber from chemically treating a latex-containing sap from a tree. According to archeologists they practiced deforming rituals on newborns to proclaim that the wealthy were deformed. They also carved grooves into their teeth and plugging their septum with jades after piercing them but these descriptions were portrayed in figurines and there were no proof found on skulls that they actually did this. Elites wore clothing while the poor were likely naked but had
It is my belief that another reason for their fall is that they did not want to unify and were competitive so they did not benefitting at all unlike the Inka society. Their land was geochemically-hostile and riddled with limestone. They get very little rainfall so when they do, the limestone soaks up the water and is hard to extract. Even the lakes and natural holes in the earth had toxic water because of chemicals. To fight these conditions they try to filter the water using sediments, salt, and limestone to create an artificially habitable environment. Small cities created reservoirs around neighborhoods which create canals. They carved terraces into dry hillsides to retain rain. Small cities were able to improve agricultural conditions and allowed expansion but also bringing vulnerability. Erosion, hurricanes, and weeds destroyed their hard work which creates more maintenance. The cities were to small to maintain armies so instead, they used short-term militiamen. These men wore cotton armor and wooden helmets and various tactical weapons. They also carried effigies of their