Editing History of Mexico (section)

==Pre-Columbian civilizations==
{{Main|Pre-Columbian Mexico}}

[[File:Chichen Itza 3.jpg|thumb|The Castillo, Chichen Itza, Mexico, ca. 800–900 CE]]
[[File:Cancuenpanel3.jpg|thumb|right|Panel 3 from Cancuen, Guatemala, representing king T'ah 'ak' Cha'an]]

Large and complex civilizations developed in the center and southern regions of Mexico (with the southern region extending into what is now Central America) in what has come to be known as [[Mesoamerica]]. The civilizations that rose and declined over millennia were characterized by:<ref>Ida Altman, Sarah Cline, and Javier Pescador, ''The Early History of Greater Mexico'', Pearson 2003: pp. 9–14.</ref>
# significant urban settlements;
# monumental architecture such as temples, palaces, and other monumental architecture, such as the [[ball court]];
# the division of society into religious and political elites (such as warriors and merchants) and commoners who pursued subsistence agriculture;
# transfer of tribute and rendering of labor from commoners to elites;
# reliance on agriculture often supplemented by hunting and fishing and the complete absence of a pastoral (herding) economy since there were no domesticated herd animals before the arrival of the Europeans;
# trade networks and markets.

The history of Mexico before the Spanish conquest is known through the work of [[archeology|archaeologists]], [[epigraphy|epigraphers]], and ethnohistorians, who analyze [[Mesoamerican]] indigenous manuscripts, particularly [[Aztec codices]], [[Mayan codices]], and [[Mixtec codices]]. Accounts written by Spaniards at the time of the conquest (the ''[[conquistador]]es'') and by Indigenous chroniclers of the postconquest period constitute the principal source of information regarding Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Few pictorial manuscripts (or [[codices]]) of the [[Maya civilization|Maya]], [[Mixtec]], and [[Mexica]] cultures of the [[Post-Classic stage|Post-Classic]] period survive, but progress has been made particularly in the area of [[Maya civilization|Maya]] archaeology and epigraphy.<ref>{{cite web |author=Bakalar, Nicholas |title=Earliest Maya Writing Found in Guatemala, Researchers Say |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0105_060105_maya_writing.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060111053407/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0105_060105_maya_writing.html |archive-date=January 11, 2006 |publisher=National Geographic Society |date=2006-01-05 |access-date=2009-04-18}}</ref>

===Beginnings===
[[File:Corncobs.jpg|thumb|Variegated maize ears]]

The presence of people in [[Mesoamerica]] was once thought to date back 40,000 years, an estimate based on what were believed to be ancient footprints discovered in the [[Valley of Mexico]]. This date may not be accurate after further investigation using [[radiocarbon dating]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Paul R. Renne |title=Geochronology: Age of Mexican ash with alleged 'footprints' |journal=Nature|volume=438 |pages=E7–E8 |year=2005 |pmid=16319838 |doi=10.1038/nature04425 |issue=7068 |display-authors=1 |last2=Feinberg |first2=Joshua M. |last3=Waters |first3=Michael R. |last4=Arroyo-Cabrales |first4=Joaquin |last5=Ochoa-Castillo |first5=Patricia |last6=Perez-Campa |first6=Mario |last7=Knight |first7=Kim B.|bibcode=2005Natur.438E...7R |s2cid=4421368 }}</ref> It is currently unclear whether 23,000-year-old [[campfire]] remains found in the Valley of Mexico are the earliest human remains uncovered so far in Mexico.<ref>{{cite web|title=Native Americans |url=http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570777/Native_Americans.html#s76 |work=Encarta |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090614055405/http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570777/native_americans.html |archive-date=2009-06-14 }}</ref>
The first people to settle in Mexico encountered a climate far milder than the current one. In particular, the Valley of Mexico contained several large paleo-lakes (known collectively as [[Lake Texcoco]]) surrounded by dense forest. Deer were found in this area, but most fauna were small land animals and fish and other lacustrine animals were found in the lake region.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sweeney|first=Lean|date=1951|title=Historia Mexicana El Colegio de México|journal=Historia Mexicana|volume=69}}</ref> Such conditions encouraged the initial pursuit of a hunter-gatherer existence. Indigenous peoples in western Mexico began to selectively breed maize (''Zea mays'') plants between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Matsuoka|first1=Yoshihiro|last2=Vigouroux|first2=Yves|last3=Goodman|first3=Major M.|last4=G|first4=Jesus Sanchez|last5=Buckler|first5=Edward|last6=Doebley|first6=John|date=2002-04-30|title=A single domestication for maize shown by multilocus microsatellite genotyping|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|language=en|volume=99|issue=9|pages=6080–6084|doi=10.1073/pnas.052125199|issn=0027-8424|pmc=122905|pmid=11983901|bibcode=2002PNAS...99.6080M|doi-access=free}}</ref> The diet of ancient central and southern Mexico was varied, including domesticated corn (or [[maize]]), [[Squash (plant)|squash]]es, beans, tomatoes, peppers, cassavas, pineapples, chocolate, and tobacco. [[Three Sisters (agriculture)|The Three Sisters]] (corn, squash, and beans) constituted the principal diet.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmaya.html | title=The Food Timeline—Aztec, Maya & Inca foods | access-date=2018-07-14 | archive-date=2017-08-06 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806170215/http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmaya.html | url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Yaxchilan Lintel 24.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Shield Jaguar and [[Lady Xoc]], Maya, lintel 24 of temple 23, Yaxchilan, Mexico, ca. 725 ce.]]
Mesoamericans had belief systems where every element of the cosmos and everything that forms part of nature represented a supernatural manifestation. The spiritual pantheon was vast and extremely complex. They frequently took on different characteristics and even names in other areas, but in effect, they transcended cultures and time. Great masks with gaping jaws and monstrous features in stone or stucco were often located at the entrance to temples, symbolizing a cavern or cave on the flanks of the mountains that allowed access to the depths of Mother Earth and the shadowy roads that lead to the underworld.<ref name="ancientmexico.biz">{{cite web|url=http://www.ancientmexico.biz/ancient-mexico-blog/religion-in-pre-columbian-mesoamerica/|title=Religion in Pre Columbian Mesoamerica|access-date=23 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141125014446/http://www.ancientmexico.biz/ancient-mexico-blog/religion-in-pre-columbian-mesoamerica/|archive-date=25 November 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Cults connected with the jaguar and jade especially permeated religion throughout Mesoamerica. [[Jade]], with its translucent green color, was revered along with water as a symbol of life and fertility. The jaguar, agile, powerful, and fast, was especially connected with warriors and as spirit guides of shamans. Despite differences in chronology or geography, the crucial aspects of this religious pantheon were shared amongst the people of ancient Mesoamerica.<ref name="ancientmexico.biz"/> Thus, this quality of acceptance of new gods to the collection of existing gods may have been one of the shaping characteristics for success during the Christianization of Mesoamerica. New gods did not at once replace the old; they initially joined the ever-growing family of deities or were merged with existing ones that seemed to share similar characteristics or responsibilities.<ref name="ancientmexico.biz"/>

Mesoamerica is the only place in the Americas where Indigenous writing systems were invented and used before European colonization. While the types of writing systems in Mesoamerica range from minimalist "picture-writing" to complex [[logophonetic]] systems capable of recording speech and literature, they all share some core features that make them visually and functionally distinct from other writing systems of the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ancientscripts.com/ma_ws.html|title=Ancient Scripts: Mesoamerican Writing Systems|access-date=23 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061116222035/http://www.ancientscripts.com/ma_ws.html|archive-date=16 November 2006|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Although many indigenous manuscripts have been lost or destroyed, texts known as [[Aztec codices]], [[Mayan codices]], and [[Mixtec codices]] still survive and are of intense interest to scholars.