Editing Pre-Columbian era (section)

==Mesoamerica==
{{Further|Mesoamerican chronology}}
[[File:Yaxchilan 1.jpg|thumb|One of the pyramids in the upper level of [[Yaxchilán]]|alt=|left]] [[Mesoamerica]] is the region extending from central Mexico south to the northwestern border of [[Costa Rica]] that gave rise to a group of stratified, culturally related agrarian civilizations spanning an approximately 3,000-year period before the visits to the Caribbean by Christopher Columbus. ''Mesoamerican'' is the adjective generally used to refer to that group of pre-Columbian cultures. This refers to an environmental area occupied by an assortment of ancient cultures that shared religious beliefs, art, architecture, and technology in the Americas for more than three thousand years. Between 2000 and 300 BCE, complex cultures began to form in Mesoamerica. Some matured into advanced pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations such as the [[Olmec]], [[Teotihuacan]], [[Maya civilization|Mayas]], [[Zapotec civilization|Zapotecs]], [[Mixtec]]s, [[Huastec civilization|Huastecs]], [[Tarascan state|Purepecha]], [[Toltec]]s, and [[Mexica]]/[[Aztec]]s. The Mexica civilization is also known as the [[Aztec Triple Alliance]] since they were three smaller kingdoms loosely united together.<ref name=1491Book>{{cite book |last=Mann |first=Charles C. |author-link=Charles C. Mann |title=1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus |orig-date=2005 |year=2006 |publisher=Vintage Books |isbn=1-4000-3205-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/149100char/page/199 199–212] |title-link=1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus }}</ref>[[File:Telamones Tula.jpg|thumb|Atlantes at [[Tula (Mesoamerican site)|Tula]], [[Hidalgo (Mexico)|Hidalgo]]|alt=|left]]

These Indigenous civilizations are credited with many inventions: building [[pyramid]] temples, [[mathematics]], [[astronomy]], medicine, writing, highly accurate [[calendar]]s, [[Native American art|fine arts]], intensive agriculture, [[engineering]], an [[abacus]] calculator, and complex [[theology]]. They also invented the wheel, but it was used solely as a toy. In addition, they used native [[copper]], [[silver]], and [[gold]] for metalworking.

Archaic inscriptions on rocks and rock walls all over northern Mexico (especially in the state of [[Nuevo León]]) demonstrate an early propensity for counting. Their number system was [[Vigesimal|base 20]] and included [[zero]]. These early count markings were associated with astronomical events and underscore the influence that astronomical activities had upon Mesoamerican people before the arrival of Europeans. Many of the later Mesoamerican civilizations carefully built their cities and ceremonial centers according to specific astronomical events.

The biggest Mesoamerican cities, such as [[Teotihuacan]], [[Tenochtitlan]], and [[Cholula (Mesoamerican site)|Cholula]], were among the largest in the world. These cities grew as centers of commerce, ideas, ceremonies, and theology, and they radiated influence outwards onto neighboring cultures in central Mexico.

While many city-states, kingdoms, and empires competed with one another for power and prestige, Mesoamerica can be said to have had five major civilizations: the Olmecs, Teotihuacan, the Toltecs, the Mexica, and the Mayas. These civilizations (except for the politically fragmented Maya) extended their reach across Mesoamerica—and beyond—like no others. They consolidated power and distributed influence in matters of trade, art, politics, technology, and theology. Other regional power players made economic and political alliances with these civilizations over 4,000 years. Many made war with them, but almost all peoples found themselves within one of their spheres of influence.

[[Regional communications in ancient Mesoamerica]] have been the subject of considerable research. There is evidence of trade routes starting as far north as the [[Mexican Plateau|Mexico Central Plateau]], and going down to the Pacific coast. These trade routes and cultural contacts then went on as far as [[Central America]]. These networks operated with various interruptions from pre-Olmec times and up to the Late Classical Period (600–900 CE).

===Olmec civilization===
{{Main|Olmec}}
The earliest known civilization in Mesoamerica is the Olmec. This civilization established the cultural blueprint by which all succeeding indigenous civilizations would follow in Mexico. Pre-Olmec civilization began with the production of pottery in abundance, around 2300 BCE in the [[Grijalva River]] delta. Between 1600 and 1500 BCE, the Olmec civilization had begun, with the consolidation of power at their capital, a site today known as [[San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán]] near the coast in southeast [[Veracruz]].<ref name=OLMECS>{{cite book|title=The Olmecs: America's First Civilization|author-link= Richard Diehl|last=Diehl|first=Richard A.|publisher=Thames and Hudson|year=2004|location=London|isbn=0-500-28503-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/olmecsamericasfi0000dieh/page/9 9]–25|url=https://archive.org/details/olmecsamericasfi0000dieh|url-access=registration}}</ref> The Olmec influence extended across Mexico, into [[Central America]], and along the [[Gulf of Mexico]]. They transformed many peoples' thinking toward a new way of government, pyramid temples, writing, astronomy, art, mathematics, economics, and religion. Their achievements paved the way for the Maya civilization and the civilizations in central Mexico.

===Teotihuacan civilization===
{{Main|Teotihuacan}}
The decline of the Olmec resulted in a power vacuum in Mexico. Emerging from that vacuum was Teotihuacan, first settled in 300 BCE. By 150 CE, Teotihuacan had risen to become the first true [[metropolis]] of what is now called North America. Teotihuacan established a new economic and political order never before seen in Mexico. Its influence stretched across Mexico into Central America, founding new dynasties in the Maya cities of [[Tikal]], [[Copan]], and [[Kaminaljuyú]]. Teotihuacan's influence over the Maya civilization cannot be overstated: it transformed political power, artistic depictions, and the nature of economics. Within the city of Teotihuacan was a diverse and cosmopolitan population. Most of the regional ethnicities of Mexico were represented in the city, such as [[Zapotec civilization|Zapotecs]] from the Oaxaca region. They lived in apartment communities where they worked their trades and contributed to the city's economic and cultural prowess. Teotihuacan's economic pull impacted areas in northern Mexico as well. It was a city whose monumental architecture reflected a monumental new era in Mexican civilization, declining in political power about 650 CE—but lasting in cultural influence for the better part of a millennium, to around 950 CE.
[[File:Uxmal-mexico.jpg|thumb|Maya architecture at [[Uxmal]]]]

===Maya civilization===
{{Main|Maya civilization}}

Contemporary to Teotihuacan's greatness was that of the Maya civilization. The period between 250 CE and 650 CE was a time of intense flourishing of Maya civilized accomplishments. While the many Maya city-states never achieved political unity on the order of the central Mexican civilizations, they exerted tremendous intellectual influence upon Mexico and Central America. The Maya built some of the most elaborate cities on the continent and made innovations in mathematics, astronomy, and calendrics. The Maya also developed the only true writing system{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}} native to the Americas using pictographs and syllabic elements in the form of [[text (literary theory)|texts]] and [[codex|codices]] inscribed on stone, pottery, wood, or perishable books made from bark paper.

=== Huastec civilization ===
{{Main|Huastec civilization}}

The Huastecs were a [[Maya peoples|Maya]] ethnic group that migrated northwards to the Gulf Coast of Mexico.<ref>Foster 2002, p. 274.</ref> The Huastecs are considered to be distinct from the Maya civilization, as they separated from the main Maya branch at around 2000 BCE and did not possess the [[Maya script]].<ref>Richter 2010, pp. 2–3.</ref><ref name="Richter10p3">Richter 2010, p. 3.</ref> Other accounts also suggest that the Huastecs migrated as a result of the [[Classic Maya collapse]] around the year 900 CE.

=== Zapotec civilization ===
{{Main|Zapotec civilization}}

The Zapotecs were a civilization that thrived in the [[Oaxaca Valley]] from the late 6th century BCE until their downfall at the hands of the Spanish conquistadors. The city of [[Monte Albán]] was an important religious center for the Zapotecs and served as the capital of the empire from 700 BCE to 700 CE. The Zapotecs resisted the expansion of the Aztecs until they were subjugated in 1502 under Aztec emperor [[Ahuitzotl]]. After the [[Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire]], the Zapotecs resisted Spanish rule until King [[Cosijopii I]] surrendered in 1563.

=== Mixtec civilization ===
{{Main|Mixtec culture}}

Like the Zapotecs, the Mixtecs thrived in the Oaxaca Valley. The Mixtecs consisted of separate independent kingdoms and city-states, rather than a single unified empire. The Mixtecs would eventually be conquered by the Aztecs until the Spanish conquest. The Mixtecs saw the Spanish conquest as an opportunity for liberation and established agreements with the conquistadors that allowed them to preserve their cultural traditions, though relatively few sections resisted Spanish rule.

=== Totonac civilization ===
{{Main|Totonac culture}}

[[File:Zempoala-06.jpg|thumb|267x267px|The Totonac city of [[Cempoala]].]]
The Totonac civilization was concentrated in the present-day states of [[Veracruz]] and [[Puebla]]. The Totonacs were responsible for the establishment of cities, such as [[El Tajín]] as important commercial trading centers. The Totonacs would later assist in the [[Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire]] as an opportunity to liberate themselves from Aztec military imperialism.

=== Toltec civilization ===
{{Main|Toltec Empire}}

The Toltec civilization was established in the 8th century CE. The Toltec Empire expanded its political borders to as far south as the [[Yucatán Peninsula|Yucatán peninsula]], including the Maya city of [[Chichen Itza]]. The Toltecs established vast trading relations with other Mesoamerican civilizations in Central America and the [[Puebloans]] in present-day [[New Mexico]]. During the Post-Classic era, the Toltecs suffered a subsequent collapse in the early 12th century, due to famine and civil war.<ref name="duran">Durán, D. ''Historia de las Indias de Nueva España e islas de Tierra Firme'' [http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/historia-de-las-indias-de-nueva-espana-y-islas-de-tierra-firme-tomo-ii--0/html/f33a7d7c-f71b-4823-a8e0-0a0cd3ece6c1_398.htm]</ref> The Toltec civilization was so influential to the point where many groups such as the Aztecs claimed to be descended from.<ref name="kuku">León-Portilla, M. (2002) ''América Latina en la época colonial''. Grupo Planeta [https://books.google.com/books?id=ba896R61H6QC&dq=nobleza+tolteca+portilla&pg=PA19]</ref><ref>León-Portilla, M. (2016) ''Toltecáyotl: Aspectos de la cultura náhuatl''. Fondo de Cultura Economica [https://books.google.com/books?id=966-DAAAQBAJ&dq=nobleza+tolteca+portilla&pg=PT246]</ref>

===Aztec/Mexica/Triple Alliance civilization===
{{Main|Aztec Empire}}

[[File:Templo Mayor in Mexico-Tenochtitlan 16th century (illustration 1900).jpg|thumb|left|247x247px|[[Tenochtitlan]], the capital of the [[Aztec Empire]].]]
With the decline of the [[Toltec]] civilization came political fragmentation in the [[Valley of Mexico]]. Into this new political game of contenders to the Toltec throne stepped outsiders: the [[Mexica]]. They were also a desert people, one of seven groups who formerly called themselves "Azteca", in memory of [[Aztlán]], but they changed their name after years of migrating. Since they were not from the [[Valley of Mexico]], they were initially seen as crude and unrefined in the ways of the [[Nahua peoples|Nahua]] civilization. Through political maneuvers and ferocious martial skills, they managed to rule Mexico as the head of the 'Triple Alliance' which included two other Aztec cities, [[Tetzcoco (altepetl)|Tetxcoco]] and [[Tlacopan]].

Latecomers to Mexico's central [[plateau]], the Mexica thought of themselves, nevertheless, as heirs of the civilizations that had preceded them. For them, arts, sculpture, architecture, engraving, feather-mosaic work, and the calendar, were bequest from the former inhabitants of Tula, the Toltecs.

The Mexica-Aztecs were the rulers of much of central Mexico by about 1400 (while [[Yaqui]]s, Coras, and [[Apache]]s commanded sizable regions of northern desert), having subjugated most of the other regional states by the 1470s. At their peak, the Valley of Mexico where the Aztec Empire presided, saw a population growth that included nearly one million people during the late Aztec period (1350–1519).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Michael E. |date=1997 |title=Life in the Provinces of the Aztec Empire |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24995914 |journal=Scientific American |volume=277 |issue=3 |pages=76–83 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0997-76 |jstor=24995914 |bibcode=1997SciAm.277c..76S |issn=0036-8733}}</ref>

Their capital, [[Tenochtitlan]], is the site of modern-day [[Mexico City]]. At its peak, it was one of the largest cities in the world with population estimates of 200,000–300,000.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Conquistador: Hernán Cortés, King Montezuma, and the last stand of the Aztecs |last=Levy |first=Buddy |date=2008 |publisher=Bantam Books Trade Paperbacks |isbn=978-0553384710 |page=106 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jSfO7xFo3BIC&pg=PA106}}</ref> The market established there was the largest ever seen by the [[conquistador]]es on arrival.

===Tarascan/Purépecha civilization===
{{Main|Purépecha Empire}}

Initially, the lands that would someday comprise the lands of the powerful Tarascan Empire were inhabited by several independent communities. Around 1300, however, the first Cazonci, Tariacuri, united these communities and built them into one of the most advanced civilizations in Mesoamerica. Their capital at Tzintzuntzan was just one of the many cities—there were ninety more under its control. The Tarascan Empire was among the largest in Central America, so it is no surprise that they routinely came into conflict with the neighboring [[Aztec Empire]]. Out of all the civilizations in its area, the Tarascan Empire was the most prominent in metallurgy, harnessing copper, silver, and gold to create items such as tools, decorations, and even weapons and armor. Bronze was also used. The great victories over the Aztecs by the Tarascans cannot be understated. Nearly every war they fought in resulted in a Tarascan victory. Because the Tarascan Empire had little links to the former [[Toltec Empire]], they were also quite independent in culture from their neighbors. The Aztecs, [[Tlaxcaltec]], Olmec, Mixtec, Maya, and others were very similar to each other, however. This is because they were all directly preceded by the Toltecs, and they therefore shared almost identical cultures. The Tarascans, however, possessed a unique religion, as well as other things.{{Vague|date=June 2020}}

=== Tlaxcala republic ===
{{Main|Tlaxcala (Nahua state)}}
Tlaxcala was a Nahua republic and confederation in central Mexico. The Tlaxcalans fiercely resisted Aztec expansion during the [[Flower war|Flower Wars]] ever since the Aztecs expelled them from [[Lake Texcoco]]. The Tlaxcalans would later ally with the Spanish conquistadors under [[Hernán Cortés]] as an opportunity to liberate them from the Aztecs and managed to successfully conquer the Aztecs with the help of the conquistadors. The Spaniards would reward the Tlaxcalans for preserving their culture and for their assistance in defeating the Aztecs. The Tlaxcalans would once again assist to the Spaniards during the [[Mixtón War]] and the [[Spanish conquest of Guatemala|conquest of Guatemala]].<ref>Restall and Asselbergs 2007, pp. 79–81.</ref>

=== Cuzcatlan ===
{{Main|Cuzcatlan}}
Cuzcatlan was a [[Pipil people|Pipil]] confederacy of kingdoms and city-states located in present-day [[El Salvador]]. According to legend, Cuzcatlan was established by Toltec migrants during the [[Classic Maya collapse]] in approximately 1200 CE. During the [[Spanish conquest of El Salvador]], Cuzcatlan was forced to surrender to conquistador [[Pedro de Alvarado]] in 1528.

=== Lenca ===
{{Main|Lenca}}
The Lenca people were composed of several distinct multilingual confederations and city-states in present-day El Salvador and [[Honduras]]. Cities such as [[Yarumela]] were important commercial centers for the Lenca. During the Spanish conquest, several Lenca leaders such as [[Lempira (Lenca ruler)|Lempira]] resisted conversion to Christianity, while others converted peacefully.

=== Nicānāhuac ===
{{Main|Nicarao people}}
Nicānāhuac ("Here Surrounded By Water" in [[Nahuatl]])<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nahuatl Dictionary: Letter N Wordlist |date=31 March 2025 |url=https://www.vocabulario.com.mx/nahuatl/diccionario_nahuatl_n.html}}</ref> was the geographical [[endonym]] used by the [[Nicarao people|Nicarao]], an offshoot of the Pipil people from [[El Salvador]], to refer to western [[Nicaragua]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://etimologias.dechile.net/?Nicaragua|title= Etymology of Nicaragua}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mined.gob.ni/biblioteca/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Libro-Toponimia-Octubre-2022.pdf|title= Nicaraguan place names}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://planlea.edu.do/2017/02/origen-de-los-nombres-de-los-paises-de-latinoamaerica/|title= Origin of the names of the Latin American countries|date= 8 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://elcafelatino.org/es/latinoamerica-origen-nombre-paises/|title= The curious story of the origin of the names of Latin American countries|date= 16 February 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cclec.org/membership/nicaragua/|title= Nicaragua|date= 11 July 2024}}</ref> The Nicarao had multiple [[chiefdom]]s that were independent from one another, these chiefdoms ranged from the [[Chinandega department]] in northwestern Nicaragua to [[Guanacaste province]] in northwestern [[Costa Rica]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1qr6sk7.7|title = Las culturas indígenas y su medioambiente| jstor=j.ctv1qr6sk7.7 | last1=Newson | first1=Linda A. | last2=Bonilla | first2=Adolfo | date=2021 | pages=21–54 | publisher=Uol Insti for the Study of the Americas | isbn=978-1-908857-87-3 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Central-American-Nahua-distribution-based-on-Fowler-1981-469-523-The-enclaves-in_fig1_265144861|title= Central American Nahua}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.buenastareas.com/ensayos/El-Reino-De-Este-Mundo/563206.html|title= The Kingdom of this world}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/jsa_0037-9174_1901_num_3_2_3365|title= The Aboriginals of Costa Rica|journal= Journal de la Société des Américanistes|date= 1901|volume= 3|issue= 2|pages= 125–139|doi= 10.3406/jsa.1901.3365|last1= Peralta|first1= De|last2= M|first2= Manuel}}</ref><ref>Historia general y natural de las Indias, islas y tierra-firme del mar océano; por el Capitán Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés; Primer Cronista del Nuevo Mundo; publícala la Real Academia de la Historia.- Tomo IV.- Libro XLII.- Capitulo XIII.</ref><ref>{{cite web|access-date=16 March 2014 |author=Manuel Orozco y Berra |date=1864 |title=Geografía de las lenguas y carta etnográfica de México: precedidas de un ensayo de clasificación de las mismas lenguas y de apuntes para las inmigraciones de las tribus |url=http://www.biblioteca.org.ar/libros/154756.pdf}}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> Although the Nicarao chiefdoms shared the same language, culture, and ethnicity, they were never unified under a single political entity as [[Cuzcatlan|Kuskatan]] was in El Salvador. The Nicarao civilization collapsed during the [[Spanish conquest of Nicaragua]] in 1522.

=== Nicoya kingdom ===
{{Main|Kingdom of Nicoya}}
The Nicoya kingdom was an elective monarchy that thrived in the [[Nicoya Peninsula|Nicoya peninsula]] in [[Costa Rica]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Molina Jiménez |first=Iván |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6KMU1rNvakoC&q=historia++Nicoya |title=Historia de Costa Rica: breve, actualizada y con ilustraciones |publisher=Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica |year=1997 |isbn=9977674116 |page=148 |language=es |access-date=18 August 2013}}</ref> It existed from 800 CE until the Spanish arrival in the 16th century.