In southern Mexico the Aztecs and Mayans cultivated. Names of Indian tribes: Mayans, Aztecs, Incas, Iroquois, Mohicans, Apaches

INTRODUCTION

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

By the time the Spanish ships appeared off the eastern coast of the New World, this huge continent, including the islands of the West Indies, was inhabited by many Indian tribes and peoples at different levels of development.

Most were hunters, fishermen, gatherers, or primitive farmers; Only in two relatively small areas of the Western Hemisphere - in Mesoamerica and the Andes - did the Spaniards encounter highly developed Indian civilizations. The highest cultural achievements of pre-Columbian America were born on their territory. By the time of its “discovery,” in 1492, up to 2/3 of the continent’s total population lived there, although in size these areas accounted for only 6.2% of its total area. It was here that the centers of origin of American agriculture were located, and at the turn of our era, the distinctive civilizations of the ancestors of the Nahuas, Mayans, Zapotecs, Quechuas, and Aymara emerged.

In the scientific literature, this territory is called Middle America or the Zone of High Civilizations. It is divided into two regions: northern - Mesoamerica and southern - Andean region (Bolivia - Peru), with an intermediate zone between them (southern Central America, Colombia, Ecuador), where cultural achievements, although they reached a significant degree, never rose to the heights of statehood and civilization. The arrival of European conquerors interrupted any independent development of the indigenous population of these areas. Only now, thanks to the work of several generations of archaeologists, are we finally beginning to understand how rich and vibrant the history of pre-Columbian America was.

The New World is also a unique historical laboratory, since the process of development of local culture occurred generally independently, starting from the Late Paleolithic era (30-20 thousand years ago) - the time of settlement of the continent from Northeast Asia through the Bering Strait and Alaska - and until then until it was put an end to by the invasion of European conquerors. Thus, almost all the main stages can be traced in the New World ancient history humanity: from primitive mammoth hunters to the builders of the first cities - centers of early class states and civilizations. A simple comparison of the path traveled by the indigenous population of America in the pre-Columbian era with the milestones of the history of the Old World gives an unusually large amount of information about identifying general historical patterns.

The term “discovery of America” by Columbus, which is often found in the historical works of various authors, also requires some clarification. It has been rightly pointed out more than once that this term is factually incorrect, since before Columbus the shores of the New World were reached from the east by the Romans and Vikings, and from the west by Polynesians, Chinese, and Japanese. It must also be taken into account that this process of interaction and interchange between two cultures was not one-sided. For Europe, the discovery of America had enormous political, economic and intellectual consequences.

The continent of America, from the period of its discovery and still holds many mysteries. Before the conquest of the continent by Europeans, it was an original cohesion of several cultures. Scientists are deeply engaged in the study of the three most striking civilizations, whose history goes back hundreds of years - these are the ancient civilizations of the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans. Each of these civilizations has left for us a lot of evidence of its existence, from which we can judge the era of their heyday and sudden decline or partial disappearance altogether. Each culture contains a huge cultural layer that has been studied and is still being studied, expressed in the works of architecture, evidence of writing, in the remains of crafts, as well as in the language that has reached us. Every time we encounter the ancient culture of Latin America and not rarely with the modern one, we find a lot of interesting things in it and even more that are unsolved and surrounded by an aura of mysticism. Just look at the myth about the fairyland "El Dorado". Many fragments of the distant era of the existence of the civilizations of the Incas, Aztecs and Mayans, unfortunately, have been lost forever, but much remains with which we are directly in contact, but it also gives us ways to unravel much, sometimes inexplicable, to us, modern people, regarding the art in general of those distant worlds. The problem of studying these ancient cultures until recently was the “closedness to the eyes and minds of scientists around the world” of Latin America itself. With great obstacles and intervals during breaks, work related to excavations and searches for architectural treasures was and is being carried out. Only recently, with the exception of literary information, has access to territories and places associated with the habitation of ancient tribes and peoples been expanded. People who have been there and talk about what they saw seem to be filled with the most unusual impressions of what they experienced and saw. They enthusiastically talk about places where religious ceremonies were supposedly once performed, about ancient Indian temples, about many things that we could not clearly imagine if we had not seen them in reality. Listening to them, you imagine and understand all the greatness and value of the monuments of ancient civilizations; they carry with them a truly huge layer of information necessary for understanding and correctly perceiving the existence of our ancestors and the history of human development in general.

To summarize the three cultures, I would like to give a general verbal portrait of each, emphasizing their uniqueness. Among the ancient civilizations of America we can distinguish the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas. The roots of these great civilizations are lost in the mists of time. Much remains unknown about them, but it is known that they reached a high level of development. The Mayans, Aztecs and Incas had enormous achievements in astronomy, medicine, mathematics, architecture and road construction. The Mayans had a very accurate calendar, although they did not have telescopes or other special devices for observing the sky. The Aztec and Inca calendars are very similar, however, to the Mayan calendar. The Aztecs were a very warlike people who in the 13th century lived in the Anahuac Valley, where the city of Mexico is now located, the territory of which was subsequently expanded as a result of long wars of conquest and turned into the main political zone of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec state, whose population was 60,000 people before the conquest began.

The Aztecs had extensive knowledge in the field of astronomy, which they inherited from more ancient cultures. The Aztec civilization also inherited the architecture of the pyramids, sculpture and painting. The Aztecs mined and processed gold, silver, and coal. They built many roads and bridges. The Aztecs developed the art of dance and many sports; theater and poetry. They had a ball game very similar to today's basketball. And, according to legend, the captain of the team that once lost had his head cut off. The Aztecs had a very good education, teaching such disciplines as religion, astronomy, the history of laws, medicine, music and the art of war. The Inca state reached its apogee in the 10th century. Its population numbered more than 12 million people. The Inca religion had a cult of the sun god, according to which they appointed their emperors. Society was not built on the principles of democracy, as it was divided into classes. The people had to engage in agriculture or crafts and were obliged to cultivate the land. Trade was poorly developed. The capital of the Inca Empire had communications with the entire territory of the empire through magnificent bridges and roads.

Next, the subject of my more detailed consideration will be the Aztec civilization. It was not for nothing that I chose the Aztecs, since I was interested in the fact that their culture has survived to this day and numerous Aztec tribes live in our time, living in their ancestral lands.

THE INCAS

inca mayan calendar aztec

It's getting light. The rays of the sun, breaking into the morning sky, painted the snowy peaks of the Andes in pale pink colors. Here, at an altitude of 4,300 meters above sea level, the Indians, greeting the dawn, rejoice in the warmth that drives away the cold of the night. The sun's rays have already illuminated the temple of the sun in the center of the capital of the Inca state, the city of Cusco (which means center of the world ). The golden walls of the temple shone in the sun. In the Inca garden in front of the temple, statues of llamas, vicuñas and condors cast in pure gold sparkled. As a sign of reverence for the sun god, Indians passing by the temple blow air kisses. They believe that the sun gives them life and provides them with everything they need - how grateful they are for these generous gifts!

XIV-XVI centuries on the western coast of South America the power of a powerful golden empire . Thanks to the leadership of talented architects and engineers, Inca social life reached a very high level. The territory of the state covered all the lands from the southern regions of modern Colombia to Argentina and reached a length of 5000 km. The Incas believed that they conquered almost the entire world , - wrote in the magazine National Geographic . And those lands that still remained outside the borders of their state, in their opinion, did not represent any value. However, in another part of the world, no one even knew about the existence of their state.

Who are the Incas? What is their origin?

When the rise of the Inca culture began (1200-1572), all previous outstanding civilizations of South America disappeared from the arena of history or were rapidly approaching decline. The Inca country was located in the southwestern part of the continent, stretching from north to south for many thousands of kilometers. During its heyday, 15-16 million people lived on its territory.

Legends tell about the origin of this people. Sun God IntiI watched with sadness the life of people on earth: after all, they lived worse than wild animals, in poverty and ignorance. One day, taking pity on them, the Inca sent his children to the people: his son Manco Capakaand daughter Mama Oklio. Having given them a staff made of pure gold, the divine father ordered them to settle where the staff would easily enter the ground. This happened near the village of Pakari-Tambo, which lies at the foot of the Uanakauri hill. In fulfillment of the divine will of the Sun, his children stayed and founded a city called Cusco. They gave religion and laws to the people who lived there, taught men how to cultivate the land, mine rare metals and process them, and taught women how to weave and run a household. Having created the state, Manco Capac became its first Inkoy- the ruler, and Mama Oklio - his wife.

According to the Incas' worldview, the supreme creator of the Universe and the creator of all other gods was Kon-Tiksi Viracocha.When creating the world, Viracocha used three main elements: water, earth and fire. The Inca cosmos consisted of three levels: the top - celestial, where the Sun and his wife-sister Moon live, directly influencing the life of mankind; the middle one, in which people, animals and plants live; the lower one is the habitat of the dead and those who are about to be born. The last two worlds communicate through caves, mines, springs and craters. Communication with the upper world is carried out through the mediation of the Inca, who carried out the will of the Sun on Earth.

The official state ideology was cult of the Sun (Inti).White llamas were sacrificed to him almost daily, burning them at the stake. In order to ward off epidemics and attacks from enemies, to win the war and for the health of the emperor, tall, beautiful children under the age of 10 were given to the Sun without any flaws. The second-ranking deity was considered Mama Kilja- patroness of women, women in labor, then god of lightning and thunder(Il-yapa), goddess of the morning star(Venus) and many other divine stars and constellations.

The sacred forces, whose cults were especially widespread among the general public, included spirits. They lived in rocks and caves, in trees and springs, in stones and in the mummies of their ancestors. They prayed to the spirits, made sacrifices, and dedicated certain days to them. Places where gods or spirits lived were called "huaca".

All religious ritual in Incan society was the responsibility of the priests. The high priest was the Inca's brother or uncle. He wore a sleeveless red tunic and wore an image of the Sun on his head. He often decorated his face with colorful parrot feathers. He was forbidden to marry or have children out of wedlock, to eat meat, or to drink anything other than water. The rank of high priest was for life. His duties included observing the exact rules of the solar cult, the coronation of the great Inca and his marriage.

The Incas emerge from the fog of legend and myth around 1438, when they defeated the neighboring Chaika people. The organizer of this victory, the son of the ruler of Cusco-Viracocha, Inca, accepted supreme power, and with it the name Pachacuti. The historicity of his personality is beyond doubt.

Further expansion of the Incas unfolded mainly in the southern and southeastern directions. In the mid-15th century, the Incas intervened in the struggle between the Aymara chiefdoms and, as a result, subjugated the area around Lake Titicaca with relative ease. Here the Incas took possession of colossal herds of llamas and alpacas. Pachacuti declared animals royal property. From now on, the armies of Cuzco did not need vehicles, clothing or food.

Together with his heir, Tupac Yupanqui, Pachacuti organized a large northern campaign, during which the Incan state finally established its status as an empire seeking to unite the entire ancient Peruvian ecumene. The Incan expansion on the plateau near Titicaca brought them close to confrontation with the kingdom of Chimor. The ruler of the latter, Minchansaman, also began to expand his possessions. However, both the highlanders and the inhabitants of the lowlands tried to delay an open clash. Both experienced difficulties when they found themselves in an unusual landscape and climatic zone.

Tupac Yupanqui led the army into mountainous Ecuador, where he had to wage a grueling struggle with local tribes. The Incas tried to make forays into the coastal plain of Ecuador, but the hot, swampy land turned out to be unattractive for people accustomed to mountain air. Moreover, its large population actively resisted.

In the late 60s - early 70s of the 15th century, a decision was made to attack Chimor. Victory remained with the Incas, although the peace concluded by the kingdom of Chimor was relatively honorable for the latter. Only after the uprising that broke out soon was the coastal state finally defeated. Chimor lost all possessions outside the Moche, and Inca military posts were established in this valley itself.

After the death of Pachacuti, Tupac Yupanqui set out on a new campaign. Without much difficulty they subjugated the small states and tribes of the central and southern coasts of Peru. The Incas encountered stubborn resistance only in the small valley of Cañete, south of Lima. Even easier than the capture of the southern coast of Peru was the conquest of thousands of kilometers of space south of Titicaca. Small groups of cattle breeders, farmers and fishermen in local oases were not able to provide significant resistance to his army.

After the southern campaign of Tupac Yupanqui, the empire reached its natural borders. The peoples who lived on the plateau, mountain valleys and in the oases of the Pacific coast were united under one authority. The Inca rulers tried to expand the boundaries of their state also to the east. Tupac Yupanqui's successor, Huayna Capac, defeated the Chachapoya tribes in the Eastern Cordillera. However, the Incas could not advance further east - into the Amazon.

The eastern border was the only one that needed constant protection. Here the Incas built a series of fortresses, and on the territory of modern Bolivia, these fortresses were even connected by a stone wall stretching along the ridges of the mountains for almost 200 km.

Under Huayna Capac (1493-1525), the Inca Empire reached its apogee of development. After his death, an internecine war broke out between two contenders for the Incan throne - Atahulpa and Huascar, which ended in the victory of Atahulpa. Pizarro took advantage of this struggle and lured Atahulpa into a trap. Having taken a huge ransom in gold from Atahulpa, the Spaniards then executed him and placed Huascar's younger brother Manco Capac on the throne. The latter soon rebelled, but was unable to recapture Cuzco and took his supporters to the northwest of the capital, where he created the so-called Novoinsky kingdom in a remote mountainous region. Its last ruler was executed by the Spaniards in 1572.

The Incas called their state Tawantinsuyu - "Land of Four Parts". Indeed, the empire was divided into four parts (suyu) - provinces. They were not administrative territorial units in the modern sense. Rather, they were symbolic areas representing the four cardinal directions. Chinchaisuyu's territory extended to the central and northern coastal and mountainous regions, up to the northern border that today divides Ecuador and Colombia along the Ancasmayo River. The second province, Collasuyu, was located to the south and covered the plateau, part of Bolivia, northern Argentina and the northern half of Chile. The third - Antisuyu - lay in the east in the area of ​​​​the Amazonian jungle. The fourth - Kontisuyu - extended to the west, all the way to the ocean. The center of these four parts, the starting point was Cusco, located at an altitude of 3000 meters above sea level.

In turn, the provinces were divided into districts, which were governed by an official appointed by the Inca. The district included several villages. Each of them belonged to one or even several genera. The clan owned a strictly defined area of ​​land. From the communal land, each man received an allotment (tupa), and the woman received only half of it.

All land in the empire was divided into three parts: the fields of the community, the “land of the Sun” (the income from it went to support the priests and sacrifices), as well as the fields of the state and the Inca (intended to supply the state apparatus, warriors, builders, the Inca himself and his retinue , in case of natural disasters, as well as a fund for widows, orphans and the elderly). The lands of the priestly fund and the state were cultivated by free residents in their free time, after the family plots were cultivated. This extra work was called minka. It was perceived as a necessary, feasible and sacred contribution of everyone to the common cause.

The standard of living of ordinary community members and their families was almost the same (amount of food, clothing, quality of houses and utensils). There were no starving poor. Those who could not work were provided with the necessary minimum by the state.

The basis of the Inca economy was agriculture and animal husbandry. They cultivated the same plants and those. the same animals as everywhere in Peru. Natural conditions forced the creation of irrigation structures: dams, canals. The fields were arranged in terraces. The land was cultivated by hand, using special sticks the size of a man.

Craft production was well organized. The bulk of goods were produced in the community, and the most skilled potters, gunsmiths, jewelers and weavers were resettled in Cusco. They lived at the expense of the Incas and were considered public servants. The best of their works were used for religious purposes and gifts; tools and weapons were stored in state warehouses. The Incas achieved great success in metallurgy. Copper and silver deposits were developed. Weaving received special development. The Incas knew three types of looms on which they could even make carpets.

There were no purchase and sale relations; they were replaced by developed regulated state exchange, the functions of which were to meet the needs of residents of different climatic zones. The form of exchange was fairs - city and village, held every ten days.

The socio-political organization of the Incas was very original and fully consistent with its goals. The primary and basic unit of Inca society was the family, led by the father, who was called purek. The highest level of government was represented by four suyuyuk-apu, who were the supreme leaders of the four suyu. Above them stood only Sapa Inca (“The Only Inca”) - the ruler of all Tawantinsuyu, the sovereign coordinator of her life, who had another official title Intip Churin("Son of the Sun"). It was believed that he descended to earth in order to fulfill the will of the Sun. Sapa Inca subjects also called themselves "the Incas"and considered themselves God's chosen people.

Only a man of royal blood could sit on the throne in Cusco. The future Inca prepared for a difficult role for a long time: he comprehended the secrets of existence, studied religion, various sciences and kipu - knotted letter. He was also taught good manners and military skills.

Sapa Inca was deified as Intip Churin - Son of the Sun. According to the beliefs of Tawantinsuyu's subjects, the prosperity and misfortunes of the empire and the entire people depended on the health and well-being of their ruler. Sapa Inca was deified as the “son of the Sun” with all the manifestations of cult service to the ruler that flowed from this fact. But the most interesting and unusual institution that contributed to the ideological strengthening of the power of the Sapa Inca was one of the oldest, called “panaka”. Panaka is the totality of all the direct descendants of the ruler in the male line, except for his son, who became the successor. The successor son inherited the throne, but not the father's wealth. The Inca's property remained his property even after the death of the ruler. Of course, the Panaka actually controlled the valuables, but symbolically they belonged to the mummies of Sapa Inca and his coya. Preserved through the process of mummification, dressed in royal attire, their corpses sat on thrones in the palaces that belonged to the rulers during their lifetime. They served the rulers as if they were alive, trying to forestall their every desire, satisfy any need, “fed” them, “watered them” and pleased them in every possible way. The deceased emperors were carried on palanquins so that they had the opportunity to “go” to visit each other, to visit the living Incas, who not only worshiped their predecessors, but consulted with them on the most pressing issues, and during such negotiations members served as intermediaries in the conversation Panaki. From time to time, royal mummies were taken to the central square of Cusco to participate in certain ceremonies. Thus, most of the empire's resources "belonged to the dead." This fact speaks of the theocratic nature of statehood in Tawantinsuyu. As a sign of imperial power, he wore a maskpaichu on his head - a headband made of the finest red wool, decorated with korikenke feathers (a rare type of falcon that lives in the Andes).

In his palace, the Inca sat on a low, carved mahogany throne. Visitors could not see his face - he was separated from them by a curtain. The Inca had hundreds of concubines at his service, and up to eight thousand servants from among the representatives of noble families served him. Fifty of them had access to the ruler and were replaced every seven to ten days.

During his travels, he was protected by a guard dressed in shiny "uniforms" decorated with gold and silver jewelry. The Inca was carried in a stretcher made of gold (only the frame was wooden). After his death, the Inca's body was embalmed. The mummy was seated on a golden throne, and a golden statue of the emperor was installed next to it. By the time the Spaniards arrived in Tahuantinsuya, the veneration of the mummified remains of emperors already had the significance of a state cult. Speaking about social differences in Tawantinsuyu, it should be noted that they were determined by origin and personal merit. There were two groups of nobility in the empire: metropolitan and provincial. In Tawantinsuyu, one could also be included in the category of aristocracy for outstanding achievements in the military field, for exceptional engineering abilities and for talent in science, art, and literature.

There were categories in the empire that remained outside the social structure of the communal sector. These are Yanakona, Aklya, Kamajok and Mitmak, and a person’s belonging to one of these categories could be combined with belonging to others.

The term "yanacona" denoted all those who were not subject to conscription for public work and were not subject to taxes, but were personally dependent on their masters. Unlike the community members, they were completely deprived of the means of production.

A category close to Yanacona was formed by Aklya - women who, even in childhood, were assigned to serve the Sun. Most aklyas, however, did not perform priestly functions, but were engaged in spinning and weaving. The procedure for forming the Aklya Institute was as follows. Every year, beautiful, intelligent girls of four or five years old were selected throughout the country and placed at the temples of the main cities of the provinces. Here they learned music, singing, as well as cooking, spinning and weaving. At the age of 10 - 13, the brides were “certified”: some were elevated to the rank of “mothers - servants of Inti”: they performed religious rites in honor of Inti and performed some other sacred duties, others continued to perform the usual functions for aklya, that is, they were part of the servants and They worked not only at churches, but also in the houses of the Kuskan aristocracy. Therefore, it was quite typical for Yanaqona men to be given wives from among the Aklya as a reward for their service, regardless of whether these Yanaqona were already married or not. The institution of aklya existed not only among the Incas, but also in the kingdom of Chimor, and even earlier among the Mochica.

The Camayoc are the least studied population group of ancient Peru. They were professional specialists in certain types of work, had a narrow specialization and were personally, and not indirectly through the community, dependent on the administration. The Kamayok were on government pay, but they had no chance of getting into administrative positions because their qualifications were too limited.

The Mitmaq constituted the largest part of the population in the non-communal sector of Tawantinsuyu. The term "mitmak" denoted migrants who were forcibly deported en masse from one region of the empire to another. This kind of practice was determined by both political and economic considerations. The population from the central regions was moved to the border regions, and the newly conquered or prone to rebellion - to long-pacified areas or to the opposite outskirts of the empire. With the help of settlers, large state farms were organized on virgin lands or on insufficiently intensively cultivated lands, which were sometimes given great strategic importance. Among other groups of “government workers,” the Mitmaks stood closest to ordinary community members. For two years after the resettlement, they remained dependent on the state, after which they began to engage in ordinary agricultural labor, maintaining the traditional organization.

The objective social and property stratification of Inca society did not completely coincide with the officially recognized scale of social divisions. In Inca society, in principle, no one was free to choose either their place of residence, their type of occupation, or the time allocated to certain types of activities, or even the choice of a spouse. All this was regulated, on the one hand, by custom, and on the other, by the practice of public administration.

In the Inca Empire, ten age categories of citizens were legalized. For men, the first three groups consisted of children under nine years of age (“playing children”); fourth group - from 9 to 12 years (hunting with snares); fifth - from 12 to 18 years (livestock protection); sixth - from 18 to 25 (military or courier service); seventh - from 25 to 50 years (purekhs who paid taxes and worked for public needs); eighth - from 50 to 80 (raising children); ninth - from 80 onwards (“deaf elders”) and tenth group - sick and infirm without age restrictions. The women's classification was somewhat different from the men's, but its principles were the same.

When entering the adult age category, the person’s name changed. The first name was given in infancy and, as a rule, reflected the impression of the child (for example, Oaklew - innocent, pure). A person received a second name during puberty. It was final and characterized the inherent qualities of a person.

The imperial ambitions of the Incas pushed them to create a certain class of citizens of low birth who would be able to perform various types of work aimed not only at satisfying own needs, but above all, to provide everything necessary for the highest aristocracy of the empire. Although the Incas did not spare their subjects in their work, they nevertheless forced them to spend a lot of time participating in various festivals, religious rites, state ceremonies and celebrations. It must be recognized that such generosity on the part of the state strengthened the connection between the imperial power and the people, whose life was thus diversified and, to some extent, made easier.

In this labor-intensive society, people's lives were strictly regulated. The state indicated where they should live, what crops to grow on their plot of land, how and what to wear, and even with whom to marry.

A simple subject of Tawantinsuyu could find moral support primarily in the family and community (aylyu), created through the male line. The aylyu consisted of several families who lived next to each other and engaged in collective labor. In a large village several communities could live, each of which occupied its own complex of walled buildings. Each community revered its ancestors and had the right to a certain place in the main village square during holidays.

An Aylew man, upon marriage, received from the Sapa Inca (the state) an allotment of land (topu) large enough to support himself and his wife. The size of such plots depended on the fertility of the soil in a particular area, but if the topu was equal to two acres, then in this case the head of the family received two more after the birth of each son and one for the maintenance of his daughter. As the owner of a topu, a married man automatically became a pureh, the head of a tax-paying family unit. It should be noted that although formally the land plot was allocated to the man (only after marriage), it was, in fact, issued to both the husband and wife as one whole, emphasizing their equal share in bearing the tax burden. Moreover, within the Andean cultural tradition, both men and women viewed their work roles as complementary to each other, considering them useful and necessary for the survival of all family members. Within the Aylew itself, a spirit of solidarity prevailed. The men worked together to build houses for the newlyweds, and when one of them was called upon to work his mita (tax), serve his labor service, or serve in the army, those who remained at home would work on his topo on behalf of his family. During the spring sowing season, men and women worked side by side, singing religious hymns. The men, lined up in a row, dug up the ground using a chaquital (a foot plow used like a shovel) - a long stick with a footrest above a bronze tip. They were also followed by women lined up in a row, who were breaking clods of earth with the help of a hoe with a wide bronze blade, called a “lamp”.

To meet the food needs of the empire, the Incas had to take a new approach to the use of land, and they successfully coped with this by creating terraces on the slopes of mountains, straightening the beds of some rivers, filling or draining swamps, and directing water to desert areas. Inca agricultural terraces (andenes) have been preserved in great numbers. They made it possible to make agriculture possible where it had previously been unimaginable. Today in Peru, thanks to the Incan Andenes, about 6 million acres of land are regularly cultivated.

In addition to working in the fields, community members performed hundreds of other duties: they made pottery, weaved baskets, made chicha (strong maize beer), and were engaged in spinning and weaving in order to meet the needs of both their own family and the state for fabrics and clothing.

Great attention was paid to cleanliness and neatness of clothing in Inca society. Men wore short trousers down to the knees (a sign of maturity) and sleeveless shirts, and women wore simple long woolen dresses, which were pulled over the head and cinched at the waist with a wide, elaborately decorated belt. On her feet were sandals made of llama wool. In cold weather, all Incas wore long and warm cloaks.

In Inca society, no one had the right to spend time in idleness. Even pregnant women were rarely freed from daily menial work. Expectant mothers were allowed not to go to the fields only in the late stages of pregnancy, but in other cases they were obliged to do all the work as long as they had enough strength. However, from the Incas' point of view, children were a valuable addition to the family, as future additional labor force. Therefore, abortion was legally punishable by death, to which both the mother herself and all those involved in her crime were subjected.

Although the Incas required everyone to work, they took into account a person's abilities and state of health. The sick and infirm did not have to earn their living. They received everything they needed - food and clothing - from government warehouses. They were assigned tasks that they could perform in accordance with their physical condition. At the same time, the extremely pragmatic Inca regime did not allow the infirm to distract the strong and healthy inhabitants of the country from work to provide themselves with special care. Therefore, according to the law, a person deprived of the ability to work due to a physical defect could start a family only with a similar disabled person.

Old people also received special attention from the state. It was believed that a person reached old age at about fifty years of age. Such people were no longer considered full-fledged workers, and they were exempted from both labor service (mita) and taxation in general. However, until they were completely deprived of physical strength, the old people were instructed to perform tasks that did not require much effort: they collected brushwood in the forests, looked after infants, cooked food, drove chicha, weaved ropes and ropes, provided all possible assistance with harvesting.

In the Inca Empire there were four permanent army formations of 40,000 people, the command of which was subordinate to the ruler of the entire people.

The Inca army was the largest in pre-Columbian America. It was mainly a "civilian" army. All men aged 25 to 50 fit for military service were required to serve military service for five years. Each province supplied both privates and "officers" personnel. Each underwent rigorous military training from the ages of 10 to 18. The training was led by professional military men, usually from the lower ranks of officers, who taught their students how to use weapons of defense and attack, introduced them to the basics of hand-to-hand combat, taught them to overcome water obstacles, besiege enemy fortifications, give smoke signals and other things useful in war.

After completing lengthy military training, the young men in their aylyu, in the presence of a state inspector, took something like final exams in military affairs. The sick and disabled were not subject to military training. When war broke out, the youth of the community, having undergone extensive military training, were sent to the battlefield with the unit to which they were assigned based on the administrative structure of the empire.

The structure of the Inca army exactly corresponded to the administrative and organizational structure of the state and society.

The Inca army was distinguished by high discipline: the death penalty was threatened even for absence without the knowledge of the military leader. In battle, in addition to conventional weapons, psychological weapons were also used - various frightening sounds, wild screams, the sounds of flutes made from the bones of defeated enemies and the roar of wooden drums with human skin stretched over them. It should also be noted that the Incas often won victories by the power of words, that is, through diplomatic negotiations, during which the “sons of the Sun” invited the enemy to submit voluntarily.

Unlike the Aztecs, the Incas waged wars not in order to obtain human sacrifices to implement the messianic idea of ​​​​sustaining the life of the Sun (and therefore the whole world), but to expand the empire and obtain new subjects (additional labor).

In Tawantinsuyu the laws were unwritten, but they were all divided into civil and criminal. Blasphemy, atheism, idleness, laziness, lies, theft, adultery and murder were unacceptable. The issue of guilt was decided by judges - community leaders and representatives of the nobility. The laws were based on clear principles: the officials responsible for the decimal division were accomplices in each case; the instigator of the crime was punished, not the perpetrator; an offense committed by an aristocrat was considered a more serious offense than the same offense of a commoner (the Supreme Inca himself considered such a case).

The punishments used were expulsion, scourging, torture, and public reproach, but the most common measure was the death penalty (hanging, quartering, stoning). Persons who threatened the security of the state were placed in cells infested with poisonous snakes or predatory animals. The villages in which they lived were razed to the ground, and the inhabitants were executed. With such harsh laws, crime in the country was extremely low.

All the settlements of Tawantinsuyu were connected by an elaborate system of magnificent roads, paved with stone and framed by a barrier. They were intended for walking. There were two main roads that crossed the Inca Empire from end to end. One of them began at the northern border of the empire, near the equator (modern Ecuador), and ended at the Maule River. The total length of this road is about 5250 km. The second road connected the northern coast (Tumbes) with the south. Both roads crossed Mountain peaks, swamps, impenetrable jungles, fast-moving rivers, over which rope bridges made of agave fibers hung, and were connected by a series of transverse roads. Along each of them, approximately 25 km from each other, there were inns, and every 2 km there were post posts (chukly). This is another achievement. The Inca postal service was unmatched by any other ancient civilization. Special couriers-runners (chaskis) with a white headband transmitted messages along the relay race, running along 2 km of their section. There were to be two couriers at each post at the same time. One was resting; the other was awake and closely watching the section of road that passed through his post. As soon as the chaski on duty noticed the approaching courier, he immediately ran out to meet him and received an oral or bundled message along the relay. Since the distances were short, a high delivery speed was achieved: 2000 km was covered in three to five days. Chaska's work was very hard, so the state postal service used (at the expense of mita) healthy, fleet-footed and especially hardy young people from 18 to 20 years old.

The Inca Empire's excellent postal service was modeled after the earlier Peruvian cultures of the Mochica and Chimu courier services. However, the Incas improved and expanded the postal service of their predecessors. They covered the entire territory of the empire with a network of post posts, starting from the south of what is now Colombia all the way to central Chile. It is also important to take into account that the organization of both the postal service and other state events, including monumental construction, did not cost the empire anything. Work of this kind was the responsibility of the residents of the community in whose territory the work was carried out. Acting as a chaska, 18-20 year old boys performed their labor duties on a mita basis. How difficult the work of the couriers of the Incan postal service was is eloquently evidenced by the following fact: while others, according to the Mita, had to work for the state for three months (for example, in the mines), the Chaskis worked for only a month.

People traveled along the roads of Tawantinsuyu on foot. The only one vehicle there were palanquins, but the privilege of using them belonged to the Inca himself, members of the royal family and a few noble persons and officials of the state. As for the means for transporting goods, in this case llamas were actively used. It is noteworthy that the empire could simultaneously use up to 25 thousand lamas! And yet, a person had to deliver the bulk of the cargo himself, on his own back.

Regarding the presence of writing among the Incas, there is an opinion, especially among non-specialists, that they used knotted writing in this capacity - the quipu. This is not entirely accurate. The fact is that what is traditionally called knotted writing performed completely different functions than those performed by writing. It was only an excellent means of recording, first of all, statistical data. With the help of quipus, special people (kipukamayok), who had undergone special training and belonged to highly respected officials of the empire, recorded all the information that should have been recorded or about which Cuzco should have been informed: the number of population or troops, the number of weapons or crops, livestock lamas, etc. The khipu consisted of several laces. One, thicker one, was the base; many thinner multi-colored cords of various lengths and with a certain number of knots were attached to it. This record was based on the Inca decimal counting system. The position of the knot on the lace corresponded to the value of the digital indicators. It could be one, ten, a hundred thousand or even ten thousand. In this case, a simple knot denoted the number “1”, a double knot – “2”, a triple – “3”. In order to read a knot entry, it was necessary to know not only the place occupied by a knot on a lace, but also the color of the corresponding lace. The colors of the laces were symbolic. White meant silver and peace, yellow meant gold, black meant illness or time, red meant army. The Kipukamayoks, who mastered the art of knotted writing, could decipher more abstract concepts from the color of these notes. For example, white meant not only silver, but also peace, black meant illness (as well as time). It is very possible that initially the knotted writing of the “sons of the Sun” also served as a kind of Inca calendar. This, in particular, is evidenced by another name for the Kipukamayoks - “kilyakipok”. The Incas used the term “quilla” to designate the “monthly year” of their calendar, and also called their moon goddess.

The importance of the quipu was so great in Tahuantinsuyu that one of the Spanish chroniclers even wrote about this: “...The entire Inca empire was ruled through the quipu.” A large number of copies of the quipu have survived to this day. They differ primarily in size. The largest pile that has come down to us is 165 cm long and 6 cm wide. Often the bundles were lowered into the grave so that they would accompany the deceased on his final journey.

It is believed that the Incas had a writing system that was different from what Europeans were accustomed to considering as writing. That's why they simply didn't recognize her. Chroniclers mention special canvases kept in temples, on which “everything that needed to be known about the past” was painted, and about messages from rulers drawn on fabrics. Most likely it was a pictographic script, accessible only to the nobility; Moreover, some scientists are inclined to consider images on ceramic vessels - kero - as inscriptions. It is noteworthy that in the Quechua language, which supposedly did not have a written form, nevertheless, already in the pre-Hispanic period there were words that indicated the opposite. For example, "kilka" ("kelka") - "writing" ("writing"), "kilkangi" - "write", "kilyaskuni" - "read".

In recent years, a point of view expressed in a similar interpretation simultaneously in the works of two prominent researchers has begun to win its adherents. According to this point of view, writing was known to the Incas, but it looked like a lot of peculiar square or rectangular images decorating ancient Peruvian textiles, as well as kero vessels. Such pictographic writing, if, of course, it can be considered writing, was also known to the pre-Inca cultures of this country. The idea that these images are signs of writing was first expressed by the Peruvian archaeologist Victoria de la Jara. She came to this conclusion on the basis of a fundamental, many-month study of tissues preserved in the Paracas burial grounds. Victoria de la Jara found that 16 basic characters are most often repeated on South American fabrics. From the same angle, these signs are studied by the German scientist, professor at the University of Tübingen, Thomas Barthel. He managed to discover up to 400 different signs (tocapu) on the fabrics and vessels of ancient Peru, which in all cases had exactly the same spelling. Apparently, these signs were not just a decorative ornament. However, there is no clear evidence that Tokapu signs are indeed written language.

Despite the fact that there are no ancient written texts of Incan literature, it is still known that it had a fairly high level. There were religious and secular hymns, legends, myths, ballads, prayers, short epics, poems and fables, songs and elegies. Their authors lived in the palaces of rulers. Among them there are poets-philosophers and lyricists, but their work remains nameless.

The Inca drama in verse is called the pearl of world drama. "Apu-Ollantay."She talked about a courageous and noble commander, a native of the provincial aristocracy, who dared to fall in love with the daughter of the great Pachacuti himself - Cusi Coyliur ("Laughing Star") - and achieve her reciprocal love. To this day, this drama is still performed on the stage of the Indian theater of Latin America.

The Incas were good musicians. There were only five sounds in their sound series (do, re, fa, sol, la), but this did not stop them from playing bone and metal flutes, drums, tambourines and vessels with water, the neck of which was covered with leather, as well as reed or clay Andean pipes. The inhabitants of Tawantinsuyu often danced to the sounds of music. The dances were mainly of a magical and ritual nature, but sometimes they were performed simply for pleasure. There were several types of dance: men's military, shepherd's, secular, folk.

The inhabitants of the great empire of the sun could not only dance. Among them were good mathematicians, astronomers, engineers and doctors. The basis of Incan science was mathematics. It was based on the decimal system and marked the beginning of the development of statistics. Mathematics has found wide application in astronomy. Observatories were located throughout Peru, where the days of the solstices and equinoxes were determined, and the Sun, Moon, Venus, Saturn, Mars, Mercury, the constellations of the Pleiades, and the Southern Cross were observed. The Incan solar year was divided into twelve months of thirty days each, plus one additional month of five days.

Tawantinsuyu had its own geographers and cartographers who made beautiful relief maps, as well as historians. There was even a post of official historian of the empire, who was elected from the relatives of the great ruler.

But medicine is recognized as the most developed science in the state. Diseases were considered a consequence of sin, so priests and healers practiced medicine. They treated with magical techniques, fasting, bloodletting, gastric and intestinal lavage, as well as herbs. In severe cases, they resorted to operations (craniotomy, amputation of limbs). They used a special method of treating wounds - with the help of ants, as well as painkillers, such as coca, which was highly valued. Evidence of the effectiveness of Inca medicine was the longevity of the inhabitants of the empire - 90-100 years.

A brilliant example of the urban planning art of the Incas is their capital - the city of Cusco. Cusco was the capital and symbol of the empire - a fairy tale of stone and gold. Here were the residence of the Inca, the main authorities, the ritual center and city services. It was an important economic and cultural point where funds were distributed, taxes were paid and the most important educational institutions were located, where for four years they taught everything that the Incas achieved.

The city is considered one of the largest capitals in the world during the Conquest. In the 16th century about 200 thousand inhabitants lived in it and there were more than 25 thousand houses, painted in bright colors, decorated with marble and jasper, gold door and window frames. Cusco even had running water and sewerage. The city was built according to a pre-developed plan and was distinguished by thoughtfulness. Such a high location of the Inca capital (more than 3000 m above sea level) is surprising. The valley in which Cusco is located is surrounded on all sides by mountains and is only open to penetration from the southeast. The outline of the city resembled the body of a puma, which is why it was the symbol of the city. The imperial capital was divided into upper Cusco - Hanan Cusco and lower - Urin Cusco.

In the center of Cusco there was the “Plaza of Joy”, bordered by the largest golden chain in the history of mankind (length - 350 steps). The square and surrounding streets are surrounded by a complex of shrines and temples. The main one is considered Temple of the Sun, Its walls were lined with gold plates. Inside the structure there was an altar with an image of a huge disk of the sun from which rays emanated. Along the walls of the temple, the mummies of the late rulers of the empire sat on golden thrones covered with carpets. In addition to the service of the priests, a kind of monasteries were created, the building of one of them was reconstructed, this monastery belonged to the temple of the sun at Pachacamac, near Lima. The most beautiful girls. From the age of eight, they underwent special training to serve virgins destined for the sun . Archaeological excavations show that the Incas also performed human sacrifices. They sacrificed children to apu - the gods of the mountains. The frozen bodies of children were found on the peaks of the Andes.

Adjacent to the great temple is the palace-residence of the high priest and five beautiful buildings in which his assistants lived. These buildings were covered with thatch, into which gold threads were woven. Was nearby temple of the moon, lined with silver. His altar in the form of a night deity was guarded by the mummies of the deceased Inca spouses.

On the other side of the building complex were the shrines of Thunder, Lightning and Rainbow. And not far from it was the fantastic golden garden of Cusco - half natural, half artificial. According to legend, water flowed here through golden gutters, and in the center of the garden there was also an octagonal fountain covered with gold. The entire world of the Incas was reproduced here from gold in life-size: eared fields, shepherds and llamas with cubs, trees and shrubs, flowers and fruits, birds and butterflies. The Inca people gave the unique creations of skilled craftsmen to pay a ransom for the life of the last supreme Inca - Atahualpa (1532-1572).

There were many amazing things in Cusco, but nevertheless the citadel Machu Picchu(about 1500) is considered the main miracle of South America. The last Inca fortress, Machu Picchu, is located high in the Andes, 120 km east of the capital, on very rough terrain, but the builders of the fortress were able to turn the disadvantages of the landscape into advantages, achieving unity of architectural structures with environment. The pointed battlements of the main fortress tower seem to be part of the mountain, and the stone terraces are in strict accordance with the curves of the rocks. All buildings in Machu Picchu are located at different heights, so there are more than 100 stairs in the citadel. The center of the fortress city is considered to be “the place where the Sun is tied” - an observatory carved into the rock. Next to it are the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Three Windows (with the three largest trapezoidal windows in Peru) and the palace of the high priest. This is the first part of the city. Its second part - the Royal Quarter - consists of a semicircular fortress tower emerging from the rocks. The Princess's Palace is the residence of the ruler's wife and the Royal Palace of the Inca. The third part of the fortress was a block of residential buildings for ordinary residents. The entire city was surrounded by powerful ramparts.

Most of the pre-Columbian art has been found in burials on the coast. Fewer objects with plot images were found in the mountains, and they date mainly from the Wari-Tiaunaco era or even earlier. During the Predina period, the geometric style dominated here everywhere.

Inca art is poorly known. The figurines that archaeologists find in burials are poorly individualized and, most likely, are associated with the world of lower mythology, with the veneration of spirits and ancestors. Inca vessels and fabrics are covered with geometric patterns or decorated with artistically perfect, but plot-inexpressive images of people and animals. Only under the influence of the Spaniards did a unique figurative style of lacquer painting on goblets develop in Cusco, but the subjects presented on vessels of the 16th-17th centuries are not of a purely Indian nature.

As for the Incan statues, they were made primarily not from stone, but from precious metals. Naturally, all this was immediately melted down by the conquistadors. Stone sculptures were mainly broken with hammers. The images of the Incan deities were destroyed so diligently and consistently that we now practically do not know what they exactly looked like.

Around 1530, the Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro, having learned from stories about the golden treasures of Peru, moved there from Panama with his army - Peru at that time was weakened by internecine war. Atawalpa, heading towards the capital, defeated Prince Vascar, his half-brother and legitimate heir to the throne, and took him prisoner.

Pizarro and his soldiers, having reached with difficulty the city of Cajamarca in the interior of the country, were warmly received by the usurper Atavalpa. However, the Spaniards, having captured him by cunning, deprived him of the throne and killed thousands of his warriors, who were completely unprepared to fight back.

However, even captivity did not prevent Atavalpa from continuing the internecine war. He sent messengers to Cuzco to kill his half-brother Inca Vascar and hundreds of other members of the royal family. By this, he, without suspecting it, played into Pizarro’s hands.

Noticing that the Spaniards were partial to gold and silver, Atavallpa promised in exchange for his release to give Pizarro so many gold and silver statues that they could fill a huge room. But Atawalpa's plan failed. He's been fooled again! After the promised ransom was paid, Atawalpa, Inca XIII, whom the priests considered an idolater, was baptized as a Catholic and then strangled.

The capture and murder of Atawalpa was a fatal blow to the Inca state. However, the Indians continued to fight, so death throes lasted for forty years.

When reinforcements arrived, Pizarro and his soldiers rushed to Cuzco, the city of untold treasures of the Incas. Driven by a thirst for gold, the Spaniards brutally tortured the Indians in order to find out from them the secrets of hidden treasures, and everyone who tried to resist them was intimidated into silence.

Accompanied by Prince Manco II, who was Vascar's brother and would become the next Inca (Manco Inca Yupanca), Pizarro and his soldiers raided Cuzco and plundered all the gold treasures. They melted most of the gold statues into ingots and sent them to Spain. It's no wonder that Spanish ships, filled with Peruvian treasures, were coveted prey for British pirates! Pizarro himself, having plundered a lot of goods. He went to the coast of the mainland and in 1535 founded a new capital there, the city of Lima.

Clearly seeing how greedy and treacherous the conquerors were, Manco Inca Yupanqui rebelled. Other revolts against the Spaniards broke out, but eventually the Indians were forced to retreat and fortify themselves in more remote areas. One of the places where the Indians may have taken refuge was the sacred city of Machu Picchu located in the mountains.

The last Inca was Tupac Amaru (1572), son of Manco Inca Yupanqui. At this time, Spanish viceroys ruled Peru. The Viceroy of Toledo decided to destroy the Incas at any cost. Gathering a large army, he headed to the Vilcapampa region. In the jungle, Tupac Amaru was captured. Together with his pregnant wife, he was taken to Cusco; they faced the death penalty. An Indian from Cañar was the executor of the sentence. One blow - and the Inca was beheaded, at that moment there was a mournful sigh of thousands of Indians gathered in the market square. His associates were tortured to death or hanged. So quickly and brutally the reign of the Incas was put to an end.

Gradually, the lives of the Indians, who had long been treated as slaves, began to be influenced by the rulers appointed by Spain, as well as Catholic monks and priests, which had both positive and negative aspects. Many Indians had to work in the gold and silver mines, one of which, silver, in Potos, Bolivia. To escape the terrible reality, the Indians began to use coca leaves, which had narcotic properties. It was only at the beginning of the 19th century that Peru and Bolivia gained independence from Spain.

How do the descendants of the Incas live today? Like others modern cities, the capital of Peru, Lima is a bustling city with a population of one million. But in provincial areas, time seems to have stopped a hundred years ago. In many remote villages, Catholic priests still have enormous influence. A simple Indian peasant will not go anywhere as willingly as to the Catholic Church in the village square. Statues of saints in long robes, colorful lamps, a gilded altar, candles, mysterious services and especially dances and celebrations - all this brings at least some variety to his life. However, despite the fact that this diversity may be pleasing to the eye, the peasant continues to cling to his former beliefs. In addition, many Indians continue to use coca leaves, which are attributed mystical properties.

Thanks to the resilience inherent in the descendants of the Incas (many of whom were already of mixed ancestry), they managed to preserve their vibrant traditional dances and Huayno folk music. Although Indians are usually wary of strangers at first, their inherent hospitality is sure to emerge. Those who are personally acquainted with the modern descendants of the Incas - who observed their daily struggle for life, tried to show interest in them and become more familiar with their life - will not remain indifferent to their history!

MAYAN

The Mayan Indians are not indigenous to the land of Guatemala and Honduras, they came from the north; it is difficult to say when they settled the Yucatan Peninsula. Most likely in the first millennium BC, and since then the religion, culture, and whole life of the Mayans have been connected with this land.

More than a hundred remains of large and small cities and settlements, the ruins of majestic capitals built by the ancient Mayans, have been discovered here.

Many of the names of Maya cities and individual structures were assigned to them after the Spanish conquest and, therefore, are not the original names in the Mayan language, nor their translations into European languages: for example, the name "Tikal" was coined by archaeologists, and "Palenque" is a Spanish word " fortress".

Much still remains unsolved in the history of this amazing and unique civilization. Let’s take the word “Maya” itself. After all, we don’t even know what it means and how it got into our vocabulary. For the first time in literature, it is found in Bartolome Columbus, when he describes the meeting of his legendary brother Christopher, the discoverer of America, with an Indian canoe boat that sailed “from the province called Maya.”

According to some sources from the period of the Spanish Conquest, the name “Maya” was applied to the entire Yucatan Peninsula, which contradicts the name of the country given in Landa’s message - “u luumil kutz yetel keh” (“country of turkeys and deer”). According to others, it referred only to a relatively small territory, the center of which was the ancient capital of Mayapan. It has also been suggested that the term "Maya" was a common noun and arose from the contemptuous nickname "ahmaya", that is, "powerless people." However, there are also such translations of this word as “land without water,” which, undoubtedly, should be recognized as a simple mistake.

However, in the history of the ancient Maya, much more important questions still remain unresolved. And the first of them is the question of the time and nature of the Mayan peoples’ settlement of the territory on which the main centers of their civilization were concentrated during the period of its greatest prosperity, usually called the Classical era (II - X centuries). Numerous facts indicate that their emergence and rapid development occurred everywhere and almost simultaneously. This inevitably leads to the idea that by the time they arrived in the lands of Guatemala, Honduras, Chiapas and Yucatan, the Mayans apparently already had a fairly high culture. It was uniform in nature, and this confirms that its formation had to take place in a relatively limited area. From there, the Mayans set off on a long journey not as wild tribes of nomads, but as carriers of a high culture (or its rudiments), which was to blossom into an outstanding civilization in the future, in a new place.

Where could the Mayans come from? There is no doubt that they had to leave the center very high and certainly more ancient culture than the Mayan civilization itself. Indeed, such a center was discovered in what is now Mexico. It contains the remains of the so-called Olmec culture, found in Tres Zapotes, La Vente, Veracruz and other areas of the Gulf Coast. But the point is not only that the Olmec culture is the most ancient in America and, therefore, it is “older” than the Mayan civilization. Numerous monuments of Olmec culture - the buildings of religious centers and the features of their layout, the types of structures themselves, the nature of written and digital signs left by the Olmecs and other remains of material culture - convincingly indicate the kinship of these civilizations. The possibility of such a relationship is also confirmed by the fact that ancient Mayan settlements with a well-established culture appear everywhere in the area of ​​interest to us precisely when the active activity of the Olmec religious centers suddenly ended, that is, somewhere between the 3rd - 1st centuries BC.

Why this great migration was undertaken can only be guessed at. Resorting to historical analogies, it should be assumed that it was not of a voluntary nature, because, as a rule, migrations of people were the result of a fierce struggle against the invasions of nomadic barbarians.

It would seem that everything is extremely clear, but even today we cannot with absolute confidence call the ancient Mayans the direct heirs of the Olmec culture. Modern science about the Maya does not have the necessary data for such a statement, although everything that is known about the Olmecs and the ancient Maya also does not provide sufficiently compelling reasons to doubt the relationship (at least indirect) of these most interesting cultures America.

The fact that our knowledge about the initial period of the history of the ancient Maya is not distinguished by the desired accuracy does not seem to be something exceptional.

The huge pyramids, temples, palaces of Tikal, Vashaktun, Copan, Palenque and other cities of the classical era still keep traces of the destruction caused human hand. We do not know their reasons. A variety of theories have been expressed on this matter, but none of them can be called reliable. For example, the uprisings of peasants, driven to the extreme by endless exactions, thanks to which rulers and priests satisfied their vanity by erecting giant pyramids and temples to their gods.

The Mayan religion is no less interesting than their history.

The universe - yok kab (literally: above the earth) - was imagined by the ancient Mayans as worlds located on top of each other. Just above the earth were thirteen heavens, or thirteen “heavenly layers,” and beneath the earth were nine “underworlds” that made up the underworld.

In the center of the earth stood the “Primordial Tree.” At the four corners, strictly corresponding to the cardinal points, four “world trees” grew. In the East - red, symbolizing the color of the dawn. In the North - white. An ebony tree - the color of the night - stood in the West, and a yellow tree grew in the South - it symbolized the color of the sun.

In the cool shade of the "Primal Tree" - it was green - was paradise. The souls of the righteous came here to take a break from backbreaking labor on earth, from the suffocating tropical heat and enjoy plentiful food, peace and fun.

The ancient Mayans had no doubt that the earth was square, or at most rectangular. The sky, like a roof, rested on five supports - “heavenly pillars”, that is, on the central “Primordial Tree” and on four “colored trees” that grew along the edges of the earth. The Mayans seemed to transfer the layout of ancient communal houses to the universe around them.

The most surprising thing is that the idea of ​​thirteen heavens arose among the ancient Mayans also on a materialistic basis. It was the direct result of long-term and very careful observations of the sky and study of the movements of celestial bodies in the smallest details accessible to the naked human eye. This allowed the ancient Mayan astronomers, and most likely the Olmecs, to perfectly understand the nature of the movements of the Sun, Moon and Venus across the visible horizon. The Mayans, carefully observing the movement of the luminaries, could not help but notice that they were not moving along with the rest of the stars, but each in its own way. Once this was established, it was most natural to assume that each luminary had its own “sky” or “layer of the sky.” Moreover, continuous observations made it possible to clarify and even specify the routes of these movements during one annual journey, since they actually pass through very specific groups of stars.

The Mayan star routes of the Sun were divided into segments equal in time for their passage. It turned out that there were thirteen such periods of time, and in each of them the Sun stayed for about twenty days. (In the Ancient East, astronomers identified 12 constellations - signs of the Zodiac.) Thirteen twenty-day months made up a solar year. For the Mayans, it began with the spring equinox, when the Sun was in the constellation Aries.

With a certain amount of imagination, the groups of stars through which the routes passed were easily associated with real or mythical animals. This is how the gods were born - the patrons of the months in the astronomical calendar: “rattlesnake”, “scorpion”, “bird with the head of a beast”, “long-nosed monster” and others. It is curious that, for example, the familiar constellation Gemini corresponded to the constellation Turtle among the ancient Mayans.

If the Maya's ideas about the structure of the universe as a whole are clear to us today and do not raise any particular doubts, and the calendar, which is striking in its almost absolute accuracy, has been thoroughly studied by scientists, the situation is completely different with their “underground worlds.” We cannot even say why there were nine of them (and not eight or ten). Only the name of the “lord of the underworld” is known - Hun Ahab, but even this still has only a tentative interpretation.

The calendar was inextricably linked with religion. The priests, who studied the movements of the planets and the changing seasons, knew exactly the dates of sowing and harvesting.

The ancient Mayan calendar attracted and now continues to attract the closest and most serious attention of researchers studying this outstanding civilization. Many of them hoped to find answers to countless unclear questions from the mysterious Mayan past in the calendar. And although the calendar itself could not, quite naturally, satisfy most of the interests of scientists, it still told a lot about those who created it two thousand years ago. Suffice it to say that it is thanks to the study of the calendar that we know the Mayan base-2 counting system, the form of writing numbers, and their incredible achievements in the field of mathematics and astronomy.

The ancient Mayan calendar was based on a thirteen-day week. The days of the week were written in digital symbols; the date necessarily included the name of the month; there were eighteen of them, each of which had its own name.

Thus, the date consisted of four components - terms:

• the number of the thirteen-day week,
• name and serial number of the day of the twenty-day month,
• name (name) of the month.

The main feature of dating among the ancient Mayans is that any date on the May calendar will be repeated only after 52 years; moreover, it was this feature that became the basis of the calendar and chronology, taking the form of first a mathematical, and later a mystical fifty-two-year cycle, which is also commonly called calendar circle. The calendar was based on a four-year cycle.

Unfortunately, there is not enough reliable data on the origin of both the components - the components of the calendar date and the listed cycles. Some of them originally arose from purely abstract mathematical concepts, for example, “vinal” - a twenty-day month - according to the number of units of the first order of the Mayan decimal system. It is possible that the number thirteen - the number of days in a week - also appeared in purely mathematical calculations, most likely associated with astronomical observations, and only then acquired a mystical character - the thirteen heavens of the universe. The priests, interested in monopolizing the secrets of the calendar, gradually dressed it in increasingly complex mystical robes, inaccessible to the minds of mere mortals, and ultimately it was these “robes” that began to play a dominant role. And if, from under the religious robes - the names of the twenty-day months, one can clearly see the rational beginning of dividing the year into equal time periods - months, the names of the days rather indicate their purely cultic origin.

Thus, the Mayan calendar, already in the process of its inception, was not devoid of elements of a socio-political nature. Meanwhile, the institution of change of power by birth, characteristic of the earliest stage of the formation of class society among the Mayans, gradually died out. However, the four-year cycle as the basis of the calendar remained intact, for it continued to play an important role in their economic life. The priests managed to emasculate the democratic principles from it and put it entirely at the service of their religion, which now protected the “divine” power of omnipotent rulers, which eventually became hereditary.

The Mayan year began on December 23, that is, on the day of the winter solstice, well known to their astronomers. The names of the months, especially in the ancient calendar, clearly show their semantic and rational charge.

The Mayan year consisted of 18 months of 20 days each. In the Mayan language, the time periods were called: 20 days - vinal; 18 Vinal - Tun; a tun was equal to 360 kin (days). To align the solar year, 5 days were added, called mayeb, literally: “unfavorable.” It was believed that on this five-day period the year “dies”, and therefore on these last days The ancient Mayans did nothing to avoid bringing trouble upon themselves. The tun was not the last unit of time in the Mayan calendar. With an increase of 20 times, cycles began to form: 20 tuns made a katun; 20 katuns - baktun; 20 baktuns - pictun; 20 pictuns - kalabtun; 20 kalabtuts - kinchiltun. The Alautun included 23,040,000,000 days, or kin (suns). All dates preserved on steles, monoliths, codices and in records made by the Spaniards of the early colonial period have a single point of reference. We would call it “Year One,” from which the Mayan counting of time begins. According to our chronology, it falls in 3113 BC, or, according to another system of correlation, in 3373 BC. It is interesting to note that these dates are close to the first year of the Hebrew calendar, which falls in 3761 BC. - year of the supposed creation of the Bible. The Mayans skillfully combined two calendars: Haab - solar, consisting of 365 days, and Tzolkin - religious, of 206 days. With this combination, a cycle of 18,890 days was formed, only at the end of which the name and number of the day again coincided with the same name of the month. It’s like November 15th, for example, always fell on Thursday. Such a significant significance of astronomical science would not have been possible without a perfectly developed counting system. The Mayans created such a system. It is similar to the one that the Arabs adopted from the Indians and later passed on to the Europeans, who only then were able to abandon the primitive Roman system.

The Mayans surpassed this system before the Romans conquered Gaul and the Iberian Peninsula, and long before the Arabs brought the decimal counting system to Europe. It is believed that it was invented in India in the 7th century. AD and that the Arabs passed it on to the Europeans only several centuries later. The Mayans used their own decimal system at least from the 4th century. AD - in other words, 1600 years ago.

The Mayans created the most accurate calendars of antiquity.

Little information about the ancient Maya is available to us, but what is known comes from descriptions of the Spanish conquerors and deciphered Mayan writings. The work of domestic linguists under the leadership of Yu.V. played a huge role in this. Knorozov, who was awarded a doctorate for his research. Yu.V. Knorozov proved the hieroglyphic nature of the writing of the ancient Mayans and the consistency of the so-called “Landa alphabet”, a man who “stole” the history of an entire people, finding in their manuscripts content that contradicts the tenets of the Christian religion. Using three surviving manuscripts, Yu.V. Knozorov counted about three hundred different writing signs and determined their reading.

Diego de Landa, the first provincial, burned the Mayan books as heretical. Three manuscripts have reached us containing records of priests with a description of the calendar, a list of gods, and sacrifices. Other manuscripts have been found during archaeological excavations, but their condition is so poor that they cannot be read. There is very little opportunity to obtain more information by deciphering the inscriptions carved on stones and temple walls, since they were not spared by the nature of the tropics and some hieroglyphs cannot be read.

Many private collections are replenished through the illegal export of parts or a complete complex of structures from the country. The confiscation occurs so carelessly, with non-compliance with the rules of archaeological excavations, so much is lost irretrievably.

The territory where the Mayan civilization developed once occupied the modern southern Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche and Yucatan, the Peten department in Northern Guatemala, Belize and part of Western El Salvador and Honduras. The southern borders of the Mayan possessions were closed by the mountain ranges of Guatemala and Honduras. Three quarters of the Yucatan Peninsula is surrounded by sea, and the land approaches to it from Mexico were blocked by the endless swamps of Chiapas and Tabasco. The Mayan territory is distinguished by an extraordinary diversity of natural conditions, but nature has never been too generous to humans here. Every step on the path to civilization was achieved by the ancient inhabitants of these places with great difficulty and required the mobilization of all human and material resources of society.

The history of the Maya can be divided into three major eras in accordance with the most important changes in the economy, social institutions and culture of local tribes: Paleo-Indian (10,000-2000 BC); archaic (2000-100 BC or 0) and the era of civilization (100 BC or 0 - 16th century AD). These eras, in turn, are divided into smaller periods and stages. The initial stage of the classical Mayan civilization occurs around the turn of our era (1st century BC - 1st century AD). The upper boundary dates back to the 9th century. AD

The earliest traces of human presence in the area of ​​​​the spread of Mayan culture were found in central Chiapas, mountainous Guatemala and part of Honduras (X millennium BC).

At the turn of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. In these mountainous regions, early agricultural cultures of the Neolithic type appeared, the basis of which was maize farming.

At the very end of the 2nd - beginning of the 1st millennium BC. The development of the tropical jungle region by the Mayan tribes begins. Individual attempts to settle on the fertile, game-rich lands of the plains had been made earlier, but mass colonization of these areas began precisely from that time.

At the end of the 2nd millennium BC. The milpa (slash-and-burn) farming system was finally taking shape, progressive changes were observed in the production of ceramics, house-building and other areas of culture. Based on these achievements, the mountain Maya tribes gradually developed the forested lowlands of Peten, eastern Chiapas, Yucatan and Belize. The general direction of their movement was from west to east. During their advance into the interior of the jungle, the Mayans used the most advantageous directions and routes, and above all river valleys.

By the middle of the 1st millennium BC. the colonization of most of the lowland jungle region was completed, after which the development of culture here proceeded completely independently.

At the end of the 1st millennium BC. in the culture of the lowland Maya, qualitative changes are occurring: in cities there are palace complexes, former sanctuaries and light small temples are transformed into monumental stone structures, all the most important palace and religious architectural complexes are separated from the general mass of buildings and are located in the central part of the city on special elevated and fortified places, writing and a calendar are formed, painting and monumental sculpture are developed, magnificent burials of rulers with human sacrifices appear inside the temple pyramids.

The formation of statehood and civilization in the lowland forest zone was accelerated by a significant influx of population from the south from the mountainous regions, where, as a result of the eruption of the Ilopango volcano, most of the land was covered with a thick layer of volcanic ash and turned out to be uninhabitable. The southern (mountainous) region appears to have given a powerful impetus to the development of Maya culture in the Central region (Northern Guatemala, Belize, Tabasco and Chiapas in Mexico). Here the May civilization reached the peak of its development in the 1st millennium AD.

The economic basis of the Mayan culture was slash-and-burn maize farming. Milpa farming involves cutting down, burning and replanting an area of ​​tropical forest. Due to the rapid depletion of the soil, after two or three years the plot must be abandoned and a new one must be looked for. The main agricultural tools of the Mayans were: a digging stick, an ax and a torch. Local farmers, through long-term experiments and selection, managed to develop hybrid high-yielding varieties of the main agricultural plants - maize, legumes and pumpkin. The manual technique of cultivating a small forest plot and the combination of several crops on one field made it possible to maintain fertility for a long time and did not require frequent changes of plots. Natural conditions (soil fertility and abundance of heat and moisture) allowed Mayan farmers to harvest here on average at least two harvests per year.

In addition to the fields in the jungle, near each Indian dwelling there was a personal plot with vegetable gardens and groves of fruit trees. The latter (especially breadfruit"Ramon") did not require any care, but provided a significant amount of food.

The successes of ancient Mayan agriculture were largely associated with the creation by the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. a clear and harmonious agricultural calendar, strictly regulating the timing and sequence of all agricultural work.

In addition to slash-and-burn, the Mayans were familiar with other forms of agriculture. In the south of Yucatan and Belize, agricultural terraces with a special soil moisture system were found on the slopes of high hills. In the Candelaria River basin (Mexico) there was an agricultural system reminiscent of the Aztec “floating gardens”. These are the so-called “raised fields”, which have almost inexhaustible fertility. The Mayans also had a fairly extensive network of irrigation and drainage canals. The latter removed excess water from swampy areas, turning them into fertile fields suitable for cultivation.

The canals built by the Mayans simultaneously collected rainwater and supplied it to artificial reservoirs, served as an important source of animal protein (fish, waterfowl, freshwater edible shellfish), and were convenient routes of communication and delivery of heavy cargo by boats and rafts.

The Mayan crafts are represented by ceramic production, weaving, the production of stone tools and weapons, jade jewelry, and construction. Ceramic vessels with polychrome painting, elegant figured vessels, jade beads, bracelets, tiaras and figurines are evidence of the high professionalism of May artisans.

During the Classic period, trade developed among the Mayans. Imported May ceramics from the 1st millennium AD. discovered by archaeologists in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Strong trade ties were established with Teotihuacan. In this huge city, a large number of shards of May ceramics and carved jade items were found. Here was a whole quarter of Mayan traders, with their homes, warehouses and sanctuaries. There was a similar quarter of Teotihuacan traders in one of the largest Mayan cities of the 1st millennium AD. Tikal. In addition to land trade, sea transportation routes were also used (images of dugout rowing boats are quite common in works of art of the ancient Mayans, dating back to at least the 7th century AD).

The centers of May civilization were numerous cities. The largest of them were Tikal, Palenque, Yaxchilan, Naranjo, Piedras Negras, Copan, Quirigua. All these names are late. The true names of the cities are still unknown (the exception is Naranjo, which is identified with the fortress of the “Jaguar Ford”, known from the inscription on a clay vase).

Architecture in the central part of any major Mayan city of the 1st millennium AD. represented by pyramidal hills and platforms of various sizes and heights. On their flat tops there are stone buildings: temples, residences of the nobility, palaces. The buildings were surrounded by powerful rectangular squares, which were the main unit of planning in Mayan cities. Row dwellings were built of wood and clay under roofs made of dry palm leaves. All residential buildings stood on low (1-1.5 m) platforms, lined with stone. Typically, residential and ancillary buildings form groups located around an open rectangular courtyard. Such groups were the habitat of a large patriarchal family. The cities had markets and craft workshops (for example, processing flint and obsidian). The location of a building within the city was determined by the social status of its inhabitants.

A significant group of the population of Mayan cities (the ruling elite, officials, warriors, artisans and traders) was not directly connected with agriculture and existed due to the vast agricultural district, which supplied it with all the necessary agricultural products and mainly maize.

The nature of the socio-political structure of Mayan society in the classical era cannot yet be determined unambiguously. It is clear that, at least during the period of its greatest prosperity (VII-VIII centuries AD), the Mayan social structure was quite complex. Along with the bulk of communal farmers, there was a nobility (its stratum consisted of priests), and artisans and professional traders stood out. The presence of a number of rich burials in rural settlements indicates the heterogeneity of the rural community. However, it is too early to judge how far this process has gone.

At the head of the hierarchical social system was a deified ruler. Mayan rulers always emphasized their connection with the gods and performed, in addition to their main (secular) functions, a number of religious ones. They not only had power during their lifetime, but were also revered by the people even after their death. In their activities, the rulers relied on the secular and spiritual nobility. From the first, the administrative apparatus was formed. Despite the fact that little is known about the organization of management among the Mayans during the classical period, the presence of a management apparatus is undeniable. This is indicated by the regular layout of May cities, an extensive irrigation system and the need for strict regulation of agricultural labor. The latter was the task of the priests. Any violation of the sacred order was regarded as blasphemy, and the violator could end up on the sacrificial altar.

Like other ancient societies, the Mayans had slaves. They were used for various household jobs, worked in the gardens and plantations of the nobility, served as porters on the roads and rowers on merchant boats. However, it is unlikely that the share of slave labor was significant.

After the 6th century AD in the May cities, a system of power based on the rules of inheritance is being consolidated, that is, a dynastic regime is being established. But in many respects, the classical Mayan city-states remained "chiefdoms" or "chiefdoms." The power of their hereditary rulers, although sanctioned by the gods, was limited - limited by the size of the territories they controlled, the number of people and resources in these territories, and the comparative underdevelopment of the bureaucratic machinery available to the ruling elite.

There were wars between the Mayan states. In most cases, the territory of the defeated city was not included in the state borders of the winner. The end of the battle was the capture of one ruler by another, usually followed by the sacrifice of the captured leader. The goal of the May rulers' foreign policy was power and control over their neighbors, especially control over land suitable for cultivation and over the population in order to cultivate these lands and build cities. However, not a single state has been able to achieve political centralization over a significant territory and has not been able to retain this territory for any long period of time.

Approximately between 600 and 700 AD. AD Teotihuacan troops invaded Mayan territory. Mostly mountainous areas were attacked, but even in the lowland cities at this time, Teotihuacan influence increased significantly. The Mayan city-states managed to resist and quite quickly overcame the consequences of the enemy invasion.

In the 7th century AD. Teotihuacan perishes under the onslaught of the northern barbarian tribes. This had the most serious consequences for the peoples of Central America. The system of political unions, associations and states that had developed over many centuries was disrupted. A continuous series of campaigns, wars, relocations, and invasions of barbarian tribes began. This whole motley tangle of ethnic groups of different languages ​​and cultures was inexorably approaching the western borders of the Maya.

At first, the Mayans successfully repelled the onslaught of foreigners. It is to this time (late 7th-8th centuries AD) that most of the victorious reliefs and steles erected by the rulers of the May city-states in the Usumacinta River basin date back to: Palenque, Piedras Negras, Yaxchilan. But soon the forces of resistance to the enemy dried up. Added to this was the constant hostility between the Mayan city-states themselves, whose rulers, for any reason, sought to increase their territory at the expense of their neighbors.

A new wave of conquerors moved from the west. These were the Pipil tribes , whose ethnic and cultural affiliation has not yet been fully established. The first to be destroyed were the May cities in the Usumacinta River basin (late 8th - first half of the 9th century AD). Then, almost simultaneously, the most powerful city-states of Peten and Yucatan perish (second half of the 9th - early 10th centuries AD). Over the course of just 100 years, the most populous and culturally advanced region of Central America fell into decline, from which it never recovered.

After these events, the lowland areas of the Maya did not turn out to be completely deserted (according to some authoritative scientists, up to 1 million people died in this territory over the course of just one century). In the 16th-17th centuries, a fairly large number of inhabitants lived in the forests of Peten and Belize, and in the very center of the former “Ancient Kingdom”, on an island in the middle of Lake Peten Itza, there was the populous city of Taysal - the capital of the independent Mayan state, which existed until the end of the 17th century .

In the northern region of Mayan culture, in Yucatan, events developed differently. In the 10th century AD The cities of the Yucatan Mayans were attacked by warlike Central Mexican tribes - the Toltecs. However, unlike the central Maya region, this did not lead to catastrophic consequences. The population of the peninsula not only survived, but also managed to quickly adapt to the new conditions. As a result, after a short time, a unique culture appeared in Yucatan, combining May and Toltec features.

The cause of the death of the classical Mayan civilization still remains a mystery. Some facts indicate that the invasion of the warlike Pipil groups was not the cause, but the result of the decline of the May cities at the very end of the 1st millennium AD. It is possible that internal social upheavals or some serious economic crisis played a certain role here.

The construction and maintenance of an extensive system of irrigation canals and “raised fields” required enormous community efforts. The population, sharply reduced as a result of the wars, was no longer able to support it in the difficult conditions of the tropical jungle. And she died, and with her the May classical civilization died.

The end of the classical Mayan civilization has much in common with the death of the Harappan culture in Ancient India. And although they are separated by a rather impressive period of time, typologically they are very close. Perhaps G.M. is right. Bograd-Levin, who connects the decline of civilization in the Indus Valley not only with natural phenomena, but primarily with the evolution of the structure of sedentary agricultural cultures. True, the nature of this process is not yet clear and requires further study.

After the 10th century, the development of Mayan culture continued on the Yucatan Peninsula. This peninsula was a flat limestone plain with no rivers, streams or lakes. Only a few natural wells (deep karst sinkholes in limestone layers) served as sources of water. The Mayans called these wells “cenotes.” Where there were cenotes, the centers of the classical Mayan civilization arose and developed.

In the 10th century AD The warlike Toltec tribes invaded the Yucatan Peninsula. The capital of the conquerors becomes the city of Chichen Itza, which arose in the 6th century. AD Having settled in Chichen Itza, the Toltecs and their allied tribes soon spread their influence over most of the Yucatan Peninsula. The conquerors brought with them new customs and rituals, new features in architecture, art and religion.

As the power of other political centers in Yucatan grew, the hegemony of Chichen Itza began to increasingly displease them. The rulers of Chichen Itza demanded more and more tributes and extortions from their neighbors. The ritual of human sacrifice in the “Sacred Well” of Chichen Itza caused particular indignation among residents of other May cities and villages.

The “Sacred Cenote” was a giant round funnel with a diameter of 60 meters. From the edge of the well to the surface of the water there was almost 21 meters in height. Depth - over 10 meters, did not count the multi-meter thickness of silt at the bottom. Dozens of people were required for sacrifices and they were regularly supplied by subordinate cities.

The situation changed after the ruler Hunak Keel came to power in the city of Mayapan. At the beginning of the 13th century, he was able to unite the forces of three cities: Itzmal, Mayapan and Uxmal. In the decisive battle, the troops of Chichen Itza were defeated, and the hated city itself was destroyed.

In the subsequent period, the role of Mayapan and its ruling dynasty, the Cocoms, sharply increased. But the rule of the Kokoms also turned out to be fragile. In the 15th century, as a result of a fierce internecine struggle, Yucatan was divided into one and a half dozen small city-states, waging constant wars among themselves in order to capture booty and slaves.

The basis of the economy of the Yucatan Mayans, just as in the classical era, remained milpa agriculture. His character remained virtually unchanged, and his technology was as primitive as ever.

The craft also remained at the same level. The Yucatan Mayans did not have their own metallurgy and metal came here from other areas through trade. Trade acquired an unusually large scale among the Yucatan Mayans. They exported salt, textiles and slaves, exchanging all this for cocoa and jade.

On the eve of the arrival of Europeans, several large trading centers existed in Mayan territory. On the coast of the Gulf of Mexico there was the city of Chiquiango - a large trading post where Aztec merchants, Yucatan merchants, and residents of the south came. Another shopping center - Simatan - stood on the Grijalva River. It was the terminus of a long overland route from the Valley of Mexico and a transshipment point for numerous goods. At the mouth of the same river was the city of Potonchan, which controlled not only trade in the lower reaches of the Grijalva River, but also sea routes along the western coast of Yucatan. Large shopping center There was a Mayan state called Akalan with its capital Itzalkanak. Profitable geographical position I allow local residents conduct lively intermediary trade with the most remote areas of Honduras and Guatemala.

The Yucatan Mayans conducted brisk maritime trade with neighbors near and far. Their most important cities stood either directly on the sea coast, in convenient bays and bays, or near the mouths of navigable rivers. Around the entire Yucatan Peninsula: from Xicalango in the west to the southern Gulf of Honduras in the east, there was a long sea ​​route. This route was actively used by traders from Akalan.

For sea travel, dugout boats were still used, some of which were designed for 40 or even 50 people. These boats sailed both with oars and under sails. In a number of cases, ships also used a sewn-on side, made either from flat planks or from reeds, generously coated with resin.

The Yucatan Maya society was divided into two main classes: the nobility (spiritual and secular) and the communal. In addition, there were various kinds of dependent people, including slaves.

The nobility (aristocracy) constituted the ruling class and occupied all the most important political positions. It included not only dignitaries, but also military leaders, the richest merchants and community members. A special stratum among the nobility was the priesthood. The priesthood played a huge role in public life, since not only issues of religious worship, but also scientific knowledge, as well as almost all art, were concentrated in its hands. Free community members made up the majority of the population. These included farmers, hunters, fishermen, artisans and small traders. The community members were not homogeneous. The lower stratum was a special group of poor people who were economically dependent on the nobility. Along with her, there was also a layer of wealthy community members.

There were quite a lot of slaves in Yucatan, most of whom belonged to the nobility or wealthy community members. The bulk of the slaves were men, women and children captured during frequent wars. Another source of slaves was debt slavery, as well as slavery for theft. In addition, persons who were in connection or marriage with slaves fell into slavery. There was trade in slaves both within the country and for export. All power in the Mayan states belonged to the ruler - Halach-vinik. This power was hereditary and passed from one member of the dynasty to another. Halach-vinik carried out general administration of the state, directed foreign policy, was the supreme military commander, and performed some religious and judicial functions. The Halach-Viniki received various kinds of tributes and taxes from the population under their control.

Under Halach-vinik there was a council of especially noble and influential dignitaries, without whom he did not make important decisions.

Administrative and judicial power in small towns and villages was exercised by batabs appointed by Halach-vinik. Under the batab there was a city council consisting of the richest and most respected persons. The executive officials were called holpons. Thanks to them, direct control was carried out by Halach-vinik and the Batabs. The lowest rung in the administrative ladder was occupied by minor officials - tupils, who performed police functions.

By the time the Spaniards arrived, Yucatan was divided between 16 independent small states, each of which had its own territory and ruler. The most powerful among the ruling dynasties were the Shiu dynasties. Kokomov and Kanul. None of these states was able to unite the territory into a single whole. But each ruler tried to carry out such a unification under his own auspices. As a result, from 1441, a civil war raged on the peninsula, which was superimposed by numerous civil strife. All this significantly weakened the Mayan forces in the face of external danger. Still, the Spaniards were unable to conquer Yucatan the first time. For twenty years the Mayans resisted, however, they were unable to maintain their independence. By the middle of the 16th century, most of their territory was conquered.

The Mayans, as if challenging fate, settled for a long time in the inhospitable Central American jungle, building their white-stone cities there. Fifteen centuries before Columbus, they invented an accurate solar calendar and created the only hieroglyphic writing in America, used the concept of zero in mathematics, and confidently predicted solar and lunar eclipses. Already in the first centuries of our era they achieved amazing perfection in architecture, sculpture and painting.

But the Mayans did not know metals, the plow, wheeled carts, domestic animals, or the potter's wheel. In fact, based on their set of tools, they were still Stone Age people. The origin of the May culture is shrouded in mystery. The appearance of the first Mayan civilization dates back to the turn of our era and is associated with the forested lowland areas in southern Mexico and northern Guatemala. For many centuries, populous states and cities existed here. But in the 9th-10th centuries. the heyday ended with a sudden and cruel catastrophe.

Cities in the south of the country were abandoned, the population dropped sharply, and soon tropical vegetation covered the monuments of their former greatness with their green carpet. After the 10th century The development of Mayan culture, although already somewhat modified by the influence of foreign conquerors - the Toltecs, who came from central Mexico and the Gulf Coast, continued in the north - on the Yucatan Peninsula - and in the south - in the mountains of Guatemala. In the 16th century The Maya Indians occupied a vast and environmentally diverse territory, which included the modern Mexican states of Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Rio, as well as all of Guatemala, Belize, and the western regions of El Salvador and Honduras.

Currently, most scientists distinguish within this territory three large cultural-geographical regions or zones: Northern (Yucatan Peninsula), Central (Northern Guatemala, Belize, Tabasco and Chiapas in Mexico) and Southern (mountainous Guatemala).

The beginning of the classical period in lowland forest areas was marked by the appearance of such new cultural features as hieroglyphic writing (inscriptions on reliefs, steles), calendar dates according to the Mayan era (the so-called Long Count - the number of years that have passed from the mythical date of 3113 BC .), monumental stone architecture with a stepped “false” vault, the cult of early steles and altars, a specific style of ceramics and terracotta figurines, original wall painting.

Architecture in the central part of any major Mayan city of the 1st millennium BC. represented by pyramidal hills and platforms of various sizes and heights. They are usually built internally from a mixture of earth and crushed stone and faced externally with ashlar slabs held together with lime mortar. On their flat tops there are stone buildings: small buildings of one to three rooms on high tower-shaped pyramids - bases (the height of some of these pyramids - towers, as, for example, in Tikal, reached 60 m). These are probably temples. And long multi-room ensembles on low platforms framing internal open courtyards are most likely residences of the nobility or palaces, since the ceilings of these buildings are usually made in the form of a stepped vault, their walls are very massive, and the interior spaces are relatively narrow and small in size. The only source of light in the rooms was the narrow doorways, so coolness and twilight reigned inside the surviving temples and palaces. At the end of the Classic period, the Mayans began to have sites for ritual ball games - the third type of main monumental buildings of local cities. The basic planning unit of Mayan cities was rectangular paved plazas surrounded by monumental buildings. Very often, the most important ritual and administrative buildings were located on natural or artificially created elevations - “acropolises” (Piedras Negras, Copan, Tikal).

Row dwellings were built of wood and clay under roofs made of dry palm leaves and were probably similar to the huts of the Mayan Indians of the 16th-20th centuries, described by historians and ethnographers. In the classical period, as well as later, all residential buildings stood on low (1-1.5 m) platforms, lined with stone. A detached house is a rare phenomenon among the Mayans. Typically, residential and utility rooms form groups of 2-5 buildings located around an open rectangular courtyard (patio). This is the residence of a large patriarchal family. Residential "patio groups" tend to be combined into larger units - like a city "block" or part thereof.

In the VI-IX centuries. The Mayans achieved the highest successes in development various types non-applied art, and above all in monumental sculpture and painting. The sculptural schools of Palenque, Copaca, Yaxchilan, Piedras Negras at this time achieved special subtlety in modeling, harmonious composition and naturalness in the rendering of the depicted characters (rulers, priests, dignitaries, warriors, servants and prisoners). Famous frescoes of Bonampak (Chiapas, Mexico), dating back to the 8th century. AD, represent a historical narrative: complex rituals and ceremonies, scenes of raids on foreign villages, sacrifices of prisoners, celebrations, dances and processions of dignitaries and nobles.

Thanks to the work of American (T. Proskuryakova, D. Kelly, G. Bernin, J. Kubler, etc.) and Soviet (Yu.V. Knorozov, R.V. Kintalov) researchers, it was possible to convincingly prove that monumental Mayan sculpture of the 1st millennium. AD - stele, lintels, reliefs and panels (as well as hieroglyphic inscriptions on them) are memorial monuments in honor of the deeds of the May rulers. They talk about the birth, accession to the throne, wars and conquests, dynastic marriages, ritual rites and other important events in the life of secular rulers of almost two dozen city-states that existed, according to archaeologists, in the Central Maya region in the 1st millennium AD. uh..

The purpose of some pyramidal temples in Mayan cities is now being defined completely differently. If previously they were considered the sanctuaries of the most important gods of the pantheon, and the pyramid itself was only a high and monolithic stone pedestal for a temple, then recently, under the bases and in the thickness of a number of such pyramids, it was possible to discover magnificent tombs of kings and members of ruling dynasties (the discovery of A. Rus in the Temple Inscriptions, Palenque). The nature, structure and functions of the major May “centers” of the 1st millennium AD have undergone noticeable changes in recent times. Extensive research by US archaeologists in Tikal, Tsibilchaltun, Entz, Ceibal, Becan. revealed the presence there of a significant and permanent population, handicraft production, imported products and many other features and characteristics characteristic of the ancient city in both the Old and New Worlds. Investigating the magnificent burials of the May aristocrats and rulers of the 1st millennium AD, scientists have suggested that the images and inscriptions on each clay vessel describe the death of the May ruler, the long journey of his soul through the terrible labyrinths of the kingdom of the dead, overcoming various kinds of obstacles and the subsequent resurrection of the ruler, who ultimately turned into one of the heavenly gods. In addition, the American scientist Michael Ko found that the inscriptions or individual parts thereof, presented on almost all painted polychrome vases of the 6th-9th centuries. AD, are often repeated, that is, they are of a standard nature. Deciphering these inscriptions opened up a completely new, previously unknown world - the mythological ideas of the ancient Mayans, their concept of life and death, religious views and much more.

Each Mayan city-state was headed by Halach-vinik, which means "real person". It was a hereditary title passed from father to eldest son. In addition, he was called ahab -"lord", "lord". The havach-vinik possessed the highest administrative power, combined with the highest priestly rank. The supreme leaders, priests and advisers formed something like a State Council. Khavach-vinik appointed, perhaps from among his blood relatives, batabs - leaders of villages that were feudal dependent on him. The main functions of the batabs were maintaining order in subordinate villages and regular payment of taxes. They could be officials or heads of clans, like the Calpullecs of the Astecs or the Curaca of the Incas. Like them, they were military leaders. But in case of war, the right of command was exercised by the kon. There were also less important positions, including kholpop - “head of the mat.” There was also a whole priestly clergy there, but the most common name for the priest was ah kin.

The Ah kin kept the highly developed science of the Maya - the great-great-grandfather's astronomical knowledge about the movement of the stars, the Sun, the Moon, Venus and Mars. They could predict solar and lunar eclipses. Therefore, the power of the priests over collective beliefs was considered absolute and supreme, sometimes even pushing aside the power of the hereditary nobility.

At the base of the social pyramid were the masses of community members. They lived far from urban centers, in small settlements, sowing maize to support their families and nobles. It was they who created ceremonial centers, pyramids with temples, palaces, ball stadiums, paved roads and other structures. They mined huge blocks of stone for the construction of those monuments that amaze archaeologists and delight tourists. They were woodcarvers, sculptors, porters, performing the functions of pack animals that did not exist in Mesoamerica. In addition to performing such work, the people paid tribute to the havach-vinik, presented gifts to the local ahabs, sacrificed maize, beans, cocoa, tobacco, cotton, fabrics, poultry, salt, dried fish, wild boars, honey, wax, jade, corals and shells to God. When the Spaniards conquered Yucatan, the population was called Masehualloob, a term undoubtedly of Nahua-Mayan origin.

Among the Mayans, land was considered public property and was cultivated jointly, although there were private plots owned by the nobility. Bishop of Yucatan Diego de Landa wrote: “In addition to their own plots, all the people cultivated the fields of their lord and collected enough for themselves and his house.”

This remark about the Maya's manufactured relationships sheds light on two important points. First, it becomes clear that the Masehualloob were obliged to cultivate the lands intended to support the priestly aristocracy. In this “general slavery,” an entire community found itself enslaved by agents of the state, in contrast to what happened under slavery, when slaves belonged to a specific owner. The despotism of such a system is obvious. Secondly, as A. Rus noted, it is impossible not to notice that, whatever slavery and despotism were, they carried a certain positive principle: the one who cultivated the land - at least for Ahab or the ruler - masehual took a part that provided for him and his family . This means that neither he nor his family members experienced the famine that the Indians have constantly suffered from for almost five centuries.

Morley suggested that the Mayans had another social category - slaves - pentakoob. Their exploitation was different from that under “general slavery.” A community member could become a slave in the following cases: by being born of a slave; being captured in war; being sold on the market. But no matter what the social groups of slaves and declassed members of society were called, their position was very close to the position of similar categories in other Mexican societies or the Yanakuns in Tawantinsuyu.

The economy of the society was based on agriculture. It is generally accepted that maize constituted 65% of the Mayan diet. It was cultivated using the slash-and-burn system, with all the ensuing consequences: soil impoverishment, decreased yields, and forced change of plots. However, the diet was replenished with beans, pumpkin, tomatoes, himaka, kamote, and for dessert - tobacco and numerous fruits. Nevertheless, some researchers question the predominance of maize in Mayan agriculture: it is possible that there were areas where maize was not cultivated, and the population was completely satisfied with tuber plants or seafood, rivers and lakes.

The fact that in almost all archaeological centers the presence of “ramona”, a plant superior to maize both in nutritional properties and in yield, is also suggestive of some thought. Moreover, cultivating it did not require much effort. Some researchers believe that this is what replaced maize during crop failures.

Be that as it may, the Mayans knew how to get the highest return from the land. Terraces in mountainous areas and canals in river valleys, which increased irrigated areas, helped in this. The length of one of these, which brought water from the Champoton River to Etzna, a city in the west of Yucatan, reached 30 km. The Mayans were not vegetarians: they consumed turkey meat and the meat of specially raised dogs. They liked bee honey. Hunting was also a source of meat products, which were seasoned with pepper and salt when eaten. Pepper was grown in gardens, and salt was extracted from special salt mines.

Crafts and trade were an important part of the economy. The craft apparently flourished - balls were made for ritual games, paper for drawn books or codices, cotton codes and ropes, henequin fibers and much more. Trade, like the Aztec pochteca, was a very important sector of the economy. In the territory of the present state of Tabasco, barter trade was traditionally carried out between the more northern Aztecs and Mayans. They exchanged salt, wax, honey, clothing, cotton, cocoa, and jade jewelry. Cocoa beans and shells acted as “exchange coins.” The city-states were connected by dirt roads, trails, and sometimes paved highways - like the one that stretches 100 km between Yaxhuna (near Chichen Itza) and Coba on the east coast. Rivers, of course, also served as routes of communication, especially for traders.

If such a developed communication system had not existed, Cortes would probably have been lost in the dense Peten jungle when he went to punish the rebellious Olid. Bernal Diaz more than once admired, noting the irreplaceable help that the Mayan road maps provided to the conquistador troops. And even when we get to the very south of the rest of Mesoamerica on our journey, we will find the same Mayans embarking on their brave journeys to the most remote corners of the region. Columbus saw all this too.

In all of Mesoamerica there was no people who would have achieved more significant success in the sciences than the Mayans, a people of extraordinary abilities, managed. The high level of civilization was determined primarily by astronomy and mathematics. In this area, they truly found themselves in pre-Columbian America beyond any competition. Their achievements are not comparable to any others. The Mayans surpassed even their European contemporaries in these sciences. At least 18 observatories from Petén's heyday are currently known to exist. Thus, Vashaktun occupied an exceptional position and was considered a particularly important center, since it was the names that determined the solstice and equinox points. Researcher Blom conducted a series of experiments in the central square of Vashaktun. Based on calculations of the exact latitude and longitude of the city, he was able to unravel the fascinating secret of the ancient ensemble, which consisted of temples and pyramids surrounding a square square oriented to the cardinal points. The “magic secret” turned out to be the way in which the priests located on top of the observatory pyramid, thanks to the landmark temples, established with mathematical accuracy the point of sunrise during the solstices and equinoxes.

From the 6th or 7th century. in accordance with the decisions of the learned Council in Xochicalco, the Mayans established a civil year of 365 days. By means of a complex system of calendar correlation, later called the supplementary series, they brought this year into conformity with the actual length of the solar year, which, according to modern calculations, is 365.2422 days. This calculation turned out to be more accurate than the leap year calendar, introduced according to the calendar reform of Pope Gregory XIII 900 or even 1000 years later, in the last quarter of the 16th century.

There are many mysteries in the history of the Mayans. The reason for the Mayan cultural decline is another mystery in Mayan history. It should be noted that something similar happened throughout Mesoamerica. There are many theories interpreting the causes of this phenomenon - earthquakes, climatic disasters, epidemics of malaria and yellow fever, foreign conquest, intellectual and aesthetic exhaustion, military weakening, administrative disorganization. Morley argued that "the main cause of the decline and disappearance of the Old Empire was the decline of the agricultural system." Blom agreed with this opinion, stating that "the Mayans exhausted their land because they used primitive methods of processing it, as a result of which the population was forced to go in search of new places to grow their crops." However, archaeologists A.V. Kidder and E. Thompson rejected this “agricultural” version. Moreover, Thompson was ready to accept the version of “cultural extinction”, but completely rejected the idea that the population could leave their territories.

Other researchers have put forward the theory of a powerful uprising, which is associated with the broken and overturned Tikal monuments.

Having deeply studied the theories of the decline of the Maya culture, Rus came to the conclusion: “It is obvious that there were insoluble contradictions between the limited capabilities of backward agricultural technology and the growing population. They became increasingly worse as the proportion of the unproductive population relative to farmers increased. The increasing construction of ceremonial centers, the complication of ritual, and the increase in the number of priests and warriors made it increasingly difficult to produce an agricultural product sufficient in quantity for this population.

Despite the deeply rooted belief in the gods and obedience to their representatives on earth in the minds of the Indians, generations of farmers could not help but resist the ever-increasing oppression. It may very well be that exploitation reached its limit and became completely unbearable, thereby provoking peasant uprisings against theocracy like the Jacquerie in France in the 14th century. It is also possible that these events coincided with increased influence from outside, especially since the period of extinction of Mayan culture coincides with the migration of the tribes of the Mexican Highlands. These peoples, in turn, experienced a period of general turmoil due to the invasion of barbarian tribes from the north, pushing them to the south. The migrations literally shuffled the groups of Indians located along the route of the settlers, and produced a real chain reaction that led to the outbreak of the spark of a peasant uprising.”

Aztecs

By the time the Spaniards arrived at the beginning of the 16th century, the so-called Aztec Empire covered a huge territory - about 200 thousand square meters. km - with a population of 5-6 million people. Its borders extended from Northern Mexico to Guatemala and from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf of Mexico. The capital of the empire, Tenochtitlan, eventually turned into a huge city, the area of ​​which was about 1200 hectares, and the number of inhabitants, according to various estimates, reached 120-300 thousand people. With the mainland this island city was connected by three large stone roads - dams, and there was a whole flotilla of canoes. Like Venice, Tenochtitlan was cut through by a regular network of canals and streets. The core of the city formed a ritual and administrative center: the “sacred area” - a walled square 400 m long, inside which were the main city temples (Temple Mayor - a temple with sanctuaries of the gods Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc, the Temple of Quetzalcoatl), priests’ dwellings, schools, playground for a ritual ball game. Nearby were ensembles of magnificent palaces of Aztec rulers - “tlatoani”. According to eyewitnesses, the palace of Montezuma (more precisely, Moctezuma) II consisted of up to 300 rooms, had a large garden, a zoo, and baths. Residential areas inhabited by merchants, artisans, farmers, officials, and warriors were crowded around the center. At the huge Main Market and smaller quarterly bazaars, local and transported products and products were traded. General impression the magnificent Aztec capital is well conveyed by the words of an eyewitness and participant in the dramatic events of the conquest - soldier Bercal Diaz del Castillo from Cortez’s detachment. Standing at the top of a high step pyramid, the conquistador gazed in amazement at the strange and dynamic picture of life in the huge pagan city: “And we saw a huge number of boats, some came with various cargoes, others ... with various goods ... All the houses of this great city ... were in the water , and it was possible to get from house to house only by hanging bridges or by boats. And we saw... pagan temples and chapels that resembled towers and fortresses, and they all sparkled with whiteness and aroused admiration.” Tenochtitlan was captured by Cortez after a three-month siege and fierce struggle in 1521. And right on the ruins of the Aztec capital, from the stones of its palaces and temples, the Spaniards built a new city - Mexico City, the rapidly growing center of their colonial possessions in the New World. Over time, the remains of Aztec buildings were covered by multi-meter layers of modern life. Under these conditions, it is almost impossible to conduct systematic and extensive archaeological research of Aztec antiquities. Only from time to time, during excavation work in the center of Mexico City, stone sculptures are born - the creations of ancient masters. Therefore, the discoveries of the late 70s and 80s became a real sensation. XX century during excavations of the Main Temple of the Aztecs - "Templo Mayor" - in the very center of Mexico City, in Zocalo Square, between cathedral and the presidential palace. Now the sanctuaries of the gods Huziopochtli (god of the sun and war, head of the Aztec pantheon) and Tlaloc (god of water and rain, patron of agriculture) have already been opened, the remains of fresco paintings and stone sculpture have been discovered. Particularly noteworthy are a round stone with a diameter of over three meters with a low-relief image of the goddess Coyolshauhki - the sister of Huitzilopochtli, 53 deep pits - hiding places filled with ritual offerings (stone figurines of gods, shells, corals, incense, ceramic vessels, necklaces, skulls of sacrificed people). Newly discovered materials (their total number exceeds several thousand) expanded existing ideas about the material culture, religion, trade, economic and political relations of the Aztecs during the heyday of their state at the end of the 15th-16th centuries.

The Aztecs were in that initial phase of social development when the alien captive slave was not yet fully included in the economic mechanism of the emerging class society, when the benefits and advantages that slave labor could provide were not yet fully realized. However, the institution of debt slavery had already emerged, extending to the local poor; the Aztec slave found his place in the new, developing relations of production, but he retained the right of redemption, which, as we know, the “classical” slave was deprived of. Of course, foreign slaves were also involved in economic activities, but the labor of a slave has not yet become the basis of the foundations of this society.

Such an underestimation of slave labor in a highly developed class society can apparently be explained by the still significant surplus product that arose thanks to the use of an abundantly fruiting agricultural plant like corn, the extremely favorable conditions of the Mexican high plateau for its cultivation and the highest culture of agriculture inherited Aztecs from the former inhabitants of Mexico.

The senseless destruction of thousands of captive slaves on the sacrificial altars of Aztec temples was elevated to the basis of the cult. Human sacrifice became the central event of any holiday. Sacrifices were performed almost daily. One person was sacrificed with solemn honors. So, every year the most beautiful young man was chosen from among the captives, who was destined to enjoy all the benefits and privileges of the god of war Tezcatlipoca for a year, so that after this period he would be on the sacrificial stone-altar. But there were also such “holidays” when the priests sent hundreds, and according to some sources, thousands of prisoners to another world. True, the reliability of such statements belonging to eyewitnesses of the conquest is difficult to believe, but the gloomy and cruel Aztec religion, which did not recognize compromises with mass human sacrifices, knew no limits in its zealous service to the ruling caste aristocracy.

It is not surprising that the entire non-Aztec population of Mexico was a potential ally of any enemy of the Aztecs. The Spaniards took this situation into account superbly. They saved their cruelty until the final defeat of the Aztecs and the capture of Tenochtitlan.

Finally, the Aztec religion presented another “gift” to the Spanish conquerors. The Aztecs not only worshiped the Feathered Serpent as one of the main inhabitants of the pantheon of their gods, but also well remembered the history of his exile.

The priests, trying to keep the people in fear and obedience, constantly reminded of the return of Quetzalcoatl. They convinced the people that the offended deity, who had gone to the east, would return from the east to punish everyone and everything. Moreover, the legend said that Quetzalcoatl was white-faced and bearded, while the Indians were mustacheless, beardless and dark-skinned!

The Spaniards came to America and conquered the continent.

Perhaps there is hardly another similar example in history when it was religion that turned out to be the decisive factor in the defeat and complete destruction of those whom it was supposed to serve faithfully.

White-faced, bearded Spaniards came from the East.

Oddly enough, the first, and at the same time unconditionally, to believe that the Spaniards are the descendants of the legendary deity Quetzalcoatl, was none other than the omnipotent ruler of Tenochtitlan, Moctezuma, who enjoyed unlimited power. Fear of the divine origin of foreigners paralyzed his ability to resist, and the entire hitherto mighty country, along with a magnificent military machine, found itself at the feet of the conquerors. The Aztecs should have immediately removed their ruler, distraught with fear, but the same religion, which inspired the inviolability of the existing order, prevented this. When reason finally conquered religious prejudices, it was too late.

As a result, the giant empire was wiped off the face of the earth, and the Aztec civilization ceased to exist.

The Aztecs belonged to the last wave of Indian tribes that moved from the more northern regions of the American continent to the Valley of Mexico. The culture of these tribes at first did not have any clearly defined features, but gradually they crystallized into a single strong whole - the Aztec civilization.

Initially, the tribes lived separately in their village and satisfied their living needs by cultivating the land. These resources were supplemented whenever possible by tribute from conquered peoples. At the head of the tribe was a hereditary leader, who simultaneously performed priestly functions. Religious ideas were characterized by a complex polytheistic system based on the worship of nature, with the veneration of one or more gods allocated to special cults.

One of these tribes that settled in the region of the Mexican lakes were the Tenochki. Around 1325 they founded the city of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), which later became the capital of the most powerful state in Mexico. Initially, the tenochki became dependent on the city of Culuacan. It was a significant city-state that played an important role in the Valley of Mexico. Another major center of this time was the city of Texcoco, located on the eastern shore of the Mexican lakes. About seventy cities paid tribute to its ruler Kinatzin (1298-1357). His successor Techotlal managed to unite all the dialects of the Valley of Mexico into one Aztec language.

In the middle of the 14th century, the Tepanec tribes, led by the ruler Tesosomoc, occupied a dominant position in the Valley of Mexico. The city of Azcapotzalco becomes the capital of the Tepanecs. In 1427, Tesosomoc was succeeded by his son Mastl. He tried to increase the dependence of the conquered tribes on the Tepanecs and even interfered in the internal affairs of his allies. The Indians collected tribute from the conquered tribes, but they did not know how to force other tribes to pay tribute without declaring a new war on them and without taking new campaigns. Mastla's policies led to the unification of a number of cities under their control. Tenochtitlan, Tlacopan and Texcoco formed an alliance, rebelled and overthrew the Tepanecs. Mashtla was killed, his city was burned, and his people, contrary to the customs of that time, were annexed to the allied tribes. The land was distributed to soldiers who distinguished themselves during the war. This circumstance marked the beginning of the formation of a rich and influential military stratum in Aztec society.

The Aztec state was a fragile territorial entity, similar to many territorial kingdoms of antiquity. The nature of its economy was polymorphic, but the basis was intensive irrigated agriculture. The range of crops grown by the Aztecs was typical of the Valley of Mexico. These are corn, zucchini, pumpkin, green and red peppers, many types of legumes and cotton. Tobacco was also grown, which the Aztecs smoked mostly in hollow reed stalks, like cigarettes. The Aztecs also loved chocolate made from cocoa beans. The latter also served as a means of exchange.

The Aztecs converted large areas of barren swamps, which flooded during the rainy season, into areas covered with a network of canals and fields, using a system of chinampas (“floating gardens”).

The Aztecs had few domestic animals. They had several breeds of dogs, one of which was used for food. The most common poultry are turkeys, possibly geese, duck and quail.

Crafts played a significant role in the Aztec economy, especially pottery, weaving, as well as stone and wood processing. There were few metal products. Some of them, for example, finely forged copper knives in the shape of a sickle, served along with cocoa beans as a means of exchange. Gold was used by the Aztecs only for making jewelry, and silver was probably of great value. The most important thing for the Aztecs was jade and stones that resembled it in color and structure.

The only type of exchange among the Aztecs was barter. The means of exchange were cocoa beans, feather shafts filled with gold sand, pieces of cotton fabric (cuachtli) and the copper knives mentioned above. Due to the high costs of human labor for transportation in the Aztec state, it was reasonable to bring the places of production of products and products as close as possible to the places of their consumption. Therefore, the population of the cities turned out to be extremely diverse both professionally and socially, and many artisans spent a significant part of their time working in the fields and vegetable gardens. Over long distances it was profitable to move only the most expensive or light in weight and small in volume products - for example, fabrics or obsidian; but the local exchange was unusually lively.

Each village held a bazaar at certain intervals, attracting people from the most remote places. There was a daily market in the capital. The entire system of tributary obligations that the Aztecs imposed on the defeated provinces was determined by the possibility of organizing the delivery of certain categories of handicraft products to the capital from afar, with the obvious impossibility of establishing equally long-distance transportation of food. The government authorities therefore sold fabrics and other light products from the provinces at a low price to residents of the capital region. They also had to pay with agricultural products, thereby becoming interested in expanding their production and sales. Trade thus flourished, and anything could be bought in the market of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan.

In the social structure of Aztec society, the following five groups were distinguished: warriors, priests, merchants, commoners, slaves. The first three estates constituted the privileged classes of society, the fourth and fifth groups constituted its exploited part. The classes were not homogeneous. There was a certain hierarchy within them, determined by the size of property and social status. All classes were clearly separated, and this could be determined even by clothing. According to one of the laws introduced by Montezuma I, each class had to wear its own type of clothing. This also applied to slaves.

The military nobility played a decisive role in Aztec society. The title tekuhtli (“noble”) was usually given to people who held important government and military positions. Most civilian officials were in fact the same military officers. The most noble ones who distinguished themselves in battle in the war formed a kind of “order”, a special union of “Eagles” or “Jaguars”. The nobility received in-kind allowances and land plots from the tlatoani. No one except nobles and leaders could, on pain of death, build a house with two floors. There was a difference in punishments for offenses for a noble person and a commoner. Moreover, class norms were often more cruel. So, if a person who was in enemy captivity was of “low origin,” then he was not threatened with expulsion from the community and family, while the “noble” was killed by his compatriots and relatives themselves. This reflected the desire of the elite of society to maintain the strength of their position.

Initially, in Aztec society, a man could achieve high position through personal activity and his children could take advantage of his elevation for their own development. However, they could take the position of their father only thanks to equivalent services to the tribe. At the same time, the tlatoani, when choosing applicants for the vacant position, and therefore for all the privileges inherent in it, more often gave preference to the son of the one who had previously held this position. This practice contributed to the transformation of the nobility into a closed class. To this we can add the principle of dividing land in newly conquered territory. The tlatoani and his commander-in-chief received the largest portion, followed by the rest of the nobles who distinguished themselves in war. In simple wars, no land was received, except for a few “bravest” ones. All this led to the emergence of a special agricultural nobility in Aztec society.

The priesthood was one of the privileged classes of Aztec society. The Aztec conquerors were extremely interested in strengthening religion, because it, preaching war as the highest valor and the Aztecs as its most worthy bearers, provided an ideological justification for the policy of conquest that they pursued throughout their independent history. The priests walked in the forefront during military campaigns. They were the first to greet warriors returning home at the gates of the capital.

Temples increased their wealth through gifts and voluntary donations. These could be gifts of land or part of the tribute of the nobility and the Tlatoani. The donation of the population could be for a variety of reasons: fortune telling, prediction, offerings for the sake of the success of their activities. The temples also had their own handicraft production. All income went to the maintenance of the priesthood and the conduct of numerous religious rituals.

The life of the priesthood was regulated by certain norms. The priest guilty of having an affair with a woman was secretly beaten with sticks, his property was taken away, and his house was destroyed. They also killed all those who were involved in this crime. If a priest had unnatural tendencies, he was burned alive.

Since trade played an important role in the Aztec state and the ruling elite was interested in its development, rich merchants also occupied a privileged position. This class also includes rich artisans, who often combined their craft with trading in their own products.

The nobility, as well as rich merchants or artisans, could not and did not engage in agriculture. It was the lot of community members and, less often, special categories of slaves.

Slaves occupied the lowest social rung in the hierarchy of Aztec society. The sources of slavery among the Aztecs were varied. Selling into slavery for theft was practiced. Debt slavery was widespread. Betrayal towards the state or one's immediate master was also punished involuntarily. However, the most characteristic of ancient Aztec society was patriarchal slavery. Parents could sell their “negligent” children into slavery. This happened more often in lean years, when extensive slave trade took place.

The slave trade in the Aztec state was widespread. Merchants usually acted as intermediaries here. The largest slave trade markets were located in two cities - Azcapotzalco and Isocan. Slaves were exchanged for a variety of things - fabrics, capes, precious feathers, etc. The cost of a slave varied depending on his merits, but his usual price was 20 capes. Slaves were sold not only to nearby areas, but also to foreign lands.

The use of slave labor was common. Slaves performed a variety of jobs in their master's house: they moved heavy loads, cultivated crops, and harvested crops in the fields. Often the slave owner used the slave not only in his own household, but also assigned him to a kind of hire, for rent, for example, as a porter in merchant caravans. All earnings in this case went to the slave owner. Slave labor was widely used in large construction projects: the construction of temples, bridges, and dams. Thus, the labor of slaves was varied and was a direct product of the economic activities of the state.

The degree of dependence on the slave owner was different, as a result of which there were different categories of slaves: from those under the full power of the slave owner, to those groups that owned land and had families.

The Aztec state included about 500 cities and other settlements, divided into 38 administrative units headed by local rulers or specially sent managers. To collect tribute, monitor the royal lands and official plots, there were special officials - kalpishki, appointed from the military class. There was also local legal proceedings. Local courts considered only minor crimes, or those that were easily demonstrable. The bulk of cases of ordinary citizens were decided by these courts.

To record cases in certain institutions there was a special staff of “scribes”. In most cases, records were made using pictography, however, sometimes May hieroglyphic writing was also used.

Along with customary law, legal norms also appear that stand outside the boundaries of customary law and reflect the era of early class relations. First of all, this is the protection of property rights. In Aztec society, the unlawful taking of someone else's property and encroachment on property was considered a crime and entailed punishment. Violation of property rights was punished very severely. Thus, for highway robbery, the perpetrator was publicly stoned to death. For theft in the market, the thief was publicly beaten (with sticks or stones) right at the scene of the crime by special ministers. Anyone who captured the spoils of war was also severely punished.

The most important object of law was land. There was a significant influence of communal relations here. Private landownership relations were just beginning to take shape. This is reflected in the relevant standards. For example, if someone illegally sold someone else's land or mortgaged it, then as punishment he was turned into a slave. But if he moved the boundaries, he was punished by death.

Diverse interpersonal relationships in Aztec society were regulated by marriage and family norms. Their most characteristic feature was the unlimited power of the father and husband. The basis of the family was marriage, the procedure for concluding which was equally a religious and legal act. It was built, as a rule, on the principle of monogamy, but polygamy was also allowed for the wealthy. There were two types of inheritance - by law and by will. Only sons inherited. The penalty for adultery was death in various ways. Blood relatives were punished by death for intimate relationships: the perpetrators were hanged. However, levirate marriages were allowed. Drunkenness was severely punished. Only people over fifty could consume intoxicating drinks, and in a strictly defined quantity. Young people caught drinking were punished at school, sometimes beaten to death.

The Aztec culture absorbed the rich traditions of the peoples who lived in Central Mexico, mainly the Toltecs, Mixtecs and others. The Aztecs had developed medicine and astronomy, and had the rudiments of writing. Their art flourished in the 14th - early 16th centuries. The main monumental structures were tetrahedral stone pyramids with a temple or palace on the truncated top (the pyramid at Tenayuca north of Mexico City). The houses of the nobility were built of adobe and faced with stone or plastered; the premises were located around a courtyard. The walls of religious buildings were decorated with reliefs, paintings, and patterned masonry.

The cities had a regular layout, partly due to the division of land between clans into rectangular plots. The central square served as a place for public meetings. In Tenochtitlan, instead of streets there were canals with pedestrian paths on the sides - the city was built on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco and connected to the shore by numerous dams and bridges. Drinking water was supplied through aqueducts. The deities of wind, rain and crops associated with agriculture, as well as the god of war, were most revered. The ritual of human sacrifices to the god Huitzilopochtli was widespread among the Aztecs.

The monumental religious sculpture - statues of deities, ornamented altars - amazes with its grandeur and heaviness (the statue of the goddess Coatlicue is 2.5 m high). The so-called “Sun Stone” is famous. Realistic stone sculptures of heads are world famous: “Eagle Warrior”, “Dead Man’s Head”, “Sad Indian”. Particularly expressive are small stone or ceramic figurines of slaves, children, animals or insects. A number of architectural monuments contain remains of wall paintings with images of deities or marching warriors. The Aztecs skillfully made feather jewelry, polychrome ceramics, stone and shell mosaics, obsidian vases, and the finest jewelry.

The rich and distinctive Aztec culture was destroyed by the Spanish conquest of 1519-21.

Stone of the Sun (Piedra del Sol). The "Aztec Calendar", a monument of Aztec sculpture from the 15th century, is a basalt disk (diameter 3.66 m, weight 24 tons) with carved images indicating years and days. In the central part of the disk is the face of the sun god Tonatiuh. In the Stone of the Sun they found a symbolic sculptural embodiment of the Aztec idea of ​​time. The Sun Stone was found in 1790 in Mexico City, and is now kept in the Museum of Anthropology.

The Aztec calendar (calendario azteca) - the chronology system of the Aztecs, had features similar to the Mayan calendar. The basis of the Aztec calendar was the 52-year cycle - a combination of a 260-day ritual sequence (the so-called sacred period or tonalpohualli), consisting of a combination of the weekly (13 days) and monthly (20 days, indicated by hieroglyphs and numbers) cycles, with the solar or 365- day year (18-20 day months and 5 so-called unlucky days). The Aztec calendar was closely associated with religious cult. Each week, days of the month, hours of the day and night were dedicated to different deities.

The rite of “new fire”, performed after 52-year cycles, had ritual significance.

Pictographic writing with hieroglyphic elements, used by the Aztecs, has been known since the 14th century. The material for writing was leather or paper strips folded into a screen.

There was no specific system for arranging pictograms: they could follow either horizontally or vertically, or using the boustrophedon method.

CONCLUSION

The peoples of pre-Columbian America went through three stages in their development: primitive, created by Indian tribes who were in the early stages of the development of human society; a higher level, which is characterized by a combination of early class and primitive elements, and the stage of highly developed class civilizations.

Primitive society took place throughout America. The life of the tribes was completely typical for primitive man. The worldview was also typical: the world and way of life were illuminated by myths, and nature was inhabited by spirits and supernatural forces.

But a high level of civilization was still characteristic of the peoples living in Mesoamerica and in the zone Central Andes.

Meso-American civilizations appeared almost simultaneously, around the turn of our era, arising on the basis of previous local cultures of the archaic period and reaching their peak in the Aztec state, which, however, never managed to overcome the boundary of the territorial kingdom.

The ancient civilizations of America are very close in character to the most ancient centers of high cultures of the Old World (Mesopotamia, Egypt, India), although both are separated by a huge chronological period of three to four millennia. This similarity is also expressed in motifs that are similar in theme and artistic form. visual arts, performing a similar function: glorifying the power of the king, affirming its divine origin and educating the population in the spirit of unquestioning submission to it.

At the same time, despite the general patterns of development, the characteristic features, ideological basis, and value system with a strong emphasis on spirituality were fundamentally different from the philosophy of the Christian world. The great civilizations of America collapsed under the onslaught of Europeans.

The ancient civilization of America remains a storehouse of knowledge for all areas scientific world. Ethnographers discover a lot of little-studied or not-studied-at-all tribes and peoples living in remote areas of the Amazon River basin. Historians and archaeologists, through archaeological finds and other evidence, discover unknown episodes of history for themselves and for the world ancient world America. Evidence of this can be the fact of the attention of scientists and the pilgrimage of tourists to the cities of Machu Picchu and Cusco, the ancient capital of the Inca Empire.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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.Berezkin Yu.E. Incas: historical experience of the empire. ? L., 1991.

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10.Gulyaev V.I. In the footsteps of the conquistadors. ? M., 1976.

11.Gulyaev V.I. Kingdom of the Sons of the Sun. ? M., 1980.

.Gulyaev V.I. Mysteries of lost civilizations. ? M., 1987.

.Gulyaev V.I. The most ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica. ? M., 1971.

.Incas: lords of gold and heirs of glory. ? M., 1997.

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By the time Columbus “discovered” America (1492), it was inhabited by many Indian tribes and ethnic groups, most of which were at a primitive stage of development. However, some of them who lived in Mesoamerica (Central America) and the Andes ( South America), reached the level of highly developed ancient civilizations, although they lagged far behind Europe: the latter by that time was experiencing the heyday of the Renaissance.

The meeting of two worlds, two cultures and civilizations had different consequences for the meeting parties. Europe borrowed many of the achievements of Indian civilizations; in particular, it was thanks to America that Europeans began to consume potatoes, tomatoes, corn, beans, tobacco, cocoa, and quinine. In general, after the discovery of the New World, the development of Europe accelerated significantly. Fate turned out completely differently ancient american cultures and civilizations: the development of some of them actually stopped, and many completely disappeared from the face of the earth.

Available scientific data indicate that the American continent did not have its own centers of formation ancient man. The settlement of this continent by people began in the Late Paleolithic era - approximately 30-20 thousand years ago - and came from Northeast Asia through the Bering Strait and Alaska. The further evolution of the emerging communities went through all known stages and had both similarities and differences from other continents.

An example of a highly developed primitive culture of the New World is the so-called Olmec Culture, existed on south coast Gulf of Mexico in the 1st millennium BC. Much remains unclear and mysterious regarding this culture. In particular, the specific ethnic group that bears (the name “Olmec” is arbitrary) this culture is not known, the general territory of its distribution, as well as the features of the social structure, etc., have not been determined.

Nevertheless, the available archaeological information suggests that in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. The tribes inhabiting Verascus and Tabasco reached a high level of development. They have the first “ritual centers”, they build pyramids from adobe and clay, and construct monuments of monumental sculpture. An example of such monuments were huge anthropomorphic heads weighing up to 20 tons. Relief carvings on basalt and jade, the production of celtic axes, masks and figurines are widespread. In the 1st century BC. The first examples of writing and calendar appear. Similar cultures existed in other areas of the continent.

Ancient cultures and civilizations developed by the end of the 1st millennium BC. and existed until the 16th century. AD - before the arrival of Europeans. In their evolution, two periods are usually distinguished: early, or classical (1st millennium AD), and late, or postclassical (X-XVI centuries AD).

Among the most significant cultures of Mesoamerica of the classical period are Teotihuacan. originated in Central Mexico. The surviving ruins of Teotihuacan, the capital of the civilization of the same name, indicate that it was the political, economic and cultural center of all Mesoamerica with a population of 60-120 thousand people. Crafts and trade developed most successfully in it. Archaeologists have discovered about 500 craft workshops, entire neighborhoods of foreign merchants and “diplomats” in the city. Craftsmanship products are found throughout almost all of Central America.

It is noteworthy that almost the entire city was a kind of architectural monument. Its center was carefully planned around two wide streets intersecting at right angles: from north to south - the Road of the Dead Avenue, over 5 km long, and from west to east - an unnamed avenue up to 4 km long.

At the northern end of the Road of the Dead rises the huge silhouette of the Pyramid of the Moon (height 42 m), made of raw brick and lined with volcanic stone. On the other side of the avenue there is an even more grandiose structure - the Pyramid of the Sun (height 64.5 m), on the top of which a temple once stood. The intersection of the avenues is occupied by the palace of the ruler of Teotihuacan - the “Citadel”, which is a complex of buildings that included the temple god Quetzalcoatl - The Feathered Serpent, one of the main deities, patron of culture and knowledge, god of air and wind. All that remains of the temple is its pyramidal base, consisting of six decreasing stone platforms, as if placed on top of each other. The facade of the pyramid and the balustrade of the main staircase are decorated with sculpted heads of Quetzalcoatl himself and the god of water and rain Tlaloc in the form of a butterfly.

Along the Road of the Dead there are the remains of dozens more temples and palaces. Among them is the beautiful Palace of Quetzalpapalotl, or the Palace of the Feathered Snail, reconstructed today, the walls of which are decorated with fresco paintings. There are also excellent examples of such painting in the Temple of Agriculture, which depicts gods, people and animals. The original monuments of the culture in question are anthropomorphic masks made of stone and clay. In the III-VII centuries. Ceramic products—cylindrical vessels with picturesque paintings or carved ornaments—and terracotta figurines are widely used.

The culture of Teotihuacan reached its peak at the beginning of the 7th century. AD However, already at the end of the same century a beautiful city suddenly dies, destroyed by a gigantic fire. The causes of this disaster still remain unclear - most likely as a result of the invasion of militant barbarian tribes of Northern Mexico.

Aztec culture

After the death of Teotihuacan, Central Mexico plunged into troubled times of interethnic wars and civil strife for a long time. As a result of repeated mixing of local tribes with newcomers - first with the Chichemecs, and then with the Tenochki-pharmacies - the Aztec capital was founded in 1325 on the desert islands of Lake Texcoco Tenochtitlan. The emerging city-state grew rapidly and by the beginning of the 16th century. turned into one of the most powerful powers in America - the famous Aztec Empire with a huge territory and a population of 5-6 million people. Its borders extended from Northern Mexico to Guatemala and from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf of Mexico.

The capital itself, Tenochtitlan, became a large city with a population of 120-300 thousand inhabitants. This island city was connected to the mainland by three wide stone causeway roads. According to eyewitnesses, the Aztec capital was a beautiful, well-planned city. Its ritual and administrative center was a magnificent architectural ensemble, which included a “sacred area” surrounded by walls, inside which were located the main city temples, priests’ dwellings, schools, and a ground for ritual ball games. There were no less than magnificent palaces Aztec rulers.

basis economy The Aztecs were agriculture, and the main cultivated crop was corn. It should be emphasized that it was the Aztecs who were the first to grow cocoa beans And tomatoes; they are the authors of the word "tomatoes". Many crafts were at a high level, especially gold coinage. When the great Albrecht Durer saw Aztec goldwork in 1520, he declared: “Never in my life have I seen anything that moved me so deeply as these objects.”

Reached the highest level spiritual culture of the Aztecs. This was largely due to the effective education system, which included two types of schools in which the male population is educated. In schools of the first type, boys from the upper class were brought up, who were destined to become a priest, dignitary or military leader. Boys from ordinary families studied in schools of the second type, where they were prepared for agricultural work, crafts and military affairs. Schooling was compulsory.

System of religious-mythological ideas and cults The Aztecs were quite complex. At the origins of the pantheon were the ancestors - creator god Ome teku aphids and his divine consort. Among the active ones, the main deity was the god of the sun and war Huitzilopochtli. War was a form of worship of this god and was elevated to a cult. A special place was occupied by the god Sintheoble, the patron of corn fertility. The protector of the priests was Lord Quetzalcoatl.

Yacatecuhali was the god of trade and patron of merchants. In general, there were many gods. Suffice it to say that every month and every day of the year had its own god.

Developed very successfully . It was based on philosophy, which was practiced by sages who were highly respected. The leading science was astronomy. Aztec astrologers could freely navigate the starry picture of the sky. Satisfying the needs of agriculture, they developed a fairly accurate calendar. taking into account the position and movement of stars in the sky.

The Aztecs created a highly developed artistic culture. Among the arts has achieved significant success literature. Aztec writers created didactic treatises, dramatic and prose works. The leading position was occupied by poetry, which included several genres: military poems, poems about flowers, spring songs. The greatest success was enjoyed by religious poems and hymns that were sung in honor of the main gods of the Aztecs.

No less successfully developed architecture. In addition to the beautiful ensembles and palaces of the capital already mentioned above, magnificent architectural monuments were created in other cities. However, almost all of them were destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors. Among the amazing creations is the recently discovered temple in Malinalco. This temple, which had the shape of a traditional Aztec pyramid, is notable for this. that it was all carved right into the rock. If we consider that the Aztecs used only stone tools, then one can imagine what a gigantic effort the construction of this temple required.

In the 1980s, as a result of earthquakes, excavations and excavations, a Main temple Aztecs - Templo Mayor. The sanctuaries of the main god Huitzilopochtli and the god of water and rain, patron of agriculture, Tlaloc, were also discovered. Remains of wall paintings and samples of stone sculpture were discovered. Among the finds, a round stone with a diameter of more than 3 m with a bas-relief image of the goddess Coyol-shauhki, the sister of Huitzilopochtli, stands out. Stone figurines of gods, corals, shells, pottery, necklaces, etc. were preserved in deep hiding pits.

The Aztec culture and civilization reached its peak at the beginning of the 16th century. However, this flowering soon came to an end. The Spaniards captured Tenochti Glan in 1521. The city was destroyed, and a new city grew on its ruins - Mexico City, which became the center of the colonial possessions of the European conquerors.

Mayan civilization

Mayan culture and civilization became another amazing phenomenon of pre-Columbian America, which existed in the 1st-15th centuries. AD in southeastern Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. A modern researcher of this region, G. Lehman, called the Mayans “the most fascinating of all the civilizations of ancient America.”

Indeed, everything connected with the Mayans is shrouded in mystery and mystery. Their origin remains a mystery. The mystery is their choice of settlement - the rugged jungles of Mexico. At the same time, the ups and downs in their subsequent development seem like a mystery and a miracle.

In the classical period (I-IX centuries AD), the development of Mayan civilization and culture proceeded along a steep upward trajectory. Already in the first centuries of our era, they reached the highest level and amazing perfection in architecture, sculpture and painting. The emerging large and populous cities became centers of craft production, marked by a real flowering of painted ceramics. At this time, the Mayans created the only developed hieroglyphic writing, as evidenced by inscriptions on steles, reliefs, and small plastic objects. The Mayans compiled an accurate solar calendar and successfully predicted solar and lunar eclipses.

The main type of monumental architecture there was a pyramidal temple installed on a high pyramid - up to 70 m. If you consider that the entire structure was erected on high pyramidal hills, then you can imagine how majestic and grandiose the entire structure looks. This is exactly how the Temple of the Inscriptions in Palenque appears, which served as the tomb of the ruler like the pyramids of Ancient Egypt. The entire structure was covered with hieroglyphic relief inscriptions that decorate the walls, crypt, sarcophagus lid and other objects. A steep staircase with several platforms leads to the temple. In the city there are three more pyramids with temples of the Sun, the Cross and the Foliated Cross, as well as a palace with a five-story square tower, which apparently served as an observatory: on the top floor there is a stone bench on which the astrologer sat, peering into the distant sky. The walls of the palace are also decorated with reliefs depicting prisoners of war.

In the VI-IX centuries. achieve the highest successes monumental sculpture and Mayan painting. The sculptural schools of Palenque, Copan and other cities achieve rare skill and subtlety in conveying the naturalness of the poses and movements of the characters depicted, which are usually rulers, dignitaries and warriors. Small plastic works are also distinguished by amazing craftsmanship - especially small figurines.

The surviving examples of Mayan painting amaze with the elegance of their design and richness of color. The famous frescoes of Bonampak are recognized masterpieces of pictorial art. They talk about military battles, depict solemn ceremonies, complex rituals of sacrifice, graceful dances, etc.

In the 1st-10th centuries. Most Mayan cities were destroyed by the invading Toltec tribes, but in the 11th century. Mayan culture was revived again in the Yucatan Peninsula and in the mountains of Guatemala. Its main centers are the cities of Chichen Itza, Uxmal and Mayapan.

Still developing most successfully architecture. One of the remarkable architectural monuments of the postclassical period is the pyramid of Kukulcan - the “Feathered Serpent” in Chichen Itza. To the top of the nine-step pyramid, where the temple is located, there are four staircases bordered by a balustrade, which begins at the bottom with a beautifully executed snake's head and continues in the form of a snake's body to the upper floor. The pyramid symbolizes the calendar, for the 365 steps of its stairs correspond to the number of days in a year. It is also notable for the fact that inside it there is another nine-step pyramid, in which there is a sanctuary, and in it there is an amazing stone throne depicting a jaguar.

The “Temple of the Magician” pyramid in Uxmal is also very original. It differs from all others in that in horizontal projection it has an oval shape.

By the middle of the 15th century. Mayan culture enters into a severe crisis and declines. When the Spanish conquerors entered at the beginning of the 16th century. to Mayan cities, many of them were abandoned by their inhabitants. The reasons for such an unexpected and sad ending to a thriving culture and civilization remain a mystery.

Ancient civilizations of South America. Inca culture

In South America, almost simultaneously with the Olmec civilization of Mesoamerica, at the end of the 2nd millennium BC, an equally mysterious Chavin culture, similar to the Olmec, although not related to it.

At the turn of our era in the northern part of the coastal zone of Peru appears Mochica Civilization, and in the south - Nazca civilization. Somewhat later, in the mountains of northern Bolivia, an original Tiahuanaco culture. These civilizations of South America were in some respects inferior to the Mesoamerican cultures: they did not have hieroglyphic writing, an accurate calendar, etc. But in many other ways - especially in technology - they were superior to Mesoamerica. Already from the 2nd millennium BC. The Indians of Peru and Bolivia smelted metals, processed gold, silver, copper and their alloys and made from them not only beautiful jewelry, but also tools - shovels and hoes. They had developed agriculture, built magnificent temples, created monumental sculptures, and produced beautiful ceramics with polychrome painting. Their fine fabrics made of cotton and wool became widely known. In the 1st millennium AD the production of metal products, ceramics and textiles reached a large scale and a high level, and it was this that constituted the unique originality of the South American civilizations of the classical period.

The Postclassical period (X-XVI centuries AD) was marked by the emergence and disappearance of many states in both the mountainous and coastal zones of South America. In the XIV century. The Incas create the state of Tauatin-suyu in the mountainous zone, which, after a long war with neighboring small states, manages to emerge victorious and subjugate all the others.

In the 15th century it turns to the gigantic and famous Inca Empire with a huge territory and a population of about 6 million people. At the head of the huge power was a divine ruler, the son of the Sun Inca, who relied on a hereditary aristocracy and a caste of priests.

The basis economy was agriculture, the main crops of which were corn, potatoes, beans, and red peppers. The Inca state was distinguished by its effective organization public works, called "mita". Mita meant the obligation of all subjects of the empire to work one month a year on the construction of government facilities. It made it possible to gather tens of thousands of people in one place, thanks to which irrigation canals, fortresses, roads, bridges, etc. were built in a short time.

From north to south, the Inca Country is crossed by two paraplegic roads. one of which had a length of more than 5 thousand km. These highways were connected to each other by a large number of transverse roads, which created an excellent network of communications. Along the roads at certain distances there were postal stations and warehouses with food and necessary materials. There was a state post office in Gauatinsuyu.

Spiritual and religious life and matters of cult were the responsibility of the priests. The supreme deity was considered Viracocha - Creator of the world and other gods. Other deities were the golden sun god Inti. god of weather, thunder and lightning Ilpa. A special place was occupied by the ancient cults of the mother of the Earth, Mama Pacha, and the mother of the sea, Mama (Sochi). The worship of the gods took place in stone temples, decorated inside with gold.

Regulated all aspects of life, including the personal life of citizens of the empire. All Incas were required to marry before a certain age. If this did not happen, then the issue was resolved by a government official at his own discretion, and his decision was binding.

Although the Incas did not have real writing, this did not stop them from creating beautiful myths, legends, epic poems, religious hymns, and dramatic works. Unfortunately, little has survived from this spiritual wealth.

Highest flourishing culture the Incas reached at the beginning XVI V. However, this prosperity did not last long. In 1532, the most powerful empire of pre-Columbian America submitted to the Europeans almost without resistance. A small group of Spanish conquerors led by Francisco Pizarro managed to kill Inca Atahualpa, which paralyzed the will to resist his people, and the great Inca Empire ceased to exist.

The Incas, Mayans, Aztecs are the peoples who inhabited South and Central America before this continent was discovered and colonized by Europeans. America of the Incas, Mayans and Aztecs is also called pre-Columbian. These peoples (today they are called Indians) created highly developed civilizations and left to their descendants many hitherto unresolved mysteries of their development. So,

The Mayan peoples inhabited the Yucatan Peninsula. Their civilization developed in the territory that today belongs to Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras and was based on individual city-states. The largest of them is Tikal.

Large cities controlled the surrounding lands and smaller towns. All the cities of the Mayan state were connected by roads along which trade routes passed. The Mayans traded among themselves and other peoples with jade, cocoa beans, salt and jaguar skins.

This is surprising, but the Incas, Mayans and Aztecs had no idea about the wheel and goods, if it was not possible to deliver them by water, were carried by porters along the roads. Outside the walls of the cities, the Mayans were engaged in peasant labor, mainly growing corn.

Today, the Maya's knowledge of mathematics and astronomy is amazing. Entire scientific works have been written about the accuracy of the calendar compiled by the Mayan priests, and the writing system developed by the Mayans contains a wide variety of symbols.

After centuries of prosperity, the Mayan civilization suddenly mysteriously fell into decline by the 14th century, and in the 1500s the Spanish conquerors (conquistadors) completed its collapse.

Aztecs

The Aztec Empire was located west of the Mayan lands, in the territory of modern Mexico. The capital of the Aztecs, the large city of Tenochitlan occupied an area of ​​about 15 square kilometers and was located on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco.

In the life of the Incas, Mayans and Aztecs, religion played a very important role. They worshiped many gods, and their temples in the form of stepped pyramids amaze with their grandeur no less than the Egyptian pyramids (the height of some of them reached 45 meters!). At the tops of these pyramids, the Aztecs performed human sacrifices to their gods.

Another sign of the Aztec civilization is the widespread passion for a ball game similar to modern basketball. True, the ring in this game was located vertically, and the ball could only be touched with the forearms and thighs of the legs. Players from the losing team were very often sacrificed.

The names of the Aztec rulers, under whom their empire reached its greatest prosperity, have also reached us - Montezuma I (1440-1468 reign) and Montezuma II (began reign in 1502). The Aztec civilization, like the Mayans, also perished under the onslaught of the conquistadors. This happened in 1521.

The Incas

The Inca Empire stretched 2,000 km along the Pacific coast of South America. Its heyday occurred in the late 1400s and early 1500s. In addition to the Incas, there were other states of South American Indians (for example, Tiahuanaco, Guari or Chimu), but they all fell into decline and were conquered by the Incas.

The Incas were engaged in slash-and-burn agriculture (burning and cultivating clearings in the Amazon jungle), hunting, trade and construction. Their capital, the city of Cusco, was located high in the Andes, and the Incas built a whole network of high mountain roads, with rope suspension bridges across the gorges.

In the 16th century, the Incas, Mayans and Aztecs were conquered and enslaved by Europeans, and who knows what the fate of their civilizations would have been if they had possessed firearms by the time the conquistadors appeared.

Information from the children's encyclopedia "Riddles of World History"

All ancient civilizations are in any case mysterious, covered in secrets, since they are removed from the present time by an incalculable number of centuries. All evidence of their existence on the planet is findings, writings, objects and structures.

Aztec and Mayan mythology

And historians are free to interpret them as they consider possible. It is impossible to obtain more accurate information about such antiquity, and therefore the history of these civilizations is overgrown with speculation, legends and hypotheses.

One of these civilizations is the Indians of South America

Much has been said about the tribes that inhabited this area many millennia ago. Including the fact that they appeared out of nowhere and quite soon began to possess the highest level of knowledge, culture and technology.

It was the Indians of the Mayan, Incas, and Toltec tribes who left the greatest structures - pyramids similar to the famous Egyptian ones, only several centuries older. Although there is a hypothesis that the pyramids on Earth are a single whole, they are all connected not only by shape. But also for their purpose, and are located on the planet in a single perspective.

All these facts lead supporters of the extraterrestrial origin of life on earth to think about the influence of this higher intelligence on the construction of not only the pyramids, but also the actual buildings of the ancient Indians of Mesoamerica. To build such buildings and use them, it was necessary to have colossal knowledge of astronomy and cosmography, if we accept as true the hypothesis about the purpose of the pyramids as a channel of communication with the Universe, but they are really oriented towards Sirius, and absolutely accurately reflect and perceive the change of seasons and time days.

Even modern technology is not capable of processing stone for construction in the same way as the Incas did. In addition, buildings high in the mountains also require special lifting mechanisms, which the almost primitive pagan tribes, who did not even know the wheel, could hardly master (not to mention their manufacture) perfectly.

Another extremely interesting fact is the suddenly awakened craving for agriculture among these peoples

Having lived for centuries by hunting and gathering, they suddenly began to sow the fields freed from the forest with grains. And the crop they started to cultivate was corn. The only plant that cannot reproduce without human help.

Riddle after riddle emerges from the depths of ancient Indian cultures

Naturally, the inability to explain many of these facts gives rise to hypotheses about the extraterrestrial patronage of this civilization. Ancient people who worshiped the totem - the jaguar, and considered themselves his descendants, wrote a very accurate calendar of the Sun and Moon, using only cuneiform as their written language - a description of the emergence of the Earth's satellite and the laws of movement of other luminaries, who never visited other places on the planet except their habitat - They built a structure that in all respects resembles a spaceport.

Video: Early Settlers of America

Description: In 1914, an unknown tribe of hunters was discovered in South America. Nowadays, scientists have established that their ancestors lived on the continent back in the Ice Age. How and where did they get there? What race did you belong to? How do their descendants live today?

There are a great many hypotheses about the emergence and existence of Mesoamerican culture; which of them is true is another mystery. The only thing we can say with certainty is that modern man knows negligibly little about the history of his own planet. And if some theories are ever confirmed, then the entire history of antiquity may have to be rewritten, which means that today’s history will undergo changes.

According to most researchers, the Mayan culture is one of the greatest achievements of mankind in antiquity. This civilization lasted for almost a thousand years. The Mayans were the first developed people of America that the Spaniards encountered during the conquest of the lands of the Western Hemisphere.

By the time Europeans arrived, the Mayans occupied a vast territory. Within its boundaries, scientists usually distinguish three cultural and geographical areas. For example, the northern one covered the entire Yucatan Peninsula, which was a flat limestone plain with shrubby vegetation. In places it was intersected by chains of low rocky hills. The absence of rivers, streams and lakes, poor soils meant difficulties for farming. The southern region, which included mountainous areas and the Pacific coast of Southern Mexico and Guatemala, was also not entirely favorable for living. The central region, which covered northern part Guatemala and the territories adjacent to the west, where the Mexican states of Chiapas, Tabasco and Campeche are now located. The central region is a hilly limestone lowland. Most of it is covered with tropical rainforests, which alternate with grassy savannas, swampy lowlands and lakes.

In such difficult conditions, the Maya Indians built first modest huts made of wood and clay, and later large stone cities.

How are the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas different?

Despite the fact that the tools were extremely primitive and were made only from wood, bone and stone, the Mayans were able to achieve amazing perfection in architecture, sculpture, painting, and in the production of ceramics.

The development of the ancient Mayan civilization lasted almost ten centuries. At the end of the 8th century the Mayans reached their highest level cultural development. By this time, the Indians had built elegant temples, giant dam roads, numerous pyramids and palaces. Over the centuries, old villages and cities grew and expanded, and new ones arose. All this continued almost until the end of the 1st millennium AD. e. In the 9th century, some kind of disaster occurred in the prosperous lands and white-stone cities of the Mayans. As a result, architectural construction in cities stopped completely. Skilled sculptors no longer erected huge stone steles with the faces of rulers and gods, and skilled stone carvers no longer decorated them with elaborate and elegant hieroglyphs.

The largest Mayan centers began to fall into disrepair. Residents abandoned them. In just a few decades, the cities of the ancient Mayans were safely hidden from human eyes, falling into the tenacious embrace of a lush evergreen jungle. Empty areas and abandoned buildings were covered with forest greenery. Lianas and tree roots destroyed the foundations and ceilings of massive buildings, and low-growing bushes filled all the free parts of the space where streets and dam roads had recently been located. This is precisely one of the greatest mysteries culture-phenomenon, which includes the ancient Mayan civilization. Cities of the classical period, built in the 1st millennium AD. e., back in the pre-Columbian period, the jungle swallowed up. And when Columbus’s people set foot on the lands of America at the end of the 15th century, and the first conquistador expeditions arrived here at the beginning of the 16th century, even the closest descendants of the people who once lived there forgot about the ancient Mayan civilization.

The culture that preceded the classical period of the Mayan civilization (experts call it protoclassical), the 1st millennium AD. BC, according to most researchers, is, of course, much more modest and differs in many qualitative indicators. However, the continuity between them is defined quite clearly. This is especially noticeable when comparing the following characteristic features: monumental stone architecture with a stepped (false) vault, the obligatory presence of carved stone steles with sculptural images and inscriptions, hieroglyphic writing, royal tombs with mortuary temples under them, the layout of the main architectural complexes around rectangular courtyards and squares , which are oriented to the cardinal points. All these features characteristic of preclassical architectural monuments undoubtedly served as the basis for the subsequent development and flourishing of Mayan culture.

The city of Copan was built during the classical period of the ancient Mayan civilization, around the middle of the 7th century. According to descriptions left in the 16th century by G. Palacio, and later, in the mid-19th century, by J. Stephenson, Copan was discovered in the west of Honduras, not far from the Guatemalan border, the departments of Zacapa and Chiquimula. The so-called urban center of Copan covers an area of ​​30 hectares. Local architecture was distinguished by the absence of large pyramids and highly elevated temples with huge “roof ridges.” Copan gives the impression of a huge acropolis, which included several pyramids, platforms, terraces, temples and courtyards. They were located on the territory of the city in groups. One of the main attractions is the stairs leading to the acropolis. It consists of 63 sculpted steps and has about 2,500 hieroglyphs. The temples especially stand out. Researchers date the construction of three of them to 756-771. One of the temples was dedicated to Venus.

The central square is of great interest. Nine monoliths were erected on it, which serve as the basis for altars, distinguished by elegant decoration. According to scientists, Copan was home to one of the largest astronomical observatories, which were located in the ancient Mayan cities. American archaeologist S. Morley assumed that the population of Copan during its peak period reached 200 thousand people. However, according to other researchers, the scientist somewhat overestimated the number of inhabitants. Nevertheless, Copan was considered in ancient times to be the most prominent center of the Mayan civilization.

North of Copan, already on Guatemalan territory, is the city of Quirigua. It is not so impressive in size, but is of great interest as a monument to an ancient civilization. On its territory, archaeologists were able to discover amazing steles covered with relief images. One of them reaches ten meters in height and is larger in size than all other monoliths discovered in Mesoamerica.

Many researchers consider the architectural complex of Palenque to be one of the most brilliant cities of the ancient Mayan civilization of the classical period.

Its history goes back almost ten centuries. It existed from the end of the 1st millennium BC. e. until the end of the 1st millennium AD. e. The name of this city, like almost all other ancient Mayan cities, is conventional. In their choice, modern researchers were most often guided by purely random characteristics. Palenque translated from Spanish means “hedge”, “enclosure”, “fenced place”.

This urban center, its architecture and sculpture were distinguished by the peculiar features that were characteristic of the Mayan classical period.

The most common building material was stone. The buildings were constructed mainly from limestone. The rock cut out of the rocks was burned, thus obtaining lime.

The Mayans mixed it with sand, added water and prepared a cementing solution from these components.

In combination with stone dust, it gave a variety of another excellent building material - stuff (something like modern putty, made from a mixture of gypsum and chalk). The pieces covered the walls and ceilings. Using the extraordinary plasticity of this material, the Mayans masterfully made stucco decorations, which were applied to the walls and columns of buildings, their bases, and friezes. Using a sharp cutter, apparently made of obsidian (glass of volcanic origin), contours with images of deities and hieroglyphic inscriptions were applied with easily drawn lines onto the slabs covered with the piece. Limestones were also used to make various decorations and dishes. Limestone was used to make jambs, lintels, steles, altars, and statues.

The main features of the urban center in Palenque were the presence of a portico with three and sometimes five entrances. They were formed by erecting wide columns. Inside the central rear room, which was like a separate architectural unit, there was a sanctuary. It performed the function of protecting the symbol of the cult to which the temple was dedicated. The small rooms that were located on the sides of the sanctuary were the cells of the priests.

In Palenque, as in all other Mayan palaces and temples discovered during excavations, on both sides of the entrances on the wall or column you can find the likes of stone rings. This is either a piece of stone inserted into a small recess, or a small stone cylinder built vertically into the space between two stones.

Similar devices were used to fasten the ropes on which the curtain was hung. It served as a kind of door and sheltered the room from rain and wind, and saved it from the cold. The ancient Mayan architects also used protruding canopies in the construction of buildings, on which special cornices were strengthened. During rainstorms, water flowed down them, bypassing walls or columns decorated with reliefs from the piece, thereby protecting them from erosion and rapid destruction.

Of great interest is the evolution that the Mayans made in urban planning. Their first buildings, erected for ritual purposes or as dwellings for priests and leaders, were nothing more than simple huts of different sizes. The foundation for them at this time (IV-II centuries BC) were platforms of various heights, lined with stone and stucco. In the later Preclassic period (closer to the 1st millennium AD), the foundations for buildings began to develop into step pyramids, which were created by superimposing one platform on another. However, even during this period, the temple that crowned the pyramid, despite the fact that its base was decorated with rich alabaster masks, was an ordinary hut with a palm roof. And only in the classical period of development, starting from the first centuries of our era, a stone vault replaced the palm roof. It was called the false arch or Mayan vault. This architectural innovation is not a Mayan invention. Some peoples of the Old World, for example the Mycenaeans, covered their homes and buildings in a similar way, several thousand years earlier than the first shoots of the culture of the ancient Indian civilization arose.

The Mayan vault had a peculiarity. It was erected by bringing the walls closer together, starting from a certain height. Rows of stones were stacked one on top of the other so that each subsequent one protruded above the previous one. When the hole at the top became very small, it was covered with a slab. The new vault was much stronger. After all, it was built of stone and, unlike wood, did not succumb to the destructive and destructive effects of the humid tropical climate. This type of ceiling ensured the sharp angle of the vault, its great height and the enormous massiveness of the walls on which this vault rested. At the same time, the internal, usable volume of the buildings was very small compared to the external one. Due to the false arch, the architectural structures had a small width of the premises but a sufficient length.

The Mayan vault had another significant drawback. Due to the peculiarities of its design, it allowed covering only narrow spaces. However, in some cases, ancient architects still managed to erect such ceilings in the burial crypt of the Temple of the Inscriptions in Palenque and in the transverse corridors separating the central building of the Governor's Palace and the side extensions in Uxmal. To increase the internal area, Mayan architects partitioned the room in the middle with a longitudinal wall. It had a door in the center. In such an architectural structure, the building was covered with two false vaults, one end resting on the middle wall and the other on the outer wall.

During the Classic period, the Mayans introduced innovations in the construction of foundations for their temples, ritual buildings, and palaces. They moved from using simple platforms to so-called pyramids. However, unlike the ancient Egyptians, the Mayans never sought to achieve a truly pyramidal geometric volume. By superimposing the platforms one on top of the other, they ended up with a truncated shape. On its tetrahedral top a small, usually two- or three-room temple was erected.

The number of ledges, or divisions, into which the body of the pyramid was divided could be very diverse. A long, steep and wide staircase usually led from the base of the pyramid to the door of the sanctuary. If the pyramid was very large, then such stairs were located on all four sides. The configuration of such pyramids was usually used for the construction of religious buildings on the tops of large hills. Among the Mayans, any elevation was a deification of the forces of nature. According to Indian beliefs, it was on the hill that rains, winds, and rivers lived. They believed that the higher the hill, the closer to the sky. Therefore, the temple had to rush to heaven, to where the gods live.

Archaeologists and researchers consider the famous Temple of the Sun in Palenque to be a characteristic architectural example of a Mayan temple from the heyday of civilization (the second half of the 7th century). It is erected on a low pyramid, which is divided into five floors. The temple itself is located on the truncated top of the pyramid. This is an oblong, small building, which has an internal longitudinal wall. Two narrow sections of the façade wall are adjacent to the right and left ends, and two more rectangular pillars are placed between them. Thus, the facade is something like a portico. Its pillars are decorated with piece reliefs. The front wall is cut through by three doors leading to the room where the small sanctuary is located. On its back wall there is a bas-relief depicting a mask of the sun god. This mask is suspended on two crossed spears. Near them, two human figures are depicted in a pose of worship. It was this sculptural detail of the sanctuary that gave rise to some researchers calling this building in Palenque the Temple of the Sun.

The flat roof of the temple is crowned with a roofing ridge. It, like many other Mayan religious buildings, reaches a considerable height. The ridge consists of two walls converging in the upper part at an acute angle, which have numerous openings resembling windows. The surface of the walls of the ridge is covered with rich geometric patterns, in the center of which there is an image of a mythical monster. According to experts, the ridge had no structural function and served only to increase the overall height of the building. The Temple of the Sun, from the point of view of architects, is distinguished by the balance of all its parts, nobility and simplicity of outline. This is one of the most expressive and impressive monuments of Mayan architecture.

The main features of Mayan architecture associated with the construction of religious buildings can be traced in the example of other urban centers that existed in the 7th-9th centuries - Tikal, Piedras Negras, Uxmal, Yaxchilan, Copan, Quirigua. The differences can only be found in the details. For example, the temple pyramids of Tikal, largest city classical period, were very high, but had a relatively small base. In appearance they resembled towers. The tallest of them, the pyramid of Temple IV, is 45 m high, and together with the temple and the decorative ridge rises to more than 70 m.

(For comparison, this is the approximate height of a modern twenty-story building.)

The Mayan builders had a great sense of the surrounding landscape. They skillfully placed buildings on natural terraces. Architectural compositions fit naturally and freely into mountainous terrain. Modern architects are amazed by the layout of Mayan settlements. Ancient city planners achieved amazing balance between the individual parts of the erected ensembles and their harmonious combination. An important role was played by the color contrast of the buildings and the surrounding nature. Mayan architects covered the walls of buildings with white or scarlet stuff. Against the backdrop of the blue sky or the bright green tropical vegetation surrounding the structures, this produced a special effect.

Despite the efforts of historians, archaeologists and other specialists studying the events of past years, antiquity still remains partially shrouded in mysteries. And modern discoveries and found artifacts, lifting the veil of secrets, cause surprise and admiration. The civilizations of the Incas, Aztecs and Mayans are very interesting, since their way of life and technology were advanced, and even today many points remain unclear to us.

The ancestors of this civilization came from the north to the settlement site 10 thousand years ago, after the end of the Ice Age, but the culture of these Indians, as they are accustomed to consider it, began to take shape in 2000 BC, that is, after about 6 thousand years, after the development of the area.

They had their own structure of government, in which power was given only to the “descendants of the gods.” But other people also had a lot of important things to do. Agriculture, for example.

In this area, the Mayans developed good technology: in areas flooded by swamps, they made embankments of earth, and where the soil was dry, they built colossal canals from the sea and rivers. By the way, these water communications were actively used as transport; the Indians hollowed out boats from logs. On their lands they were among the first to cultivate corn, legumes, and cocoa. And also nightshades: tobacco, potatoes and tomatoes, the cultivation of which was later adopted by the whole world.

Before colonization, in South and North America, only the Mayans invented writing. It was a set of hieroglyphs and “icons” - stylized images of what they were supposed to represent. Another of their achievements was simple mathematics: only addition and subtraction were used, but the Mayan counting system had the concept of zero, unlike the Mayan contemporaries from the Old World.

There was also medicine; descriptions of about two hundred diseases were found in special books, and medicinal plants were grown to treat them.

People collected jade and shells, from which artisans then made figurines and household items, using tools: saws, drills and abrasive dust as polish. Researchers were quite surprised by the blue paint that was found in ancient cities. Its recipe is still not clear. It does not fade, is not afraid of high temperatures, and is not even destroyed by acids.

The Indians lived in prosperity due to their hard work and developed trade. Various things and products were in circulation: from shells to tools; seaside cities used salt as currency, and residents of settlements remote from the sea paid with cocoa tree grains; however, simple exchange was also quoted.

The Mayans were very concerned about astronomy, in which they achieved certain successes. They compiled several calendars, with negligible errors even by modern standards. For the sake of this activity, they built several observatories, the windows in them exactly corresponded to the trajectories of the observed objects. All their observations were strictly documented in sacred books.

The entire Mayan state consisted of 200 cities, of which about 10% were megacities with a population of 50 thousand inhabitants. And most cities delighted the eye with masterpieces of architecture. Many buildings stand on pyramid-shaped foundations, and the higher the pyramid, the more important the object. The cladding of the houses is made of limestone, and in some places there are ornate patterns and stucco moldings. In buildings general purpose columns and mosaic decoration are visible. This luxurious infrastructure even included a ball court. This game is called tlachtli.

In 1441, the story of the heyday of the Mayans began to come to an end. This is due to climate change, which has led to severe drought. The drought, in turn, deprived the people of food - the most necessary resource. Against the backdrop of general negative sentiment, the existing way of life began to disintegrate and the once huge, cohesive society was divided into small tribes. The last straw was the conquistadors. At the beginning of the 16th century, colonists came to these lands, and by the middle of it they had “finished off” culture and civilization, and those who managed to defend themselves and flee died from viruses and diseases brought from overseas.

This civilization is the youngest, as it began to take shape only in the 12th century. Which, by the way, did not prevent it from becoming the most numerous (6-12 million people) in pre-Columbian America and conquering considerable areas. The place where the empire was founded contributed to its development. The fertile land and climate provided a constant rich harvest, so it was possible to pay less attention to agriculture and concentrate on the war.

But the conquest of other peoples did not begin with violence; ambassadors came to foreigners several times, peacefully offered to join, and presented gifts and gifts. And only after this, in case of refusal, military action was taken. The Incas were armed with bows, axes, and stones. As well as the psychological impact. When advancing, the soldiers shouted loudly and played wind instruments. musical instruments and drums. This greatly demoralized the enemy, who became much easier to defeat.

The conquered tribes were treated loyally and did not interfere with their traditions and customs. All that was required of them was recognition of the emperor, respect for the Inca religion and payment of taxes. Attempts at an uprising by subjects were nipped in the bud. To avoid a relapse, half of the rebels settled in different cities, and more faithful citizens moved in with the other half.

Alternative view

It is not for nothing that the Inca army is considered so powerful. From the age of 10, boys went to “trainings”. Experienced commanders prepared children for hand-to-hand combat, handling weapons, and gave them knowledge of tactics.

For the most part, the people were engaged in war and agriculture - they grew sunflowers, pineapples, and peppers. But there were also many specialists in other fields. These are one of the few Indians who knew how to smelt metal. And many deposits of gold and silver that they discovered are still being developed. There was so much gold that the cladding of some buildings was made from this metal.

One of the significant achievements of the Incas is their colossal network of roads throughout the state. Most of the paths were simply trampled, but the wet soil was filled with a mixture of stones and clay to prevent it from becoming soggy. And if the route ran through a swamp, then a dam made of cobblestones was built at this place. In places where the road was crossed by a cliff or a river, bridges were built on stilts or suspended. And warehouses were organized along the roads every 3 km. postal buildings, each of which contained a messenger. The parcel itself was passed from one to another, according to the principle of a relay race, which allowed the parcel to travel up to 400 km. per day.

Although the Incas did not have writing, they did have a unique accounting system called “quipu”. The recordings were made on a half-meter string. The color of the rope meant provisions, people, etc. To indicate one, ten, hundred, a knot with one loop was knitted. To show two, twenty, two hundred, a knot was tied with two loops, and so on by analogy. Moreover, this system worked without errors, and largely thanks to it, there was no money in the state, there was an exchange, and various products were strictly distributed among people by the government.

Everything was organized so well that there were no rich or poor, everyone lived in prosperity, even the incapacitated, they were supported by taxes. There was practically no crime, because people were most often executed for this.

The main animal for the empire was the llama. It was transport, a source of meat, fertilizer and wool.

Amazingly, even then the Inca doctors used penicillin. They didn’t open it and didn’t know what it was, but they worked with the mold that contained it.

The life of this empire ended almost simultaneously with the Maya. The colonialists also came, but they were also joined by traitors, and the Spaniards quite easily destroyed civilization.

They began to appear in parallel with the Incas; in 1256, at their peak, the population was about 10 million. Due to the fact that the race is relatively young, they adopted a lot of knowledge and achievements from their more ancient neighbors, and knew how to use them effectively.

But it was also sad with writing; because of the conquest, they did not have time to develop it; instead, they used drawings.

But this did not stop him from building a life of luxury. It is believed that the Aztecs lived more beautiful than others. There was even something like landscape design: beautiful planting of trees and bushes around the houses, cages with birds, and stone aquariums.

And the city infrastructure included restaurants, hotels, hairdressers, pharmacies, theaters, tlachtli stadiums, which had “bookmakers”. They even built educational institutions where they taught crafts, military training, history, trade and religion.

The social strata were also diverse: nobles, warriors, traders, ordinary townspeople, slaves and the lowest caste - prisoners of war.

Basically, this empire existed due to tribute from captured cities. But paradoxically, things were getting better for the occupied territories. And they were unable to capture only one people - Purepecha. But we still contacted and traded with them.

Aztec achievements include: metal and coal mining; construction of aqueducts - stone gutters for water supply; trained doctors and cultivated medicinal plants, many unknown even in our time.

The diet consisted of such foods as turkey, shrimp, corn, tomatoes, vanilla and much more.

The process of growing plants was technologically advanced: piles were driven into the lake on which there was a platform with soil. This method gave up to 7 harvests per year. This is how the food crops listed above were planted, as well as cotton.

With the arrival of the Spaniards, like all other indigenous peoples, the Aztecs quickly came to an end. The conquest was helped by the fact that they were accepted as gods and were not hindered in any way.

A little more than ten years ago - on October 12, 1992, planet Earth celebrated one of the most significant dates in the history of mankind - the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America. There are many hypotheses about when man appeared in the Western Hemisphere, in North and South America, on numerous islands, and when people came to the American continent. For the fifth century now (since the 16th century), pundits have been debating this issue. In numerous studies on this topic, among the first inhabitants of America are people from the Canary Islands, Phoenicians and Carthaginians, ancient Greeks and Romans, Jews, Spaniards, Egyptians and Babylonians, Chinese and even Tatars and Scythians.

Science developed, and as new discoveries were made, knowledge accumulated and hypotheses were selected. Today there is no longer any doubt that the part of the world marked on the world map as America was inhabited by people from other continents. However, from which ones exactly has not been finally decided. Nevertheless, scientists were able to identify many common features inherent in all Indians, bringing them closer to the Mongoloid peoples of Asia. The appearance of the original inhabitants of America at the time of their first meetings with Europeans was as follows: a stocky figure, short legs, medium-sized feet, rather long arms but with small hands, a high and usually wide forehead, poorly developed brow ridges. The Indian's face had a large, strongly protruding nose (often, especially in the north, the so-called eagle nose), and a rather large mouth. The eyes are most often dark brown. The hair is black, straight, thick.

Many early European documentary and literary sources indicated that the Indians were red-skins. This is actually not true. The skin of representatives of various Indian tribes is rather yellow-brown. According to modern researchers, the name “Redskins” was given to them by the first settlers. It did not arise by chance. The North American Indians once had a widespread custom of rubbing their faces and bodies with red ocher on special occasions. That's why Europeans called them redskins.

Currently, anthropologists distinguish three main groups of Indians - North American, South American and Central American, whose representatives differ in height, skin color and other characteristics.

Most researchers believe that the settlement of the American continent came from Asia through the Bering Strait. Scientists believe that four great glaciations helped ancient people overcome the expanse of water. According to this hypothesis, during the glaciations the Bering Strait froze and turned into some kind of huge bridge. Asian tribes who led a nomadic lifestyle freely moved along it to the neighboring continent. Based on this, the time of the appearance of man on the American continent was determined - this happened 10-30 thousand years ago.

At the time of the arrival of the Spanish caravels under the command of Christopher Columbus off the eastern coast of the New World (October 1492), North and South America, including the islands of the West Indies, were inhabited by many tribes and nationalities. With the light hand of the famous navigator, who assumed that he had discovered new lands of India, they began to be called Indians. These tribes were at different levels of development. According to most researchers, before the European conquest, the most advanced civilizations in the Western Hemisphere developed in Mesoamerica and the Andes. The term “Mesoamerica” was introduced in the 40s of the 20th century by the German scientist Paul Kirchoff. Since then, in archeology this has been used to designate a geographic region that includes Mexico and most of Central America (up to the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica). It was this territory that, at the time of its discovery by Europeans, was inhabited by many Indian tribes and presented a colorful picture of the cultures that they represented. According to the correct definition of the Czech Americanist Miloslav Stingl, “these cultures were at different stages of development of tribal society, and the general laws of evolution characteristic of the primitive communal formation manifested themselves here in many local variants and forms.”

Scientists include such cultures as the Olmec, Teotihuacan, Mayan, Toltec and Aztec among the most vibrant and developed civilizations of Ancient America (pre-Columbian period).

The study of the art of Ancient America and its history is relatively young. It dates back a little over a hundred years. American studies researchers currently do not have such rich material and achievements as are available today in the field of studying ancient art. They also experience great difficulties due to the fact that to support their conclusions obtained as a result of archaeological excavations and discoveries, they do not have as many written monuments as are, for example, at the disposal of researchers of the Ancient East. The ancient Americans developed writing much later and never reached a high level of development. The written monuments of the peoples of Mesoamerica that have reached us have not yet been sufficiently studied. Therefore, most information concerning political history, social system, mythology, conquests, titles and names of rulers is based only on Indian legends. Many of them were recorded after the Spanish conquest and date back to the first half of the 16th century. It is also important to remember that until this time, ancient American civilizations developed without any influence from European or Asian centers. Until the 16th century, their development proceeded completely independently.

The art of Ancient America, like any other art, has a number of features and characteristic features that are unique to it. In order to comprehend this uniqueness, a dialectical approach is necessary, taking into account the historical conditions under which the art and culture of the ancient civilizations of Mesoamerica developed.

Scientists attribute the highest flowering of the culture of the Mayan Indian tribe to the 7th-8th centuries. The Aztec Empire reached the apogee of its development at the beginning of the 16th century. Very often, in the works of archaeological scientists and researchers of ancient cultural civilizations, the Mayan Indian peoples (as older people) are called by analogy “Greeks,” and the Aztecs (as they existed later) are called “Romans” of the New World.

The Mayan cultural traditions had enormous influence in the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador, as well as in several states of modern Mexico. Geographical boundaries The distribution of this civilization amounted to 325,000 km2 and covered the habitat of several dozen, and possibly hundreds of tribes. In general, the tribes inherited a single culture. However, in many ways it naturally had regional characteristics.

The Mayan civilization stood out primarily for its achievements in construction and architecture.

Representatives of this nationality created exquisite and perfect works of painting and sculpture, had unique masters in stone processing and the manufacture of ceramic products. The Mayans had deep knowledge of astronomy and mathematics. Their greatest achievement is their introduction of such a mathematical concept as “zero”. They began to use it hundreds of years earlier than other highly developed civilizations.

The Aztecs appeared in Central Mexico in the second half of the 12th century. No historical data about them has been found before this time. There are only a few legends and traditions from which it is known that they called the island of Aztlan (Aztlan) their homeland.

Aztecs, Incas, Mayans

One of the traditional descriptions of the supposed life of ancestors in Aztlan is known, allegedly compiled for the last of the pre-Hispanic rulers of the Aztec state, the famous Montezuma II the Younger, based on ancient manuscripts. According to this source, the ancestral home of Aztlan was located on an island (or was an island) where there was big mountain with caves that served as dwellings. From this word, which denoted the location of the island (Aztlan), came the name of the tribe - Aztecs (more precisely, Aztecs). However, science has not yet established the exact geographical location of this island.

In the earliest stages of their existence, the Aztecs were dominated by a nomadic lifestyle; they were mainly engaged in hunting. This left an imprint on their character. By nature they were very warlike. For almost two centuries, the Az-Tecs waged wars of conquest and at the beginning of the 14th century, having conquered many other tribes living in Central Mexico, they created a powerful empire. Around 1325, the city they founded, Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City), became its capital.

Currently, interest in the study of ancient Indian civilizations has not faded. Architectural monuments, sculpture, jewelry, household items discovered in places where peoples with an original, unique culture lived several thousand years ago, still conceal a lot of unsolved things. Understanding the history of pre-Columbian America, leading archaeologists and modern scientists They are trying to find an explanation for many of the most important aspects of the life of ancient human communities.

The Mayan civilization is unique. Their writing, calendar system, and knowledge of astronomy amaze even modern cosmology specialists. The Mayan Indians are one of the most ancient and mysterious civilizations that ever existed on Earth.

Birth of the Mayan civilization

Scientists have determined where the Indians lived. According to the theory, after the end of the last ice age, the tribes living in the north went south to develop new lands. Today it is the territory of Latin America.

Then, over the next 6 thousand years, the Indians created their own culture - they built cities and farmed.

By 1500 BC, the Mayans lived in the Yucatan Peninsula, present-day Guatemala, the southern states of Mexico, and the western parts of El Salvador and Honduras.

Mayan Indians: history of the development of civilization

First major centers became the cities of El Mirador, Nakbe and Tikal. The construction of temples flourished, calendars were widely used, and hieroglyphic writing developed.

The photo below shows the ancient Mayan cultural center in the ancient city of Tikal.

The Indians created their own system, including architecture with unique buildings - pyramids, monuments, palaces, politics and social hierarchy. Society was divided into the masses and the elite, consisting of rulers.

The Mayans believed that their rulers were descended from the gods. The status was emphasized by robes with a mandatory attribute - a breast mirror. “Mirror of the people” is what the Mayans called their supreme ruler.

Maya ruling class

The ancient Mayan civilization numbered more than 20 million people.

A whole system of 200 cities was created, 20 of them were megacities with a population of more than 50 thousand people.

Economic development of the Mayans

Initially, the Mayans were engaged in slash-and-burn agriculture - they cut down the forest on the site that they planned to cultivate, then burned the trees and shrubs, and fertilized the soil with ash. Since the land in the tropics is infertile, its resources were quickly depleted, and the fields ceased to be cultivated. They words were overgrown with forest. Then the whole process began again.

But as the population increased, new methods were required, and the Indians began to use hillsides for terrace farming.

Swamps were also developed - raised fields were built on them by building beds a meter high above the water level.

They installed irrigation systems, and water flowed into reservoirs through a network of canals.

They traveled on the water in canoes made of red wood. They could accommodate up to 50 people at the same time. They traded fish, shells, shark teeth and other seafood. Salt was like money.

Salt production

Obsidian imported from Mexico and Guatemala was used to make weapons.

Jade was a ritual stone, it was always in value.

Jade products

Those who lived on the plain traded food supplies, cotton, jaguar skins and quetzal feathers.

Art and architecture

During the "classical" early and late periods (250 - 600 AD and 600 - 900 AD), a huge number of temples were built, and wall paintings depicting rulers appeared. Art is flourishing.

Below is a photo of Barel'ev with the image of the ruler.

New cultural centers become Copan and Palenque.

Migration

Beginning in 900 AD, the southern plains gradually emptied, leaving settlements in the northern part of Yucatan. Until 1000 AD, the influence of Mexican culture grew, and the cities of Labna, Uxmal, Kabah and ChiChen Itza flourished.

Below is a photo of the pyramid in the city of ChiChen Itza

After the mysterious collapse of Chichen Itza, Mayapan becomes the main Mayan city.

Why did the Mayan civilization disappear?

No one knows for sure the reason for the disappearance of the Indian people. There are only hypotheses on this score. According to the main one, in 1441 there was an uprising of the leaders who lived in the cities neighboring Mayapan. This caused the degeneration of civilization and its transformation into scattered tribes. Drought and famine also had an impact. Then the conquistadors appeared.

Below in the photo is the last center of civilization.

In 1517, Spanish ships landed on an unknown shore. In the battle with the Indians, the conquistadors saw gold. This began the extermination of the Mayan people, since the Spaniards believed that gold should belong to their rulers. In 1547, the Mayans were conquered, but some of the tribes managed to escape and hide in the center of the Yucatan Peninsula, where they lived for 150 years.

The diseases that the Spaniards brought with them caused outbreaks of epidemics. The Indians had no immunity to influenza, measles and smallpox, and they died by the millions.

The culture and religion of the Indians was exterminated by everyone possible ways: temples collapsed, shrines were destroyed, idolatry was punishable by torture.

In the 100 years since the arrival in Latin America The Mayan civilization was completely eradicated by Europeans.

Watch the BBC documentary about the mysterious Mayan civilization below

The Mexican Yucatan Peninsula is a flat plain. Washed by the waters Caribbean Sea, the peninsula is the driest place on the mainland. The Native American word "Maauya" means "land without water." About five thousand years ago, the great MAYAN civilization arose there.

According to the Mayan priests, man originated from corn: “Once everything slept. There was no land, no time, no ocean in space. Once upon a time in the East, days were born, and time began to count down. The first day created the heavens and the whole Earth. The second day created a ladder, using which rain descended from the heavens. The third day gave rise to ebbs and flows, using which the ocean overflowed. On the fourth day the horizon was born, connecting the Earth and the sky. On day five, the meaning of life appeared and indicated that everyone should work. On the sixth day the first light came on. The seventh created the continents. The eighth established order in the world. The ninth created dungeons. The tenth made a path underground for those who lived a mean life and had a poisonous soul. The eleventh day from the Sun created stones and forests. On the twelfth day the winds blew. The spirits appeared from the wind. On the thirteenth day, rain fell and, moistening the entire earth, created man. At first people were made of clay. But they quickly collapsed before they could move. Then they created wooden dolls. But it turned out that they are stupid and clumsy. Then God took maize (corn), kneaded it like dough, and blinded people. The corn people began to live in the world. But they were too curious and poked their noses everywhere. And we saw much more than we should. Then God blew in the fog, and man began to see only as far as the horizon..."

Pyramid of MAGIC

According to ancient legend, the world was created four times, but destroyed three times by the Great Flood. First there was a world of dwarfs. In those days the Sun shone weakly, and in complete darkness the dwarfs built big cities.

Fortune Teller's Pyramid

Then came the first flood, which washed away everything that the dwarfs had managed to build.

In the second world, only the most resourceful people who escaped this flood remained to live. The third world was developed by the Mayans themselves, who were also washed away. Fourth, modern world are descendants of the ancient Mayans who mixed with other tribes. Since then, the descendants of the Mayans have been waiting for the next flood.

In the beginning, the god Hunaba-Ku created the four corn men Balam-Kitse, Mahukutaha, Balam-Akaba and Iki-Balam. Then, as it should be, four beautiful women were created: Kaha-Paluna, Chomiha, Tsunumiha and Kakishaha. God was helped in his work by a fox, a coyote, a parrot and a crow. They carried corn, from which God sculpted his creations. The cobs were yellow and white. Whites were made into men, yellows into women.

The ruler of heaven, Itsamna, was considered the main God. He was portrayed as a colorful, bearded old man. Itsamna was believed to be the first priest to create hieroglyphs and write the first mystical codes. In second place was the rain god Chuck. The entire future harvest depended on it. The third most popular was the corn god Yum Kaah. He was depicted as a young man with a deformed head. It was believed that his head became swollen and lost its shape from intense care for a good harvest. And finally, very important was the god of death Ah Puch, who had a very terrifying appearance.

The Mayan priests created several accurate calendars. Of these, two are the most famous. According to the solar calendar, the year had 365 days and was divided into 18 months of 20 days each. There was also an additional month lasting only 5 days. The second calendar is ritual. It consisted of 260 days, and counting was carried out in intervals of 13 days. Each day of both calendars had its own patron god. The Mayans had an original cyclical system of chronology: all years went through a full cycle (in a circle) and again returned to their original position. The cycle repeated itself after 52 years.

Temple bas-relief of the rain god CHUCK

AH-PUCH patron of the dead

God TEZCATLIPOCA

totem pole

The entire life of the ancient people passed in anticipation of the next ritual holiday. Preparatory activities consisted of four stages:

1. First came fasting and abstinence.

2. Then the priest, who was in a state of insight, chose the best day for the holiday.

3. Then they prepared the future place of the holiday. There they cast out evil spirits, read spells and fumigated idols.

4. On the appointed day, the main festive event was held - a sacrifice.

The Mayan people believed that the world order was maintained by the gods only through sacrifices. In ancient times, the Mayans almost did not practice human sacrifice. Usually they brought jewelry, animals, fish, and various fruits to the divine altar. However, in the most important cases, human sacrifices were made to the gods. Usually such an event was held on the top platform of the pyramid. The victim was stripped and painted blue. Then the four assistant priests laid the man on a round stone, also of blue color. The priest-preparator (nakom) came out to the victim and opened the chest with a sharp flint knife. With his hands he pulled out a living beating heart, placed it on a special dish, which he presented to the ceremonial priest (chilan). He smeared the blood on the faces of the idols, and the victim was thrown down, where he was torn into pieces by the jubilant people...

The Mayans built large cities (Tikal, Balak-bal, Volaktun, Copana, Washaktuna). Each city had more than 200 thousand inhabitants. Their centers were decorated with temple pyramids, which were surrounded by terraces and statues of gods. The Pyramid of the Inscriptions, the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Warriors, the Temple of the Jaguars, the Temple of the Moon and the Pyramid of Kukulcan have survived to this day.

Aztec mother of the gods COATLICUE

YUM KAAH- god of maize

CHUCK– god of rain

Suddenly, for no apparent reason, in the 10th century, almost the entire Mayan people disappeared somewhere. Came to desolation huge cities and temples. A great civilization has disappeared. However, soon, out of nowhere, another people appeared in central Mexico - the Aztecs. Unlike the Mayans, they were warlike and very fierce. These were completely different people who called their homeland the island of Astlaan (“the place where the herons live”).

According to legend, the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli predicted that their people would settle where they saw an eagle sitting on a cactus and devouring a snake. For 165 long years the Aztecs wandered through ancient Mexico. On July 18, 1325, they saw the long-awaited eagle and founded the first settlement of Tinochtitlan where the capital of Mexico is now located.

The main deity of the warlike people was the god of war, Huitzilopochtli. The wooden idol of this god was of impressive size and was depicted sitting on a blue bench. The bench symbolized heaven as the place of residence of this god. The main deity was assisted by: Tezcatlipoca (creator god), Tonatiuh (Sun god), Metstli (Moon god), Tlaloc (water god), Quetzalcoatl (air god), Centeotl (corn goddess), Hiuketiuktli (fire god), Mihcoatl (goddess hunting), Xicateuctli (god of trade), as well as the gods of hell Mictlacteuctli and Mictlancehuatl. Each name of the Mexican deities is like a short spell addressed to a given god.

The Aztecs' sacrifices were more cruel and varied than those of their neighbors. For the god of war, prisoners were executed, for the god of water, Tlaloc, children were drowned, and for the goddess of forbidden love, Tlazolteotl, prostitutes were sacrificed. A special form of sacrifice was the fighting of captured warriors. Opposite the altar, men armed only with spears fought. It was similar to gladiator fights, where prizes went to the owner of the bravest warrior.

All Aztec ceremonies were strictly regulated. Unlike the Mayans (where the priest chose the day of the holiday), the Aztecs had holiday calendars in advance. In September, the festival of the maize goddess Chicomecohuatl was held. First, they fasted for seven days and periodically rubbed their ears with their hands. If blood showed from the rubbed ears, then it was believed that repentance had been accomplished and the person was clean before God. Then they chose the most beautiful slave girl, 11–12 years old. They wove a wreath for her and made a necklace out of corn cobs. Pleasant music sounded, and the girl was solemnly seated among flowers and corn. For two days she was worshiped, she was the personification of the goddess who was thanked for the harvest. Then the “goddess” was solemnly killed, and everyone present joyfully began to dance.

The Aztecs were convinced that the Sun lived in the East in his own house, from which he came out in the morning, accompanied by dead warriors and sacrificed people. Therefore, they always sacrificed the best. Until noon, God's retinue changed. Further, the Sun was accompanied by women who died during childbirth, whom the Aztecs equated with warriors who died in battle. In the evening, the Sun reached the kingdom of the dead (Mictlan), and returned home at night.

The Aztec Age lasted 52 years, then a new one began. The last day of every fifty-two anniversary was a great holiday, as the Aztecs feared that the world would soon end and the new century might never come. According to ancient legends, the world was created five times. Each appearance of a new world was called "Sun".

In the first Sun, giants lived on Earth. But after 13 Aztec centuries (676 years), the god Tezcatliopoc turned into a large jaguar and ate all the giants. The Second Sun lasted 7 centuries (364 years). During this period, the god Quetzalcoatl again created man. However, a terrible storm broke out and destroyed everything. The remaining people went wild and turned into monkeys. The third Sun was created by the water god Tlaloc. However, after 6 centuries (312 years), fire destroyed everything. Only the birds remained. At the end of the fourth Sun there was a flood, after which only fish survived. The fifth Sun was created by the god Quexalcoatl from his own penis. This century continues to this day. Unlike the well-known myths about the creation of the world, the Aztec legend contains fairly accurate dates for the natural disasters that overtook the “city of the gods” Teotihuacan in the Anahuac Valley. According to the Aztec calendar, every natural disaster occurred at the end of a time period that was a multiple of 52.

Funeral ceremonies among many peoples of Central America took place in the same sequence. First, several of the oldest priests decorated the deceased with sacred figures cut out of cloth. Then they sprinkled him with cleansing water, saying: “This is the water that you received when you came into the world. Let it serve you on your long journey!” Then a jug filled with water was placed at the feet of the deceased. If a woman was buried, she was additionally wrapped in warm clothes. This made the journey of the soul easier. There was a belief that on the way to the other world it was necessary to cross eight deserts, bypass a huge dragon, overcome moving mountains, dodge jumping stone knives and avoid many other dangers.

On the territory of modern Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile, there was the GREAT INCAS EMPIRE, which appeared about four thousand years ago. According to legend, the spouses Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo emerged from Lake Titicaca. Father Sun handed them a magic rod, which was supposed to indicate the place where they were to found new country. Capac and Oklio traveled for a long time. One day their rod suddenly jumped out of their hands and went deep into the ground. On this site they built the capital of the Incas - the city of Cusco (“center” or “heart”).

Inca Sun God

The Supreme Inca (emperor) was a direct descendant of the sun god. His large family, in addition to several wives and children, even included the High Priest (Wiljak Umu), emphasizing the divine origin of his emperor. How in Ancient Egypt, the Inca Empire had hereditary priestly castes, which were divided into the following categories:

Villaks are priests and diviners.

Punchavilyaks are priests of the sun god.

Malkipvilyaks are priests of the dead.

Huacacquillacs are priestly assistants to the idol (huaca).

Mamakuns are female priestesses.

Alkas - “virgins of the Sun”. They lived in special temples in Alcahuasis and were keepers of the fire. Virgins sewed ritual clothes and prepared festive treats for the entire imperial family.

The Incas were less bloodthirsty than their neighbors. Corn, flour, vegetables and animals were commonly used as gifts to the gods. The year began in December and was accompanied by the festival of Kapak Raymi ("feast of the emperor"). The Inca Year ended in November with the very unusual holiday of Aya Markay Qilha (“month of bringing out the dead”). In the last days of the year, the Incas entered the graves of their own ancestors and removed their remains. The dead were dressed in the best clothes and exhibited in the most public places. Everyone was having fun and dancing, believing that their ancestors were dancing with them. Then the dead were loaded onto stretchers and “taken to visit”, moving from house to house. At the end of this joyful holiday, gifts and treats were brought to the graves, and the dead themselves were solemnly laid in their place. In July there was another holiday in honor of the Sun God - Inti Raymi. To open it, the priest used a special concave mirror to direct the sun's rays and light the sacred fire. Very interesting was the harvest festival of Situa, which was similar to a carnival and was celebrated in September. These days they organized a general cleaning of the entire city. The streets and houses were washed until they shined. Everything in sight was painted in sunny tones. There was noisy fun everywhere. Crowds of people came to the temples. People held idols and mummies of their own ancestors in their hands. The gods were persuaded to protect against diseases and other troubles.

There were many gods. The most important was the sun god (Inti). His subordinates were Pochacamac (god of fire), Chasca (goddess of beauty), Ilyana (god of thunder), Pachamama (goddess of fertility), Chucuilla (goddess of lightning), Quilla (goddess of the Moon) and Con (god of noise). According to their ideas, the world was created by the creator god Viracoche. The Incas divided the world into three levels: upper (Hachan Pacha), middle (Kai Pacha) and lower (Uku Pacha). Accordingly, these gods personified heaven, earth and the underworld. The underworld was ruled by the devil (Supai), who opposed the heavenly gods and caused harm to people.

The Inca Empire was part of famous island Easter. On its banks there are thousands of huge idols up to 8 meters high and weighing more than 20 tons. Scientists still cannot figure out why these sculptures were needed? Some suggest that these are traces of some mysterious extraterrestrial civilization. Others believe that the idols are ordinary idols of ancient gods.

The author of this book found that the purpose of the huge figures was simpler and more practical. It is known that once on Easter Island there lived an ancient people who possessed knowledge about the world that was unusual for savages. Its representatives knew the exact parameters of the planets of the solar system. They were sure that Jupiter was inhabited, and they considered themselves to be from outer space. There is no doubt that these people were smart and not like other peoples.

In order to protect their island from an unexpected attack by savages who could only appear from the sea, they made giant scarecrow idols, which they placed along the shore. One can imagine how the conquerors turned back in horror, seeing from afar a detachment of gloomy giants standing on the shore. In this way, the resourceful islanders scared off the conquerors, of whom there were quite a lot at that turbulent time.

Independent Araucan tribes lived near the Inca Empire in the territory of modern Chile. They called themselves Mapuche (“people of the earth”), since their main occupation was agriculture. These tribes did not form a single state and were outwardly similar to other Indian peoples. Only their legends and rituals were original.

Unlike other tribes, the Araucanians had a strong belief in ghosts (shadows of the dead), which periodically appeared at night. They also believed in the underground lizard Kolokolo, which sneaked up on sleeping people and bit them to death. Periodically, Chonchons, animals with human heads and huge ears, flew in from the “kingdom of darkness.” They flew, flapping their ears like wings, and drank the blood of weak people. The supreme god Genupillian reigned in heaven.

Temple of Zeus

The Araucanians believed in an afterlife and were not afraid of death. According to their ideas, the entire space around was inhabited by the souls of their ancestors. Therefore, on holidays, the Araucanians treated the spirits of their ancestors by throwing drinks into the air and throwing food. They shouted to the clouds floating in the sky, because they believed that the souls of dead warriors were sitting there. The Araucanians solemnly buried their dead in the ground. But a year later they came to the graves again in order to tell the deceased about what happened during their absence.

The most authoritative priest of the ancient Araucanians was Dunguve (soothsayer). He made predictions and gave practical advice. Health issues were resolved by Machi (doctor). The procedure for treating diseases was reminiscent of the actions of modern Filipino healers. Friends and relatives gathered at the patient's house. Machi would come in and place a tree branch at the head of the patient’s bed.

Then they brought a sacrificial animal, and Machi killed it. After that, he sprinkled the branch with blood and set fire to special herbs. Gradually smoke filled the room. The healer leaned over the patient and pretended to suck out bad blood from the sore spot. The smoke cleared, and Machi showed the admiring relatives some object (a chip, a pebble, or an insect), supposedly taken from a sore spot. Everyone was delighted and thanked the doctor very much. During the entire healing ceremony, the women present sang rhythmic songs, accompanying themselves on dried gourds filled with pebbles.

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One of the characteristic features of the art of pre-Columbian America is the existence of a huge number of different cultures, each of which had a special, unique style. There were about 11 thousand of them in Mexico alone.

Among these crops, three of the most significant stand out:

Aztec culture (Central Mexico);

Mayan culture (Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras);

Inca culture (Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador).

Aztec culture.

The culture developed over almost four centuries, starting from the 12th century. Until 1521, when the Spanish conquistadors (conquerors) destroyed the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (ancient Mexico City). Cartes, the leader of the conquistadors, fell in love with Marina (a name that came to Europe from the Aztecs), the daughter of the last Aztec leader Mantesula. Only by chance did Cartes manage to defeat the Aztecs. Wounded, he snatched the spear from the leader, and the Aztec troops began to obey him.

Most of the stone buildings of the Aztecs have reached us severely damaged. These are primarily tetrahedral pyramids on which temples or palaces were located. The Aztecs believed that every half century a new period in the development of the world began, and in accordance with this they renovated temples and palaces. The previously built temple, together with the pyramid, was covered with several layers of masonry, so that it ended up inside the updated pyramid, on top of which another temple was built. In one of the pyramids in Tenayuca, 8 successively walled temples were discovered. Sometimes the palaces and temples on the peaks were built of wood, but they have not survived.

Aztec sculpture is distinguished by its severity and schematism. They created huge cult statues, sometimes vaguely resembling a person and composed of symbolic images: corn cobs, fangs, etc. For example, the statue of the goddess of Earth and Fertility Coatlicue.

Few examples of painting have survived. Bright decorative “mosaics” made of feathers glued to thick fabric, and works of the finest jewelry art have come down to us.

On the territory of Mexico, the bloodiest cult in the history of mankind, associated with the planet Venus, appeared. A wall of skulls coated with clay was found here.

Uxmal is a complex of ancient American culture. The Palace of the Rulers in Uxmal is located on an artificial platform 200170 m, 12 m high. The palace itself has the following dimensions: 98128.5 m. The upper part of the Supreme Palace is decorated with a huge relief. The main character of the relief is the god of Rain and Fertility Chak. Chuck is the intermediary deity between God and man; he is a guardian dwarf.

There was a cult of the Feathered Serpent among the Teotihuacans, Toltecs, and then among the Aztecs. People worshiped him as the giver of civilization.

Mayan culture.

A vibrant culture was created by the Mayan peoples. Already in the II-III centuries. AD the Mayan tribes founded small city-states headed by priests and aristocracy.

Like the Aztecs, the Mayans built their buildings on stone foundations. Two types of structures are more common: temples on top of the pyramids; extensive palaces on high stone pillars (bases) that were formed around an open courtyard. Mayan houses were usually built on the ledges of a natural or artificial hill, making their buildings appear multi-story. Mayan architecture is more picturesque and richer in decoration than that of the Aztecs. The facades of the buildings were decorated with geometric patterns, reliefs and masks of deities. Sometimes the wall mass is completely hidden under stone lace. Columns are often used. Famous monuments of this culture: the Temple of the Sun in Palenque, the Temple of the Jaguars and the Temple of the Warriors in Chichen Itza. There are four staircases of 91 steps (914=364) leading to the top of the Kukulcan pyramid in Chichen Itza. At the top of the sanctuary of Kukulcan-Quetzalcoatl there is another 365th step. The pyramid is decorated with 52 reliefs. The Toltecs introduced the Venus calendar and the highest calendar cycle into the Mayac culture - 52 years (365 days each)

Sculpture has reached a high level of development. In accordance with the very complex Mayan calendar, stone steles with reliefs were erected every 20 years. On the front side of the stele a figure of a deity or ruler was depicted. The remaining three sides were covered with hierographic inscriptions.

The Mayan culture reached its peak in the 8th-9th centuries. AD At this time, complex reliefs with multi-figure compositions appeared (Piedras Negras stela, 795). The Mayans had palaces, temples, monasteries, observatories, courtyards, markets, ceremonial sites, and steam bath buildings. They created underground stone reservoirs - Chultuns. Reservoirs were carved into rocks, connected by canals, and served to store rainwater. The Mayans built roads - sakbe (surface - lime concrete compacted with a stone roller), but did not know wheels.

The Mayans have no central government, no capital, all cities are equal.

The best examples of Mayan painting are the frescoes of the temple in Bonampak (opened in 1946). Three rooms of the temple are covered with paintings depicting the preparation for the battle, the battle and the celebration after the battle. The masters used clean bright colors. Color was associated with certain symbolism. The ancient inhabitants of Mexico, noticing a red figure in the composition, knew that we're talking about about the god of the Earth Xipetotheki, thereby about the eastern sky with its meanings of sunrise, youth and spring.

Above the priests performing the ritual of sacrifice, the priest-prophets and the priests-servants of the Sun stood the high priest of the Mayak state. He was also a Master of Hierographic Writing, Chief Astrologer and Astronomer.

Inca culture.

The Inca Empire existed for a relatively short time from the beginning of the 15th century. until 1532, when the country was captured by the Spanish conquerors. The Incan writing system has not been fully deciphered. The capital was the city of Cusco, famous for its Golden Garden (perhaps the craftsmen who created it were from the Chimu people).

The architecture is simple and unadorned. Temples, dwellings, and fortresses are made of huge blocks of stone (up to 350 tons in weight) very precisely fitted to each other, but not held together with binding mortars (Sacsahuaman fortress). The houses had strong stone walls and cramped interior spaces. Most houses have no windows and are lit through doors. According to travelers' descriptions, the buildings were originally decorated with wide belts of thick gold plates. The use of precious metals not as money, but as a decorative material, was characteristic of the Incas. For example, in the Temple of the Sun in the city of Cusco, several rooms are decorated with images of the Sun, Moon, rainbow and stars made of gold, silver and precious stones. Unlike Central America, the Incas built pyramids up to 40m high. not for temples, but for burials. Trapezoidal entrances and niches are characteristic features of Inca architecture.

Stone sculpture received almost no development among the Incas.

The art of making and painting ceramics has been developed. It is conventionally divided into several periods. In the first period, the vessels depict scenes of battle, fishing, and mythological subjects. In the second period, the paintings practically disappear, but the vessels themselves turn into real sculpture. Most often, the vessels were made in the shape of a human head, sometimes conveying individual features. Later, vessels appear in the form of animals, fruits and plants.

The main food of the Incas was potatoes (including canned ones), corn, and pumpkins. The Incas grew coca, a narcotic plant. In the empire there was a clear division of the population into the elite and the bulk of the inhabitants. According to the law, the Inca (ruler of the empire) married his sister, who became his legal wife and, as a rule, the mother of the heir. In addition to his main wife, he had a harem and could live with any of the nuns of the monasteries, since he was the incarnation of the Sun God on Earth. The heir was appointed during the life of the ruler by the ritual of public hair cutting. The future heir helped his father and learned management. There were 10 age groups of the population, each of which had certain rights and responsibilities. Group 1: infants. Group 2: children under 2 years old. Group 3: children playing. Group 4: children 9-12 years old. Group 5: teenagers 12-18 years old. Group 6: 18-25 years old - serving in the army. Group 7: 25-50 years old – married and running a household. Group 8: 50-80 years old – old people. Group 9: 80 years and older - deaf old people. Group 10: patients.

There were no uprisings in the state. This social system provided security for old age. It is therefore sometimes called “Indian socialism.” There was no money in the empire, only natural exchange on the market. Gold is used as decoration. The army is well trained and equipped (clubs with stone or metal ends). There were excellent roads and a post office. The messengers ran from parking lot to parking lot for about two kilometers; as a result of the relay race, 2000 km were covered in 3 days. The Incas composed poems that were later written down by the Jesuits. The knotted quipu script is widespread, in which one can count up to 1,000,000. The nobility studied at universities for 4 years, where they studied the Quechua language, solar religion, knotted quipu script, history and military affairs. The Incas wove dense fabrics with a density of 8045 threads/cm (modern parachute fabric has a density of 6030 threads/cm). They performed operations, including craniotomy.

The last Inca was called Tupacu Omaru.

Additional information.

The oldest cultures of Peru date back to the 3rd millennium BC.

Close to Lima There was a culture at that time whose representatives did not know about the existence of metals, but erected clay and stone temples on artificial platforms. The Temple of the Crossed Hands is famous. Later, this gesture-sign is found in Colombia.

Culture Chavin, associated with the cult of the Jaguar, was widespread at the end of the 2nd - middle of the 1st millennium. BC.

Culture Nazca(mid-2nd century BC) correlates with the valleys of the Ica, Pisco and Nazca rivers. Here the “wooden Stonehenge of Peru” was found – the Escuquería sanctuary. It consists of hundreds of dried mesquite tree trunks. The center of the composition is a square formed by 12 rows of 12 columns each. Giant images found in the Nazca Desert. The Pampa de Nazca Gallery is platforms, lines, spirals, human and animal “figuras” (geoglyphs). The head of a giant bird (120m long) is directed towards the point of sunrise on the winter solstice. According to M. Stingle, the Indians buried the deceased using a triangular-shaped balloon. At sunset, the deceased was placed in a wicker basket, the balloon rose above the sea and disappeared beyond the horizon.

Culture Mochika(I-VII centuries BC) left behind the pyramids of the Sun and Moon. In Pampa Grande. The Pyramid of the Sun has a base of 342159 m. Gold products are unique. We have reached the legend of the existence of a golden garden and eyewitness accounts of a room with five thousand golden butterflies, each of which weighed less than a gram and hovered in the air with slight fluctuations in the air. The butterflies were melted by the conquerors. As a result, they received 4 kg 700 g of pure gold. Around Lake Titicaca, many chulpas have been found - funeral towers of rectangular and cylindrical shape, extended upward.

According to legend, the founder of the Chimu culture sailed to Peru from the north with his detachment on rafts. His name was Naimlan. "Hire" means "bird" or "flight". Chimu built the city of Chan-Chan with an area of ​​18 square meters. km. The city is surrounded by two rows of defensive walls and divided into 10 quarters 450300 m. In many respects, the customs that reigned in the Chimu state differed little from the customs of the 25th century. Inc. In the 1460s. Two cultures collided - the coastal Chimu culture, which worshiped the Moon, and the mountainous Inca culture, which worshiped the Sun. The victory remained for the second. Clay reliefs depicting birds, fish, lizards, foxes, and ornaments have been preserved from the Chimu culture. Since ancient times, the supreme deity in Peru has been depicted framed by a snake arch, surrounded by predators. The arch symbolized the rainbow, the Milky Way, thunder, and the sky.

Culture Olmec- one of the cultures of ancient Mexico. San Lorenzo, the capital of the Olmecs, was abandoned for unknown reasons in 900. The second capital of the “jaguar” Indians was La Venta. Huge stone heads have been found at La Venta.

Tribes Chol and Tzeltal They left in Palenque (Mexico) a famous ensemble in which the palace tower, a 4-story building, was also an observatory.

The Toltec culture is interesting. The Pyramid of the Morning Star in Tula (Tollan) has been preserved.