4 stages of development

• Pre- Columbian Period

• Spanish Colonial Period

• Independence and Nationalism

• Anglo Period
Bering Strait Theory claims native Americans came
from Asia
 Archaic period – 7000 bce – 2000 bce

• Domestication of plants by women

• Domestication of small animals

The Trinity
Amongst the foods that came from Mexico
Six Early Civilizations
Pre Classic Period (2000 bce – 200 ce)
• Olmec refers to an archeological culture that flourished in the tropical lowlands of
present-day Veracruz and Tabasco between 1800-400 BC.

• We do not know what they called themselves, but Olmec came into use to refer to a
number of isolated objects that came to light in the nineteenth and early twentieth
century.

• The word itself drives from Olman, which the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs of the
fifteenth century used to refer to the rubber producing area of Veracruz and
Tabasco.

• The “People of Olman” is a term that has come into current usage.

• There is no scientific proof that the Olmec civilization emerged from some far-flung
places like Asia or Africa. Rather it was the Archaic period milieu of the northern
Isthmus of Tehuantepec that gave birth to the Olmec.

• They lacked a fully developed writing system.

• They spoke a language in the Mije-Zoque family.

La Venta
Jaguar
The Prince
The Wrestler
Quetzalcoatl ?
Colossal Heads represents Emperors
Head 1 “The King”
Olmecs means people from
the land or rubber
First writing in the Americas came from the
Zapotecs
1st Calendar in the Americas came from the
Zapotecs
Monte Alban
Ball Court
Astronomical Observatory
Teotihuacan
Pyramid of the Sun is the 3rd largest in the
world
Pyramid of the Moon
Maya excelled in Astronomy
Madrid Codex
Chichen Itza
Mayas invented the concept an use of Zero
Mayas invented one of the most accurate calendars
Temple of the Feathered Serpent
Post Classic Period
Tula (Tollan)
Atlantes Warrior Statues
Mixcoatl and Chimalma
Quetzalcoatl Toltec Emperor
Departure of Quetzalcoatl
San Jose statue of Quetzalcoatl
The Mixtec
Mixtec known for their mosaics
Monte Alban
Codex Borgia
Aztlan - “place of the white heron” possible
homeland of Aztecs
Chicomoztoc
Codice Boturini
Codex Mendoza
Discovery of Mexico-Tenochtitlan
1325 by Aztecs
Chinampas
Mexico –Tenochtitlan in 1519 when Spaniards
invade
 Role of the Women

• Gender system combined:

• Gender parallelism- different but parallel and equivalent roles

• Gender Hierarchy
• Rooted in Kinship structure
• Men and Women genealogically and structurally equivalent
• Women inherited property from mother and father
• Older son acted as guardian of property for siblings
 Role of Women

• Religious:

• Male and female deities were equally

important

• Both men and women had access to priestly

roles: however, men’s were for life and they
held the highest position
 Social
• Since women owned property and derived an income from
their productive activities outside the household (through
spinning, weaving, healing and embroidering, etc.) they
maintained a measure of independence.

• Marketplace:

• Peddled their goods in the marketplace

• Shared the position of marketplace administrator with men.
• Supervised prices
• Assigned tributes
• Prepared war provisions