the Mesoamerica Portal 
_trim.png){kind=small}
Mesoamerica (Spanish: Mesoamérica) is a region and cultural area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries.
As a cultural area, Mesoamerica is defined by a mosaic of cultural traits developed and shared by its indigenous cultures. Beginning as early as 7000 BC the domestication of maize, beans, squash and chili, as well as the turkey and dog, caused a transition from paleo-Indian hunter-gatherer tribal grouping to the organization of sedentary agricultural villages. In the subsequent formative period, agriculture and cultural traits such as a complex mythological and religious tradition, a vigesimal numeric system, and a complex calendric system, a tradition of ball playing, and a distinct architectural style, were diffused through the area. Also in this period villages began to become socially stratified and develop into chiefdoms with the development of large ceremonial centers, interconnected by a network of trade routes for the exchange of luxury goods such as obsidian, jade, cacao, cinnabar, Spondylus shells, hematite, and ceramics. While Mesoamerican civilization did know of the wheel and basic metallurgy, neither of these technologies became culturally important.
Among the earliest complex civilizations was the Olmec culture which inhabited the Gulf coast of Mexico. In the Preclassic period, complex urban polities began to develop among the Maya and the Zapotecs. During this period the first true Mesoamerican writing systems were developed in the Epi-Olmec and the Zapotec cultures, and the Mesoamerican writing tradition reached its height in the Classic Maya Hieroglyphic script. Mesoamerica is one of only five regions of the world where writing was independently developed. In Central Mexico, the height of the Classic period saw the ascendancy of the city of Teotihuacan, which formed a military and commercial empire whose political influence stretched south into the Maya area and northward. During the Epi-Classic period the Nahua peoples began moving south into Mesoamerica from the North. During the early post-Classic period Central Mexico was dominated by the Toltec culture, Oaxaca by the Mixtec, and the lowland Maya area had important centers at Chichén Itzá and Mayapán. Towards the end of the post-Classic period the Aztecs of Central Mexico built a tributary empire covering most of central Mesoamerica.
Selected article
Mexican feather work, also called "plumería", was an important artistic and decorative technique in the pre-Hispanic and colonial periods in what is now Mexico. Although feathers have been prized and feather works created in other parts of the world, those done by the "amanteca" impressed Spanish conquerors, leading to a creative exchange with Europe. Feather pieces took on European motifs in Mexico. Feathers and feather works became prized in Europe. The "golden age" for this technique as an art form was from just before the Spanish conquest to about a century afterwards. At the beginning of the 17th century, it began a decline due to the death of the old masters, the disappearance of the birds that provide fine feathers and the depreciation of indigenous handiwork. Feather work, especially the creation of "mosaics" or "paintings" principally of religious images remained noted by Europeans until the 19th century, but by the 20th century, the little that remained has become a handcraft, despite efforts to revive it. Today, the most common feather objects are those made for traditional dance costumes although mosaics are made in the state of Michoacán, and feather trimmed huipils are made in the state of Chiapas.
Selected biography
Benjamin Lee Whorf (April 24, 1897 – July 26, 1941) was an American linguist and fire prevention engineer. Whorf is widely known as an advocate for the idea that because of linguistic differences in grammar and usage, speakers of different languages conceptualize and experience the world differently. This principle has frequently been called the "Sapir–Whorf hypothesis", after him and his mentor Edward Sapir, but Whorf called it the principle of linguistic relativity, because he saw the idea as having implications similar to Einstein's principle of physical relativity.
Throughout his life Whorf was a chemical engineer by profession, but as a young man he took up an interest in linguistics. At first this interest drew him to the study of Biblical Hebrew, but he quickly went on to study the indigenous languages of Mesoamerica on his own. Professional scholars were impressed by his work and in 1930 he received a grant to study the Nahuatl language in Mexico; on his return home he presented several influential papers on the language at linguistic conferences. This led him to begin studying linguistics with Edward Sapir at Yale University while still maintaining his day job at the Hartford Fire Insurance Company. During his time at Yale he worked on the description of the Hopi language, and the historical linguistics of the Uto-Aztecan languages, publishing many influential papers in professional journals. He was chosen as the substitute for Sapir during his medical leave in 1938. Whorf taught his seminar on "Problems of American Indian Linguistics". In addition to his well known work on linguistic relativity, he wrote a grammar sketch of Hopi and studies of Nahuatl dialects, proposed a deciphering of Maya hieroglyphic writing, and published the first attempt towards a reconstruction of Uto-Aztecan.
Did you know?
- ... that the innovative design of the pre-Columbian twin pyramid of Tenayuca (pictured) in Mexico was later used as a model for the temples of the Aztecs?
Subcategories
Related portals
Selected image
 |
Frederick Catherwood and John Lloyd Stephens made a brief visit to the ruins of Q'umarkaj in 1840. While there, Catherwood produced a drawing of the Temple of Tohil
Featured articles
Good Topics
Good articles
Gómez de Alvarado- Aztecs
- La Blanca, Peten
- Calakmul
- Bartolomé de las Casas
- Copán
- El Chal
- Haʼ Kʼin Xook
- History of chocolate
- Itzam Kʼan Ahk II
- Iximche
- Kʼinich Yat Ahk II
- Kʼinich Yoʼnal Ahk I
- Macuahuitl
- Maize
- Manche Chʼol
- Mixco Viejo
- Motul de San José
- Mundo Perdido, Tikal
- North Acropolis, Tikal
- Potbelly sculpture
- William H. Prescott
- Qʼumarkaj
- Resplendent quetzal
- Seibal
- Serpent labret with articulated tongue
- Spanish conquest of Yucatán
- Spanish conquest of Chiapas
- Spanish conquest of El Salvador
- Spanish conquest of Honduras
- Spanish conquest of the Maya
- Tikal
- Toniná
- Western Mexico shaft tomb tradition
- Benjamin Lee Whorf
- Yoʼnal Ahk III
- Zaculeu
Topics
WikiProjects
Things to do
 |
Here are some tasks awaiting attention:
|
New articles
Rules | Match log | Results page (for watching) | Last updated: 2025-01-24 22:21 (UTC)
Note: The list display can now be customized by each user. See List display personalization for details.
- Calzada de Tlalpan (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Moscow Mule (talk · contribs · new pages (133)) started on 2025-01-24, score: 32
- Estadio Azteca light rail station (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by SleepTrain456 (talk · contribs · new pages (17)) started on 2025-01-22, score: 28
- José María Gran Cirera (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Oliwiasocz (talk · contribs · new pages (26)) started on 2025-01-16, score: 24
- Xalapa Museum of Anthropology (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Staticshakedown (talk · contribs · new pages (5)) started on 2025-01-13, score: 60
- Curicaueri (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by BuySomeApples (talk · contribs · new pages (18)) started on 2025-01-11, score: 62
- Anthurium salvinii (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by Treeenthusiast (talk · contribs · new pages (9)) started on 2025-01-09, score: 40
- Juan Suárez de Peralta (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs | tools) by RangersRus (talk · contribs · new pages (14)) started on 2025-01-10, score: 86
Associated Wikimedia
The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:
-
Commons
Free media repository -
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals -
Wikidata
Free knowledge base -
Wikinews
Free-content news -
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations -
Wikisource
Free-content library -
Wikiversity
Free learning tools -
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus
