Ancient Mesoamerica

3 units

Mesoamerica encompasses the Pre-Columbian complex societies of Mexico and upper Central America, including Guatemala, Belize, and parts of Honduras and El Salvador. It was an agrarian world of great and enduring cities, far-flung trade networks, transcendent religions, kingdoms and empires. This survey lecture course begins with the pioneering hunters and gatherers, reviews the establishment of farming communities and the first Olmec Formative states, the flowering of highland Mexican Classic Period Teotihuacan and other great cities like Tajin in Veracruz, the dynasties of the lowland Maya and summarizes with the Aztec Empire and the period of the Spanish Conquest. The course touches on the many and diverse other cultures that contributed to this vibrant world.