History of Mexico

Описание

The written history of Mexico spans more than three millennia. First populated more than 13,000 years ago, central and southern Mexico saw the rise and fall of complex indigenous civilizations. Mexico would later develop into a unique multicultural society. Mesoamerican civilizations developed glyphic writing systems, recording the political history of conquests and rulers. Mesoamerican history prior to European arrivial is variously called the prehispanic era and the pre-Columbian era. Following Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821, as well as the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, Mexico's economy grew rapidly.
Before European arrival
Large and complex civilizations developed in the center and southern regions of Mexico in what has come to be known as Mesoamerica. The civilizations that rose and declined over millennia were characterized by:

significant urban settlements;
monumental architecture such as temples, palaces, and other monumental architecture, such as the ball court;
the division of society into religious, political, and political elites and commoners who pursued subsistence agriculture;
transfer of tribute and rending of labor from commoners to elites;
reliance on agriculture often supplemented by hunting and fishing and the complete absence of a pastoral economy, since there were no domesticated herd animals prior to the arrival of the Europeans;
trade networks and markets.
These civilizations arose in a region with no major navigable rivers, no beasts of burden, and difficult terrain impeded the movement of people and goods. Indigenous civilizations developed complex ritual and solar calendars, a significant understanding of astronomy, and forms of communication written in glyphs.

The history of Mexico before the Spanish conquest is known through the work of archaeologists, epigraphers, and ethnohistorians , who analyze Mesoamerican indigenous manuscripts, particularly Aztec codices, Mayan codices, and Mixtec codices.