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The Aztec people of Mexico have often been portrayed as a war-loving people, notable for their practice of human sacrifice. The Aztecs, however, also possessed a complex, multilayered society with a sophisticated economy and history steeped in rich mythology
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Originally a tribal band of nomads known as the Mexica, the ancestors of the Aztec probably lived in the northernmost region of present-day Mexico. Scholars have not been able to pinpoint exactly where they came from, but the Aztecs described their homeland as a place called Aztlán, which may have been purely mythical. Sometime during the 12th century CE, the Mexica began moving southward toward present-day Mexico City.
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By the late 1400s, expansion of the empire and tribute from conquered states combined with local productivity to bring great prosperity to the Aztecs. The vast territory to be administered called for a large bureaucracy, and the development of urban Tenochtitlán caused Aztec society to develop multiple classes
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Aztecs believed intensely that everyone must follow the path of their divinely appointed role in order to maintain order in the universe. There was, however, some limited opportunity to move up in the world. Religious schools for the training of priests and government administrators were open to children of nobles, craftsmen, the pochteca, and in some cases, even to commoners. Commoners could also be promoted as a result of military deeds and by capturing prisoners.
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The history of human occupation in the Maya area stretches back at least 12,000 years, as shown by the scattered remains of hunting camps. A culture based on hunting and gathering lasted for millennia, but evidence suggests that by about 2000 BCE there were farming villages in some parts of the Maya area and that by 1000 BCE, most of the Maya region was inhabited by village agriculturalists.
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Religion was an important part of Maya life. The rulers and a class of priests practiced a variety of religious rituals, including bloodletting and human sacrifice. The Maya religion was a complex set of myths and beliefs featuring many different gods drawn from nature.
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Maya civilization was not organized under one unified empire but rather was a set of separate political and social entities with a common cultural background.
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The weapons of the Maya were similar to those of the Aztecs and Inca. The sling (yuntun) was the primary long-range weapon until the ninth century CE, when under the influence of the Mexican Toltecs the bow (chulul) and arrow (halal) was introduced.
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During the period from about 800 to 925, the Maya abandoned the great cities of the central Maya area
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The origin myths of the Inca say their ancestors were four sons and daughters of the sun god Inti. Inti sent them forth with a golden staff that identified their promised land, Cuzco. The tale tells how they drove out the people who were then living in the Andes Mountains and claimed the land as their own. The leader of those founders was Manco Capac, who is named as the first king of the Inca.
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The Inca did not use a written language, so accounts of Incan history are based on oral histories passed down by the Inca and then recorded by Spaniards after the Spanish conquest.
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The origin myths of the Inca say their ancestors were four sons and daughters of the sun god Inti. Inti sent them forth with a golden staff that identified their promised land, Cuzco.
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The eighth ruler, Viracocha Inca, began building what would eventually become the Inca Empire. He conquered several of the surrounding tribes and put them under his direct imperial rule.
