BRUCE

ROBINS
ON

MESOAMERICA TIMELINE

1500 BC
The Maya are believed to have lived in the same region from about
1500 BC to the present day - America's longest example of continuity.

1200 BC
San Lorenzo develops as the first centre of America's earliest
civilization, that of the Olmecs

1000 BC
Massive stone heads carved by the Olmecs provide a dramatic beginning
to the story of American sculpture.
The Olmecs raise large clay platforms, probably with temples at the top,
beginning the long American tradition of sacred pyramids.

900 BC
La Venta replaces San Lorenzo as the capital city and cultural centre of
the Olmecs.

400 BC
The Zapotecs create a great city at Monte Alban, continuing the Olmec
culture

150 BC
The earliest inscriptions in an American script are those of the Zapotecs,
from about this period

50 BC
The Maya independently develop the concept of place value in numbers,
previously pioneered in Babylon
Maya introduce a calendar which has a cycle of fifty-two years, known
as the Calendar Round

100 AD
Teotihuacan, the dominant city in the northern highlands of central
America, introduces the god Quetzalcoatl

500 AD
The temple city of Tikal is one of many Mayan city states of the Classic
period

950 AD
Toltecs move into the valley of Mexico from the north and establish a
capital city at Tula
960 AD
A fair-skinned and bearded king, by the name of Quetzalcoatl, is exiled
from Tula but says that he will be back in a 'One Reed' year

987 AD
The Mayan city of Chichn Itz is captured by the Toltecs

1150 AD
The Aztecs begin to move south from their original home, which they
call Aztlan, somewhere in northern Mexico

1200 AD-1400 AD
The Inca tribe, led by Manco Capac, founded the city of Cuzco in the
Cuzco Valley region.
The Aztecs settle on an uninhabited island in a lake, which they name
Tenochtitlan the site of the modern Mexico City

The Inca live in and around the city-state of Cuzco. During this period of
time they do not try to expand their area of control.

1434 AD
The rulers of Tenochtitlan join with two other neighbouring kingdoms to
form the Aztec Triple Alliance
The rulers of Tenochtitlan join with two other neighboring kingdoms to
form the Aztec Triple Alliance

1471 AD
Tupac Inca Yupanqui, Pachacuti's son, becomes emperor. He will greatly
expand the Inca Empire.

1476 AD
Emperor Tupac defeats the Chuma Empire and their lands become part
of the Inca Empire.

1487 AD
When the enlarged pyramid at Tenochtitlan is dedicated to
Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec sacrifice of human victims lasts for four days

1493 AD
Huayna Capac, Tupac's son, becomes emperor. The Inca Empire will
reach its peak under the reign of Huayna Capac.

1519 AD
The Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes lands on the coast of Mexico
with 600 men, 16 horses and about 20 guns
Cortes and his tiny force capture Montezuma, ruler of the mighty Aztec
empire, in his palace at Tenochtitlan

1520 AD
Cortes loses control of Tenochtitlan and has to escape in haste with his
men during 'the Sorrowful Night'

1521 AD
After a little more than a year Cortes recaptures Tenochtitlan and finally
establishes Spanish control over Mexico.

1521 AD
Emperor Huayna Capac dies from a plague. This was likely smallpox
brought by the Spanish conquistadors. A large portion of the Inca
population will die from smallpox and other diseases over the next
several years.

1572 AD
The Spanish execute the last of the Inca emperors, Tupac Amaru,
signaling the end of the Inca Empire.

MAYAN
The Maya had no central king ruling their huge empire. Instead,

there were as many as 20 separate areas

At a very young age boards were pressed on babies foreheads to
create a flattened surface. This process was widespread among the
upper class.
Cross babies eyes. To do this, objects were dangled in front of a
newborns eyes, until the newborns eyes were permanently
crossed

This is how they flattened babys foreheads.

ZAPOTEC
The Zapotecs, known as the 'Cloud People
At its peak, the total population of Monte Albn was somewhere
around 30,000.

At Monte Albn an entire hilltop has been flattened to be

converted into a huge marketplace. Known as the 'Great Plaza', the

area is surrounded by a number of public buildings, temples, and
an enormous stadium, most probably used to play their ball game
which was quite popular among the people.

This is their capital Monte Alban

that was partially destroyed.

OLMEC
The Olmec villages were organized, with a market square in the
center where trade and business could take place. They worshipped

a variety of gods and deities. Their chief god was believed to be a

being with a human body and a jaguar face.
The earliest Olmec writing began with glyphs representing
calendrical events, and eventually evolved into logographs, line
drawings for single ideas. The earliest proto-glyph so far is an
Early Formative greenstone carving of a footprint from El Manati.
The Olmecs built huge religious stone emblems of their gods and
rulers. Some of these emblems were more than nine feet tall, and
weighed more than 40 tons. These massive figures were
transported miles across the terrain without the use of wheels or
the aid of animals.

Aztecs

We all know the Aztecs by that name, but it was not actually a
name that they ever called themselves. The Westerners who came
up with the name Aztecs likely took it from one of the original
places that the Aztecs lived around the twelve century, called
Aztlan, which was in the Northern part of Mexico. However, the
Aztecs themselves actually referred to themselves as Mexica,
which is actually where the name for the country of Mexico

originally came from.

It was not at all uncommon in Aztec society for someone who was

poor to sell their own children into slavery.

Their deceased were usually buried right under their house
This is Aztec gold that had their symbols on them and was used as
we use coins today.

INCA

The Incas created a highway and road system in Peru with over
18,000 miles of roads.

The Incas had a type of postal system where relay messengers ran
across rope bridges to deliver communications to the next team.
Messengers lived in pairs, with one person sleeping and the other on
alert for messages.

The Incas performed successful skull surgeries.

The Famous lost city of Machu Picchu was an important Incan city in the mountains of Peru.