Traveling Back in Time to Mesoamerica
My name is Noah Johnson and I am creating a travel blog to show you the great experiences and contributions of how these civilizations helped develop our history.When I traveled back to these civilizations I had a blast learning about the government, art, people, and many more contributions that they made to history
THE OLMEC
The Olmec were originated and came about in 1200 B.C. They were located on the hot and swampy lowlands of the Gulf of Mexico in Veracruz. The Olmec people were mostly farmers and they farmed on the muddy riverbanks in the area. Their city was based around temples and religious rituals. Their capital city was the first major city in Mesoamerica called "Teotihuacán" also known as the " place of the Holy Lands". The Olmec made a couple contributions to history but the main one was their famous and urban art. In fact you can still see examples of this art in vases and in their stone carvings. They had mainly daily activities in their civilizations such as a planned ceremonial center, a sacred ball game, and a elite ruling class. The Olmec were polytheistic and practices shamanism which is the belief that every person has a spirit animal, these rituals took place in centers built by the Olmec. They were governed by kings and a religious leader which they referred to as "Tu" and the city was organized in to city states. Their economy was based of a little bit of the farming but mostly of the trading that the Olmec's did with the other city states. They traded maize, basalt, obsidian, beans, squash, fish, and more!! The fall of the Olmec's started around 400 B.C because they went into decline and because no one found the civilizations till 2000 years after the downfall no one is certain of how the Olmec's went into decline. 
THE MAYANS
The Mayans originated around 2600 B.C in the Yuctan Penisula and what is now Mexico, Guatamla, norhteren Belieze, and Hondorus. The Mayan's made many contributions to history and lived very simular to todays society. The Maya's introduced the writning system, discovered the value of zero and made a calender more accurate than the Georgian one today! The Mayan's created a hierarchial govermnt ruled by kings and preist. They lived in independent city states and large ceremonial centers. They didnt have standing army but warfare was a important role in power, religon, and prestige. The economy of the Mayan's was based of farming and trade in agriculture with other city states across central america, they traded feathers, honey, and coco. The Mayans had a traditional religon that is still in the areas of where they were today in todays Mexico, they were Roman Catholic. The Mayans made alot of beautiful art such as, carvings in wood, obsideon, bones, and shells. They also carved thrones, mosaics, painted cups, vases, and more.The Eorpeans considered the Mayns the Americans of ancient times. The fall of the Mayan's is still a mystery still to this day, one by one the classic citys were starting to be abonded by the people, some people belive its becuase the soil was gave out and the land wasnt substainable anymore. 
THE AZTEC'S
The Aztecs, who probably originated as a nomadic tribe in northern Mexico, arrived in Mesoamerica around the beginning of the 13th century. From their magnificent capital city, Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs emerged as the dominant force in central Mexico, developing an intricate social, political, religious and commercial organization that brought many of the region’s city-states under their control by the 15th century. The Aztecs made mant contributions to todays history, they had mandatory education and abolished all the unequal rights between the men and the women. The Aztecs had a king of the empire and had a monarchy which the Aztecs called the " Tlatuani". He lived in a invinsible place with his family and advisors. Sice the aztecs had a small village they depended on themsleves, farming was the maine base of income and it was managed through the chinampa method of agriculture. The Aztecs believed like many other mesoamerican religons in many gods and that ou must sacrafice to the gods to get the good stuff. They believed that it took the gods 5 tries to create the world and that a jaguar came to the world and destroyed it. Pottery was the biggest thing to the Aztecs for art, typically the desighns on the pottery to depict of pay reverence to specific Aztecs gods or tribs. The Aztecs had a horrible down fall, they had superior numbers, their weapons were inferior, and Cortes was able to immediately take Montezuma and his entourage of lords hostage, gaining control of Tenochtitla. The Spaniards then murdered thousands of Aztec nobles during a ritual dance ceremony, and Montezuma died under uncertain circumstances while in custody. Cuauhtemoc, his young nephew, took over as emperor, and the Aztecs drove the Spaniards from the city. With the help of the Aztecs’ native rivals, Cortes mounted an offensive against Tenochtitlan, finally defeating Cuauhtemoc’s resistance on August 13, 1521. 
THE INCA'S
The Inca first appeared in the Andes region during the 12th century A.D. and gradually built a massive kingdom through the military strength of their emperors. The Inca's made many contributions including, architecture, they created extensive farming areas using terraces, and thry started the Cuzco valley in the 14- 1500's. The Inca's were a monarchy also called the " Tawantisuyu" and the ruler called the "Sopa" inca which also means "Sole Ruler". They also had a queen and her name was Coya. Thier economy was based around farming just like every other civilization, but they were the first to grow potatoes, they grew inian corn, sweet potatoes, and cassava. They used llamas and alpacas to travel and transport themselves and goods to ther places where they traded. Collective labor was based on the economy productivity, by working with the "Ayllu" they created whats known today as wealth. Each Ayllu specialized in the production of certian products. The Inca's were polytheistic and most of them had commom traits such as Pachmama and Viracocha. The Inca's used art quiet alot in fact it was used in the everydaqy life of the people and it had religous meaning. The Ina pottery was a suburb standerd in particular, the quality of glazing used in the Inca pottery. Te downfall of the Inca's was that the spanish camer over to the empire and started spreading small pox and eventully killed all the people of the empire. 
