10 Mesoamerican culture

State and society in Mesoamerica

Civilization

The term “civilization” refers to complex social organizations that are characterized by the urban way of life, technological development, the social division of labor, the commercialization of material surpluses.

State

Due to the development of agriculture, new complex social and political structures emerged.

• In the "chiefdom", an elite began to stand out and is the owner of certain knowledge, at the same time that it takes control of the productive forces; a clear distinction is made between the dominant lineage and the rest of the population.
• The "state" can be considered as a higher phase of chiefdom. In it, the difference between the caciques (the chiefs) and the people is institutionalized.

The way it ruled of the goverment

The State will be in charge of organizing society and work, justice, religious worship, education as well as the geographical organization of the population. >The exercise of a centralized power by a ruler who inherited political, economic, social and cultural power. >The exercise of a centralized power by the priests, also known as a theocracy. >The exercise of a collective power generally characterized by a council of various individuals or communities.

Society

In general terms, three main social groups are distinguished in Mesoamerican civilizations: the ruling class, the nobles and the common people. Within some societies merchants and artisans stand out as a distinctive social class. Ordinary people lived in neighborhoods or towns where there was no internal social differentiation.

Society

Mexica

Maya

Cacique

Ahaw

Religious

Religious

Soldiers, nobles

Soldiers, nobles

Artisans, merchants

Artisans, merchants

Slaves

Farmers

Economy

• The economy of the Mesoamerican peoples was based mainly on human work, as they did not have machines or pack animals.
• The ownership and cultivation of the land were mainly communal. The main sources of subsistence were agriculture, hunting and gathering, fishing, trade and tribute.

Economy

Tribute

Trade

An important source of income in complex Mesoamerican societies is the tribute that implied the delivery of human resources (work) and materials (crops, merchandise, etc.) to the ruling groups.

At the stage of 200-900 AD cocoa, blankets and gold acquire the function of means of exchange (“currency”) and the evidence of exchange increases greatly. Important were obsidian and flint to make tools and weapons, green stone to carve ornamental objects, cinnabar to paint, pyrite to carve mirrors, shells, snails to make trumpets and tortoise shells used as percussion instruments, basalt metates, tools for chalcedony and flint, animal skins and the precious feathers of exotic birds.

The Agriculture

Subsistence in pre-Hispanic times was based mainly on agriculture, four plants dominated in Mesoamerican agriculture: corn, beans, squash and chili. To a lesser extent, avocado, amaranth, mushroom and agave stood out.

The worldview in Mesoamerica

Cosmogony: It is an articulated set of ideas, images and representations built by man to interpret and explain the origin of the universe and reality, but also to locate and act within it.

The worldview in Mesoamerica

Also, cosmogony has to do with founding myths and the origin and the creation of the gods and cosmos, and how the world came into existence. Cosmogony as a religious framework for understanding the world and the universe necessitates specific types of interactions and rituals with the divinities. This includes: rituals, with particular emphasis on death and sacrifices in the Aztec civilization; and monuments, with particular emphasis on the pyramids in the ancient Egyptian civilization

The worldview in Mesoamerica