Copy - Mezo American

MezoAmerican Infographic

By David Prince B. Anacleto

Inca

Maya

Aztec

Olmec

The Inca Empire, also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire, was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The Inca civilization arose from the Peruvian highlands sometime in the early 13th century.

The Aztec were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec peoples included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to the 16th centuries.

The Olmec were the first major civilization in Mexico. They lived in the tropical lowlands on the Gulf of Mexico in the present-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. The name Olmec is a Nahuatl—the Aztec language—word; it means the rubber people.

The Maya civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization developed by the Maya peoples, and noted for its logosyllabic script—the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in pre-Columbian Americas—as well as for its art, architecture, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical system.

• c. 2700 BCE Corn is first cultivated in Mesoamerica.
• c. 1200 BCE The Olmec civilization springs from the grouping of ancient villages along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
• c. 1200 BCE San Lorenzo becomes the great ceremonial centre of the Olmec civilization.
• c. 1200 BCE - c. 400 BCE The Olmec civilization flourishes in Mesoamerica.
• c. 900 BCE The centre of San Lorenzo is detroyed and monuments are defaced. La Venta becomes the Olmec capital.
• c. 300 BCE - 400 BCE La Venta is destroyed, monuments are defaced and the Olmec civilization ends.

B.C. 11,000 The first hunter-gatherers settle in the Maya highlands and lowlands. 3114 or 3113 The creation of the world takes place, according to the Maya Long Count calendar. 2600 Maya civilization begins. 2000 The rise of the Olmec civilization, from which many aspects of Maya culture are derived. Village farming becomes established throughout Maya regions. 700 Writing is developed in Mesoamerica. 400 The earliest known solar calendars carved in stone are in use among the Maya, although the solar calendar may have been known and used by the Maya before this date. 300 The Maya adopt the idea of a hierarchical society ruled by nobles and kings. 100 The city of Teotihuacan is founded and for centuries is the cultural, religious and trading centre of Mesoamerica. 50 The Maya city of Cerros is built, with a complex of temples and ball courts. It is abandoned (for reasons unknown) a hundred years later and its people return to fishing and farming. A.D. 100 The decline of the Olmecs. 400 The Maya highlands fall under the domination of Teotihuacan, and the disintegration of Maya culture and language begins in some parts of the highlands. 500 The Maya city of Tikal becomes the first great Maya city, as citizens from Teotihuacan make their way to Tikal, introducing new ideas involving weaponry, captives, ritual practices and human sacrifice. 600 An unknown event destroys the civilization at Teotihuacan, along with the empire it supported. Tikal becomes the largest city-state in Mesoamerica, with as many as 500,000 inhabitants within the city and its hinterland. 683 The Emperor Pacal dies at the age of 80 and is buried in the Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque. 751 Long-standing Maya alliances begin to break down. Trade between Maya city-states declines, and inter-state conflict increases. 869 Construction ceases in Tikal, marking the beginning of the city's decline. 899 Tikal is abandoned. 900 The Classic Period of Maya history ends, with the collapse of the southern lowland cities. Maya cities in the northern Yucatán continue to thrive. 1200 Northern Maya cities begin to be abandoned. 1224 The city of Chichén Itzá is abandoned by the Toltecs. A people known as the Uicil-abnal, which later takes the name Itzá, settles in the desolate city. 1244 The Itzá abandon Chichén Itzá for reasons unknown. 1263 The Itzá begin building the city of Mayapán. 1283 Mayapán becomes the capital of Yucatán. 1441 There is a rebellion within Mayapán and the city is abandoned by 1461. Shortly after this, Yucatán degenerates from a single united kingdom into sixteen rival statelets, each anxious to become the most powerful. 1511 A Spaniard named Gonzalo Guerrero is shipwrecked and washed up on the eastern shore of Yucatán. He defects to the Maya, tattooing his face, piercing his ears and marrying into a Maya noble family. Guerrero later becomes an implacable foe of the Spaniards and does much to help the Maya resist Spanish rule in Yucatán. 1517 The Spanish first arrive on the shores of Yucatán under Hernandez de Cordoba, who later dies of wounds received in battle against the Maya. The arrival of the Spanish ushers in Old World diseases unknown among the Maya, including smallpox, influenza and measles. Within a century, 90 per cent of Mesoamerica's native populations will be killed off. 1519 Hernán Cortés begins exploring Yucatán. 1524 Cortés meets the Itzá people, the last of the Maya peoples to remain unconquered by the Spanish. The Spanish leave the Itzá alone until the seventeenth century. 1528 The Spanish under Francisco de Montejo begin their conquest of the northern Maya. The Maya fight back with surprising vigour, keeping the Spanish at bay for several years. 1541 The Spanish are finally able to subdue the Maya and put an end to Maya resistance. Revolt continues, however, to plague the Spaniards off and on for the rest of the century. 1542 The Spanish establish a capital city at Mérida in Yucatán. 1695 The ruins of Tikal are discovered by chance by the Spanish priest Father Avedaño and his companions, who had become lost in the jungle. 1712 The Maya of the Chiapas highlands rise against the Mexican government. They will continue to do so off and on until the 1990s. 1724 The Spanish Crown abolishes the system of encomienda, which had given Spanish land barons the right to forced Maya labour, as long as they agreed to convert the Maya to Christianity. 1821 Mexico becomes independent from Spain. In general, life becomes more tolerable for the Maya than it had been under Spanish rule. 1822 An account of Antonío del Río's late eighteenth-century explorations of Palenque is published in London. The book raises a great deal of interest in further exploration of the "lost" Maya civilization and settlements. 1839 American diplomat and lawyer John Lloyd Stephens and English topographical artist Frederick Catherwood begin a series of explorations into Maya regions, revealing the full splendour of classical Maya civilization to the world for the first time. 1847 The Yucatán Maya rise up against the Mexican government, rebelling against the miserable conditions and cruelty they have suffered at the hands of the whites. The rebellion is so successful that the Maya almost manage to take over the entire peninsula in what has become known as the War of the Castes. 1850 A miraculous "talking cross" in a village in central Quintana Roo predicts a holy war against the whites. Bolstered by arms received from the British in Belize, the Maya form into quasi-military companies inspired by messianic zeal. The fighting continues until 1901. 1860 The Yucatán Maya rebel again. 1864 Workmen digging a canal on the Caribbean coast of Guatemala discover a jade plaque inscribed with a date of A.D. 320. The plaque becomes one of the oldest known objects dated in the Maya fashion. 1880 A new tide of government intervention in Maya life begins as governments attempt to force the Maya to become labourers on cash-crop plantations. This destroys many aspects of Maya cultural traditions and agricultural methods preserved over 4,000 years. Towns which had been protected for the Maya soon become a haven for mixed-race ladinos who prey economically on the indigenous Maya and usurp all positions of social and economic power. 1910 Rampant government corruption leads to the Mexican Revolution. 1946 American photographer Giles Healey is taken to the Maya city of Bonampak by the native Lacandón who live nearby. Healey becomes the first non-Maya ever to see Bonampak's stunning wall-paintings, which reveal new details about Maya civilization. 1952 The Priest-king Pacal's tomb at Palenque is discovered and excavated by Mexican archaeologist Alberto Ruz, marking the first time a tomb has been found inside a Maya pyramid. Prior to this, Maya pyramids were believed to be temples with a purely religious or ceremonial purpose. 1962 Maya hieroglyphic signs are first catalogued. Uncontrolled looting of Maya tombs and other sites begins around this time in the southern lowlands, continuing until well into the 1970s. 1992 A Quiché Maya woman from Guatemala named Rigoberta Menchu, who has lost most of her family to the death squads and is known for speaking out against the extermination of the Maya, wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

c.1100 - 1200 The Valley of Mexico is first settled by migrating tribes (Chichimecs, Tepanecs, Mexica and Acolhua). c. 1345 - 1521 The Aztec civilization flourishes in Mesoamerica. 1345 Traditional date for the founding of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan on Lake Texcoco. 1350 - 1522 The Tarascan civilization flourishes in Mesoamerica. 1351 New Fire Ceremony celebrated by the Aztecs. 1375 - 1395 Acamapichtli reigns as leader of the Aztecs. 1396 - 1417 Huitzilihuitl reigns as leader of the Aztec Empire. 1403 New Fire Ceremony celebrated by the Aztecs. 1417 - 1426 Chimalpopoca reigns as leader of the Aztec Empire. 1418 Texcoco is temporarily conquered by Mexica and Tepanec forces. c. 1427 The Sun Stone depicting the ages of the five suns of Aztec mythology is carved and set up at Tenochtitlan. 1427 - 1440 Itzcoatl reigns as leader of the Aztec Empire. 1428 The Triple Alliance is formed between Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tlacopan. 1431 Netzahualcoyotl officially becomes tlatoani or leader of Texcoco. 1440 - 1469 Motecuhzoma I reigns as leader of the Aztec Empire. c. 1450 The Aztecs establish a garrison at Mitla in the Oaxaca Valley. 1455 New Fire Ceremony celebrated by the Aztecs. 1469 - 1481 Axayacatl reigns as leader of the Aztec Empire. c. 1473 The Coyolxauhqui Stone is carved depicting the Aztec goddess Coyolxauhqui, dismembered by the god Huitzilopochtli. 1481 - 1486 Tizoc reigns as leader of the Aztec Empire. c. 1485 The Stone of Tizoc is carved depicting the Aztec king Tizoc attacking warriors from the Matlatzinca. 1486 - 1502 Ahuitzotl reigns as leader of the Aztec Empire. 1487 The Templo Mayor is completed at Tenochtitlan and inaugurated with the sacrifice of 20,000 captives. c. 1494 Aztec leader Ahuitzotl conquers the central valleys of Oaxaca. 1502 - 1520 Motecuhzoma II reigns as leader of the Aztec Empire. 1507 New Fire Ceremony celebrated by the Aztecs. c. 1507 The Throne of Motecuhzoma II is carved. Also known as the Monument of Sacred War. Nov 1519 Motecuhzoma II receives Cortes at the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan. 1520 Cuitlahuac is briefly the successor to Motecuhzoma II as leader of the Aztec Empire. 30 Jun 1520 Death of Aztec ruler Motecuhzoma II. 1521 Texcoco provided ships and men to aide the Spanish siege of Tenochtitlan. 1521 - 1525 Cuauhtemoc reigns as leader of the Aztec Empire. 13 Aug 1521 The Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan falls into the hands of spanish forces led by Cortes.

c. 1100 CE The Inca, led by Manco Capac, migrate to the Cuzco Valley and establish their capital at Cuzco. c. 1425 CE - 1532 CE The Inca Empire flourishes in South America. c. 1425 CE Viracocha Inca begins to build the Inca empire. 1438 CE - 1471 CE Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui reigns as the leader of the Inca Empire. 1438 CE Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui defeats the Chancas to control the Cuzco Valley and further expand the Inca empire. 1438 CE Pachacunti Inca Yupanqui begins a rebuilding programme in the Inca capital of Cuzco. c. 1450 CE Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui founds Machu Picchu in the High Andes. c. 1470 CE The Incas conquer the Chimu civilization based at Chan Chan. 1471 CE - 1493 CE Reign of Inca Tupac Yupanqui who doubles the size of the Inca Empire. 1471 CE - 1493 CE The sacred site of Pachacamac is taken over by the Incas. 1493 CE - 1526 CE Huayna Capac reigns as Inca leader and constructs fortresses, religious temples and roads throughout the empire. c. 1510 CE The Inca abandon the settlement of Machu Picchu. 1526 CE - 1532 CE Civil war between the Inca leaders Waskar and Atahualpa. Atahualpa wins. 1530 CE The Inca empire reaches its greatest extent. 1532 CE Pizarro and the Spanish conquistadors arrive in South America. 1532 CE - 1533 CE Reign of Inca ruler Atahualpa. 16 Nov 1532 CE Battle of Cajamarca where the Inca leader Atahualpa is captured and held for ransom by Spanish forces led by Pizarro. 26 Jul 1533 CE The Inca leader Atahualpa is executed. Nov 1533 CE Pizarro takes the Inca capital of Cuzco. 1535 CE Pizarro founds Lima as the capital of Spanish Peru.