Characteristics Of The Olmec Civilizations

The Mayan, Aztec, and Inca civilizations brought major accomplishments to the world today. These accomplishments established them as advanced societies during their time without the influence of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Some of these accomplishments ranged from agriculture to architecture and on to writing and trade. Such as, the Mayans with their agriculture system of chinampas and there monumental temple/pyramids, the Aztecs with their trading in the city of Tenochtitlan, and the Incas with their road and bridge system connecting the whole empire.

Misra (2017) suggests that the Olmec culture of Mesoamerica heavily practiced yoga from Hindu-Buddhist culture, and were originally migrants from China - specifically, from the Shang and Xia dynasties. Evidence is drawn from Misra’s interpretations of various Olmec artwork (including statues and figurines) as depictions of yogic asanas, and as influenced by Hindu-Buddhist religion as well as Chinese-style sculptures. These theories are based on the sudden appearance of the Olmec culture in Mesoamerica, therefore the Olmecs were migrants from China who were influenced by Hindu practices.

A very long time ago, there were many ancient civilizations, three of them were called the Olmecs, Aztecs and Mayans. These were ancient civilizations that, throughout history, had many accomplishments. Focusing in on some of these achievements, a lot of the advancements made by these civilizations were in religion, economy, and technology.

The Mayan, Aztec and Incan civilizations each contributed major accomplishments to the world today. These accomplishments established them as advanced societies during their time. The Incans built a large road system, devised a complex irrigation system and developed their own language. The Mayans constructed the largest structure known until modern times, made drastic accomplishments in mathematics, studied astronomy and formed a calendar. The Aztecs built well-organized cities and developed a writing system based on pictures.

In history we the people have found to realize that the Maya, Aztec, and Inca culture was one of the most incredible findings of their accomplishments. The Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations were really smart in topics of engineering, writing, agriculture and astronomy. Also all three had their beliefs, and good with agriculture. All three cultures used great technologies in their agriculture like slash and burn, terrace farming. They all hunted for religion, they had a huge belief with the people spread throughout each region. They all had a lot of interest in the use of chocolate in the region, and cultivation. They all were pretty much the same just different beliefs.

The Olmecs were farmers, traders, artists… innovators. The Olmec culture first emerged in the Isthmus region of Tehuantepec. The site of San Lorenzo, which sits on the Coatzacoalcos River, sheds the most light on this mysterious culture. During this time period, The Initail Formative, food surplus sparked an increase in population and career specialization. With the increase of specialization and sedentism came the environment for complex culture.

The Olmec’s lived along muddy riverbanks and the Gulf of Mexico around 1500 B.C. Rigorous agricultural practices characterized the Olmec civilization, enabling them to provide food and resources for their families and generate income by selling their food to others around them. They also used the land to their advantage, using the mud to create elaborate earthen pyramids. Along with the cultivation of land, trade contributed to the success of the Olmec’s. They had many widespread trade routes extending into the surrounding areas. Their trade routes further helped to expand agriculture and grow the economy within this society due to the selling of agricultural products along these routes. To grow spiritually, the Olmec’s created religious rituals and a system of hieroglyphics that allowed the peoples to communicate effectively while also uniting the Olmec people as a whole. The Olmec’s’ use of their surrounding geography, combined with the economic growth brought about from extended trade routes and the societal unity brought about from the implementation of religious rituals allowed the Olmec’s to thrive during their time.

The ancient Maya once occupied a vast geographic area in Central America. Their civilization inhabited an area that encompasses Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and parts of the states of Chiapas and Tabasco, as well as Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. "From the third to the ninth century, Maya civilization produced awe-inspiring temples and pyramids, highly accurate calendars, mathematics and hieroglyphics, and a complex social and political order" ("Collapse..." 1). Urban centers were important to the Maya during the Classic period; they offered the Mayans a central place to practice religion.

                The Olmec culture is found through Mexico City. The spread of their religion influenced a lot of what their art that was found. Symbolic traditions, as well as artistic and architectural complexes. Were found Chiapas were the civilizations was formed around 1500 BCE. During this period the first true Mesoamerican writing and language were developed right after the Mayan civilization was formed the Olmec had a huge influence in them. Writing they had a lot of adventures epic poems about the gods that were from religion that were the explanation of the nature they saw, the stars they saw. All the natural situation that happened they wrote it down creating poem influenced by their religion there's different kinds of gods.

To put the obvious aside, one way the Maya and Aztec civilizations are different lies in the political environment of both civilizations; the civilization of the Maya consisted of city-states ruled by an individual leader who was usually male, while the Aztec civilization were city-states and conquered territories ruled by one leader. However, it is within this difference that a similarity between the two lies. While the political environments of both civilizations are indeed different, there is a similar element contained within the two. Both the Maya and the Aztec were influenced by the Olmec civilization through trade-this includes not only artistically and religiously, but also politically; in the pyramid temples of the Olmec, special ball courts for a game involving a rubber ball and great skill were used for religious and political reasons, these ball courts, or at least ones similar to that of the Olmec, were also found in the pyramid temples of the Maya and the Aztec and are believed to have been used for similar purposes.

The ancient Mayan civilization settled in the Yucatan Peninsula in around 900 AD. This civilizations was one of the most advanced of its times. They created their own religion, language, mathematical structure, a very precise calendar, and many other things.

1.Early American civilization - Incas in Peru, Mayans in Central America, and Aztecs in Mexico shapped sophisticated civilizations. Cultivation of Maize

The Olmec are believed to be the first great Mesoamerican civilization. The city known as San Lorenzo existed around 1200BC and declined in 400 B.C. It is considered to be the first major city in ancient Mexico.

Many decades ago, northern Central America and southern Mexico cultures developed complex political and social ranks. Researchers today know this region as Mesoamerica, known for its rich soil, abundant amount of rainfall, and agriculture. (Judge & Langdon, 2012) The Mesoamericans, Aztec and Mayan tribes, developed into complex civilizations for multiple reasons. These societies were advanced and complex for their time in areas, such as architecture, agriculture, militarism, and education. Each had unique religion and political systems as well. The rise and fall of both were due to several factors.

Throughout the three civilizations, various methods of dealing with crops were introduced in attempts of increasing yield and production. The Olmecs developed irrigation, which made agriculture an important element of Mesoamerican life as it brought surpluses that led to population growth and civilization expansion. Alongside irrigation is the extensive planting and harvesting of crops like beans, squash, and especially maize that became the basis and stable crops of the community. The Mayans continued the agricultural success of the preceding people by draining swamps and erecting platforms for farming. These two practices greatly expanded the amount of land agriculture could take place in a geography without vast fertile lands, further leading to population boost and empire building in addition to the long-lasting practice of irrigation. With with the aid of innovations made into reality by the two previous groups of people, the Aztecs kept the tradition of constant improvement to current conditions. Building up on the Mayan efforts of draining swamps, the Aztecs developed Chinampas. These aquatic water beds that acted as floating islands extended the existing use of irrigation on the rich aquatic environment of the capital, Tenochtitlan. With these multiple examples and instances of agricultural advancements that continued and improved on the products and practices of previous civilizations, changes still coexist in the middle as the use of calendar differed from one civilization to the next despite sharing a root of calendar