OLMECS 2000bc-100ad http://www.crystalinks.com/olmec.html

Preclassic Era 2000bc to 100ad, sedentary, fired-ceramic, agricultural fertility, cohesive social structure, prince & social contract; Major Sites: San Lorenzo, La Venta, Tres Zapotes, Remojadas, Laguna del los Cerros; Cultural attributes: Parent culture, Infantile/jaguar motifs and huge colossal heads; Decline: agricultural base could not keep pace with demographic explosion, aggressive northern tribes may have invaded and destroyed the sedentary Olmecs, or possible internal rebellion within Olmec culture.

TEOTIHUACAN 200ad to 700ad http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CIVAMRCA/TEO.HTM

Classical Era: 200ad to 700ad, Centralized state, Planned urban center Stratified Society; Cultural attributes: Concentric/grid planning, natural springs/caves, "defensive posture" Quetzalcoatl, astrological relations , foreign sectors; Decline: agricultural base to weak, invasion from the northern tribes, possible internal rebellion

TOLTECS 600-900ad http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CIVAMRCA/TOLTECS.HTM

Postclassical Era: 600ad to 900ad, City-states: Culhuacn &Tula

Cultural Attributes: Chichimec Tribes, Military state, Human sacrifice, Mixcoalt, Tolpiltzin- Quetzalcoatl, Conquered-state syndrome; Decline: agricultural base to weak, invasion from the northern tribes, possible internal rebellion.

MEXICA 1000-1521ad http://www.azteca.net/aztec/mexica.html

http://www.crystalinks.com/aztecs.html

Postclassical Era: 1000ad to 1521ad, Same general characteristic as the Toltecs; Mexica enter the Lake World: Last Chichimec Tribe,Mercenaries, Culhua-Mexica, Huitzilipochtli, Tenoch, Tenochtitlan: World View:Coatlicue vs. Coyalxauhqui, fatalistic/pessimistic/transitory, Present-oriented, cyclical, Human sacrifice secured eternal salvation.

THE SPANISH CONQUEST 1519-1521 http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/aztecs1.html

The players: Cortez, Malintzin, Moctezuma, Cuahutemoc, Alvarado; Centralism; Moctezuma's "mysticism"; Military superiority, Diseases, Legend of Topiltzin/Quetzalcoatl, Centralism,

RETROSPECTIVE ON THE CONQUEST (MAS 141/142 Only) How should we view the conquest of Mexico?

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