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El Tajín
El Tajín is a pre-Columbian archeological site in southern Mexico and is one of the largest and most important cities of the Mesoamerican chronology, Classic era of Mesoamerica. A part of the Classic Veracruz culture, El Tajín flourished from 600 to 1200 CE and during this time numerous temples, palaces, Mesoamerican ballcourt, ballcourts, and pyramids were built. From the time the city fell, in 1230, to 1785, no European seems to have known of its existence, until a government inspector chanced upon the Pyramid of the Niches. El Tajín, named after the Totonac rain god, was named a World Heritage site in 1992, due to its cultural importance and its architecture. This architecture includes the use of decorative niches and cement in forms unknown in the rest of Mesoamerica. Its best-known monument is the Pyramid of the Niches, but other important monuments include the Arroyo Group, the North and South Ballcourts and the palaces of Tajín Chico. In total there have been 20 ball ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. Within this region pre-Columbian societies flourished for more than 3,000 years before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Mesoamerica was the site of two of the most profound historical transformations in world history: primary urban generation, and the formation of New World cultures out of the long encounters among indigenous, European, African and Asian cultures. In the 16th century, Eurasian diseases such as smallpox and measles, which were endemic among the colonists but new to North America, caused the deaths of upwards of 90% of the indigenous people, resulting in great losses to their societies and cultures. Mesoamerica is one of the five areas in the world where ancient civilization arose independently (see cradle of civ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Totonac
The Totonac are an indigenous people of Mexico who reside in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo. They are one of the possible builders of the pre-Columbian city of El Tajín, and further maintained quarters in Teotihuacán (a city which they claim to have built). Until the mid-19th century they were the world's main producers of vanilla. Etymology The term "totonac" refers to the people living in Totonacapan. There is no agreement as to the origin of the term. Some authors have translated the term "totonac" as a Nahuatl word meaning "People of Hot Land". The translation for this word in the Totonac Language, according to sources, is "toto-nacu" meaning "three hearts" signifying their three cities or cultural centers: Cempoala, Tajin and Teayo. Evidence, however, is inconclusive. Geography and traditional lifestyle In the 15th century, the Aztecs labeled the region of the Totonac "Totonacapan"; which then extended roughly from Papantla in the north to Cempoala i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pulque
Pulque (; nci, metoctli), or octli, is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented sap of the maguey (agave) plant. It is traditional in central Mexico, where it has been produced for millennia. It has the color of milk, a rather viscous consistency and a sour yeast-like taste. The drink's history extends far back into the Mesoamerican period, when it was considered sacred, and its use was limited to certain classes of people. After the Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire, the drink became secular and its consumption rose. The consumption of pulque reached its peak in the late 19th century. In the 20th century, the drink fell into decline, mostly because of competition from beer, which became more prevalent with the arrival of European immigrants. There are some efforts to revive the drink's popularity through tourism. Similar drinks exist elsewhere in Latin America, such as ''guarango'' in Ecuador (see miske). Description Pulque is a milk-colored, somewhat viscous liqui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesoamerican Ballgame
The Mesoamerican ballgame ( nah, ōllamalīztli, , myn, pitz) was a sport with ritual associations played since at least 1650 BC by the pre-Columbian people of Mesoamerica, Ancient Mesoamerica. The sport had different versions in different places during the millennia, and a newer, more modern version of the game, ''Ulama (game), ulama'', is still played by the Native Mexicans, indigenous populations in some places.Fox, John (2012)''The ball: discovering the object of the game"'' 1st ed., New York: Harper. . Cf. Chapter 4: "Sudden Death in the New World" about the Ulama game. The rules of the Mesoamerican ballgame are not known, but judging from its descendant, Ulama (game), ulama, they were probably similar to racquetball, where the aim is to keep the ball in play. The stone ballcourt goals are a late addition to the game. In the most common theory of the game, the players struck the ball with their hips, although some versions allowed the use of forearms, rackets, bats, or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cacao Bean
The cocoa bean (technically cocoa seed) or simply cocoa (), also called the cacao bean (technically cacao seed) or cacao (), is the dried and fully fermented seed of ''Theobroma cacao'', from which cocoa solids (a mixture of nonfat substances) and cocoa butter (the fat) can be extracted. Cocoa beans are the basis of chocolate, and Mesoamerican foods including tejate, an indigenous Mexican drink that also includes maize, and pinolillo, a similar Nicaraguan drink made from a cornmeal & cocoa powder. Etymology The word ''cocoa'' comes from the Spanish word , which is derived from the Nahuatl word . The Nahuatl word, in turn, ultimately derives from the reconstructed Proto-Mixe–Zoquean word ''kakawa''. Used on its own, the term ''cocoa'' may also mean: * Hot cocoa, the drink more known as ''hot chocolate'' Terms derived from ''cocoa'' include: * Cocoa paste, ground cocoa beans: the mass is melted and separated into: ** Cocoa butter, a pale, yellow, edible fat ** Cocoa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cazones De Herrera
Cazones de Herrera, or Cazones, is a town and municipality located in the north of the Mexican state of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico. While it has tourist attractions along its shore, especially in the Barra de Cazones area, the municipality, including the seat, has a high level of socioeconomic marginalization. Most of the municipality's population works in agriculture. The town The town of Cazones de Herrera is 321 km from the state capital of Xalapa. It is a small town typical for the area, with a main church, main plaza, kiosk and municipal palace or government office. It is located next to the Cazones River and there is boat service from the municipal seat to communities on the other side of the river, including boats that carry vehicles. While it is the largest community in the municipality with a population of 4,260 as of 2010, it has a high level of socioeconomic marginalization. History The town name comes from the Spanish word for the sharpnose shark, which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nautla, Veracruz
Nautla is a settlement in the Mexican state of Veracruz. ''Nautla'' comes from the Nahuatl ''naui'', 'four'; and from ''tlan'', that means 'place'; so it is known as 'Four Places'. History First it was a prehispanic town that was in Casitas, Veracruz. Now it is in the municipality of Nautla. In 1519, the Totonacos had an alliance with the Spaniards and they had a battle. Nautla was destroyed by the fire. In the 16th century the king gave to Juan de Cuenca the lands of the actual Nautla, San Sebastian, and La Peña, so that they established the residence of where to stay. Geography The village is in the middle of the Nautla and Misantla Rivers, both of which finish in the Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of .... Nautla has an area of 358.63 km, whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tecolutla
Tecolutla is a town and municipality located on the Tecolutla River on the eastern coast of the state of Veracruz in Mexico. It has the closest beaches to Mexico City, and much of its economy is based on tourism, as it is only a four- or five-hour drive from the capital. It is the northern end of a tourist corridor along the Gulf of Mexico called the "Emerald Coast," which extends down to the city of Veracruz. Tecolutla's biggest attraction is its natural settings of wetlands with estuaries, canals and mangroves associated with the river. The town is known for the "Tecolutla Monster,"—probably a dead whale—that was washed ashore in 1969. Its remains are kept at the Marine Museum. The name Tecolutla means "place of the tecolotes or owls." Tourism The most important and growing economic activity in the zone is tourism. Tecolutla has the closest beaches to Mexico City. The town has about 15 km of beaches which face directly onto the Gulf of Mexico. (The municipality has a t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is known today as the site of many of the most architecturally significant Mesoamerican pyramids built in the pre-Columbian Americas, namely Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon. At its zenith, perhaps in the first half of the first millennium (1 CE to 500 CE), Teotihuacan was the largest city in the Americas, with a population estimated at 125,000 or more, making it at least the sixth-largest city in the world during its epoch. The city covered eight square miles (21 km2), and 80 to 90 percent of the total population of the valley resided in Teotihuacan. Apart from the pyramids, Teotihuacan is also anthropologically significant for its complex, multi-family residential compounds, the Avenue of the Dead, and its vibrant, well-prese ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Huastec People
The Huastec or Téenek (contraction of ''Te' Inik'', "people from here"; also known as Huaxtec, Wastek or Huastecos) are an indigenous people of Mexico, living in the La Huasteca region including the states of Hidalgo, Veracruz, San Luis Potosí and Tamaulipas concentrated along the route of the Pánuco River and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. There are approximately 66,000 Huastec speakers today, of which two-thirds are in San Luis Potosí and one-third in Veracruz, although their population was probably much higher, as much as half a million, when the Spanish arrived in 1529. The ancient Huastec civilization is one of the pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures. Judging from archaeological remains, they are thought to date back to approximately the 10th century BCE, although their most productive period of civilization is usually considered to be the Postclassic era between the fall of Teotihuacan and the rise of the Aztec Empire. The Pre-Columbian Huastecs constructed t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olmec
The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that the Olmecs derived in part from the neighboring Mokaya or Mixe–Zoque cultures. The Olmecs flourished during Mesoamerica's formative period, dating roughly from as early as 1500 BCE to about 400 BCE. Pre-Olmec cultures had flourished since about 2500 BCE, but by 1600–1500 BCE, early Olmec culture had emerged, centered on the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán site near the coast in southeast Veracruz. They were the first Mesoamerican civilization, and laid many of the foundations for the civilizations that followed. Among other "firsts", the Olmec appeared to practice ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican societies. The aspect of the Olmecs most familiar now ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
