Central America

Central America was the hinge that joined North America to South America. The people who lived there traded in both directions, north and south. They bought turquoise from the Native Americans to their north, and sold them quetzal feathers and cacao beans (chocolate). They bought copper and gold from the Venezuelans to their south, and sold them salt and fancy cotton clothing.

In Central America itself, people ate food that would seem pretty familiar to Americans today. They ate corn tortillas and tacos and tamales, turkey, tomato salsa, avocados and guacamole, spicy chili peppers, and chocolate. Like us, they ate zucchini and yellow squash, hard winter squashes, and sweet potatoes.

Their clothing was woven out of the same kind of cotton that your clothes are probably made of right now. Like you, they wore skirts and shirts, but early Central Americans didn’t wear pants. They wore sandals on their feet, because it’s usually pretty hot there.

Central Americans worshipped many different gods: a corn god, a rain god, and many others. They built big stone temples to their gods, and wrote prayers to them. They sacrificed animals and sometimes people to their gods.

The earliest big government we know of in Central America was the Olmec. After them came the Maya and the Zapotec, and then the Aztec. In the 1500s, a huge number of these people died when Spanish travelers brought them smallpox, measles, and dysentery. So many people died that the Spanish were able to take control of Central America and enslave many of the people who lived there. A lot of people learned to speak Spanish. They had to work in silver mines and in the fields, farming.

Today, Central America is suffering the effects of global warming. There isn’t enough water for everyone, and the coffee plants they grow are dying in the heat. Many Central American people are fleeing north, where it’s cooler, but the United States won’t let them in.

10 09, 2017

Central and South American religion

By |2019-03-08T21:30:13-08:00September 10th, 2017|Central America, Religion, South America|Comments Off on Central and South American religion

Maya Corn King on a plate Polytheism in the Americas The people who lived in South and Central America before 1500 were polytheistic - they believed in many different gods. Because they [...]

10 09, 2017

Mayan Corn God – Central American religion

By |2018-04-11T09:22:20-07:00September 10th, 2017|Central America, Religion|Comments Off on Mayan Corn God – Central American religion

Maya pyramid to the Corn God at Tonina (ca. 700 AD) Because corn (maize) was Mayan people's main food, their most important god was the Corn God. A popular Mayan story was [...]

9 09, 2017

Aztec gods and rituals – Central American religion

By |2019-02-07T06:27:10-08:00September 9th, 2017|Central America, Religion|Comments Off on Aztec gods and rituals – Central American religion

The Aztec god of seeds, Xipe Totec (ca 1500 AD) Who were the Aztec gods? Aztec people were polytheistic - they had many gods. That's the same as like the people of China, India, or Africa at [...]

9 09, 2017

Maya writing – Ancient Central America

By |2019-12-12T05:47:45-08:00September 9th, 2017|Central America, Literature|Comments Off on Maya writing – Ancient Central America

Maya writing on a page from the Madrid Codex Did the Maya invent writing themselves? It's possible that the Maya learned how to write from the Olmec, but there aren't any [...]

9 09, 2017

Maize Mountain – A Mayan story about corn

By |2019-11-23T08:16:34-08:00September 9th, 2017|Central America, Literature|Comments Off on Maize Mountain – A Mayan story about corn

A bolt of lightning in the sky, like the one that split open Maize Mountain Where did this story come from? Maya people liked to tell a story about how people [...]

9 09, 2017

Aztec language, writing, and literature

By |2019-02-07T06:49:29-08:00September 9th, 2017|Central America, Literature|Comments Off on Aztec language, writing, and literature

An Aztec book, or codex (ca 1500 AD) Aztec writing and the Maya The Aztec system of writing was very much like the Maya system. Probably the Aztec people learned how to write [...]

9 09, 2017

Who were the Zapotec? Central American history

By |2018-04-12T08:53:16-07:00September 9th, 2017|Central America, History|Comments Off on Who were the Zapotec? Central American history

A Zapotec head The Zapotec civilization, like the Maya, grew up in the region that had been ruled by the Olmec, after the collapse of Olmec power about 500 BC. The main city [...]

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