The Super Summary of World History - Alan Dale Daniel [64]
Around AD 800, the Mayan civilization suffered a mystifying collapse, and the population fell dramatically in the Yucatan area. This breakdown caused the fall of Chichen Itza, their magnificent city dominating the cities of the northern Yucatan Peninsula for centuries. The collapse led to a dispersion of the surviving population into smaller kingdoms. There was a re-emergence of the culture in about AD 1180, when the Mayan cities thrived once more. This relatively decentralized new Mayan culture thrived until the Spanish incursions of 1519.
The mysterious Toltecs civilization was ruling central Mexico about AD 850. Their society esteemed war and conquest. The Aztec rulers claimed descent from this legendary culture centered in the city of Tula. The discovery of this city led archeologists to believe it was at its height about AD 900, and destroyed about AD 1160. The city had large monuments, and the people practiced the same blood sacrifice as future cultures in the region.
The empire of the Aztecs, which probably replaced the Toltecs, centered on their capital super city of Tenochtitlan, constructed on a lake in the Valley of Mexico and home to about 250,000 people. Organized as an imperial structure under an absolute king, this impressive realm began its rise about AD 1400, eventually stretching from the Pacific Coast of Mexico to the Atlantic Gulf Coast. Although the Aztec Empire lacked an extensive road system, interconnecting trade routes were well established. The Aztecs practiced the blood sacrifice of their forbearers, and carried the ritual to extremes.[69] The Aztec Empire fell when Cortez conquered Tenochtitlan in 1521.
The Inca Empire in Peru centered on its capital city Cuzco, the religious, cultural, and political core of their Andes Empire. Machu Picchu, their temple complex, is surrounded by fortress walls and perched high on a peak for extra protection. This mountainous realm enjoyed well-constructed roads which assisted in keeping the rather-narrow 2,600-mile-long strip (from Ecuador southern Chile) along the Pacific coast of Peru unified as a kingdom. Apparently, an absolute emperor controlled all aspects of life and the economy. The conquistador Pizarro and his small army destroyed the Inca in 1532.
One great problem with the Spanish conquest was their destruction of the Aztec and Inca artifacts upon which they recorded their history, thereby leaving historians guessing about Mexico and South America’s past. The Spanish viewed these items as tools of Satan as they thought the Native Americans were worshiping the devil. Many of these records were on gold objects that the Spanish were all too happy to melt down and send back to Spain.
Spanish and English Empires in the Americas
After the Spanish won their American empire, they established a hierarchy over the population with the Spanish on top, then the Catholic Church, the Native Americans, and last the children of Indian and Spanish blood. Native Americans found themselves digging up gold for shipment back to Spain. Used as slaves they gained no benefit from their subjugation.
Using South America as place of exploitation, Spain took away all the gold they could find while turning the natives into vassals. [70] From California to the tip of South America (except for Brazil), the Spanish ruled it all as totalitarian overseers. South American gold made Spain rich beyond all belief and the most powerful nation in Europe. The challengers, England, France, Holland, and the city states of Italy, simply could not dig up endless amounts of gold to finance their every whim. Nonetheless, Spain soon fell from the great power ranks by unwisely spending its wealth.
Meanwhile, the English laid claim to the coast of North