Anthropology and Mexican Culture
Mexico over the centuries and millenia has been settled and ruled by numerous indigenous groups and civilizations, some among these being the Olmecs, the Zapotecs, Mixtecos and Teotihuacanos, the Maya and the Aztecs.
The Olmecs were an ancient pre-Columbian group who lived in the lowlands of what is now south-central Mexico between 1200 and 400 B.C. and are known for their carvings of gigantic stone heads found at La Venta in the State of Tabasco.
The Zapotec culture founded the ancient center of Monte Alban, located on a mountaintop outside of modern-day Oaxaca City, which purportedly was the first major city of the Western hemisphere.
The Maya of the Yucatan peninsula and southern Mexico were a culturally-rich population with highly developed systems of writing, art and architecture.
The Aztecs often refer to an alliance of ethnic groups of central Mexico who dominated territory, trade and culture from the 14th through the 16th centuries. Their great city-state of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City), founded in 1325 A.D., fell to the Spanish Conquerors under Hernan Cortez, in 1521.
See:
- Mexico's National Anthem
- The Mexican Flag
- Posadas and Pinatas
- Official Mexican Holidays
- Other cultural themes of Mexico...
