Sources
The pre-history of Mexico is known through the work of archaeologists and epigraphers.Accounts written by the Spanish at time of their conquest (the ''conquistadors'') and by indigenous chroniclers of the post-conquest period constitute the principal source of information regarding a) Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest and b) the conquest itself.
While relatively few parchments (or codices) of the Mixtec and Aztec cultures of the Post-Classic period survive, progress has been made in the area of Mayan archaeology and epigraphy.
Beginnings
The presence of people in Mesoamerica was once thought to date back 40,000 years, an estimate based on what were believed to be ancient footprints discovered in the Valley of Mexico; but after further investigation using radiocarbon dating, it appears this date may not be accurate. It is currently unclear whether 21,000-year-old campfire remains found in the Valley of Mexico are the earliest human remains uncovered so far in Mexico.The first people to settle in Mexico encountered a climate far milder than the current one. In particular, the Valley of Mexico contained several large paleo-lakes surrounded by dense forest. Camels, bison, and horses roamed in large numbers. Such conditions encouraged the pursuit of a hunter-gatherer existence.
Corn, squash, and beans
The diet of ancient Mexico was varied, including corn (or maize), squashes such as pumpkin and butternut squash, common or pinto beanss, tomatoes, cassava, pineapples, chocolate, and tobacco. The Three Sisters (corn, squash, and beans) constituted the principle diet.Indigenous peoples in western Mexico began to selectively breed maize (''Zea mays'') plants from precursor grasses (e.g., teosinte) around 8000 BC, and intensive corn farming began between 1800 and 1500 BC.
;Religion
;Writing
Villages, pottery, and cities
Evidence shows a marked increase in pottery working by 2300 BC. Between 1800 and 300 BC, complex cultures began to take form, many maturing into advanced pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Olmec, Izapa, Teotihuacan, Maya, Zapotec, Mixtec, Huastec, Tarascan, "Toltec" and Aztec, which flourished for nearly 4,000 years.
During the course of their existence, these civilizations made significant technological, cultural, and scientific advances, including the construction of pyramid-temple complexes, the development of a sophisticated mathematics and astronomy, the compiling of a large body of medicine, and the elaboration of complex theologies. Perhaps most famous among their cultural achievements are the Mayan hieroglyphs, the Long Count Calendar and the practice of the Mesoamerican Ball Game.
The great civilizations
During the pre-Columbian period, many city-states, kingdoms, and empires competed with one another for power and prestige. Ancient Mexico can be said to have produced five major civilizations: the Olmec, Maya, Teotihuacan,Toltec, and Aztec. Unlike other indigenous Mexican societies, these civilizations (with the exception of the politically fragmented Maya) extended their political and cultural reach across Mexico and beyond. They consolidated power and exercised influence in matters of trade, art, politics, technology, and religion. Over a span of 3,000 years, other regional powers made economic and political alliances with them; many made war on them. But almost all found themselves within their spheres of influence.The Olmec (1400-400 BC)
The Olmec first appeared along the Atlantic coast (in Tabasco state) in the period 1500-900 BC. The Olmecs were the first Mesoamerican culture to produce an identifiable artistic and cultural style, and may also have the society that invented writing in Mesoamerica. By the Middle Preclassic Period (900-300 BC), Olmec artistic styles had been adopted as far away as the Valley of Mexico and Costa Rica.
The Maya (250-900 AD)
''Pre-Classic Period''.
''Classic Period''. Mayan cultural characteristics, such as the rise of the ''ahau'', or king, can be traced from 300 BC onwards. During the centuries preceding the classical period, Mayan kingdoms sprang up in an area stretching from the Pacific coasts of southern Mexico and Guatemala to the northern Yucatán Peninsula. The egalitarian Mayan society of pre-royal centuries gradually gave way to a society controlled by a wealthy elite that began building large ceremonial temples and complexes. The earliest known long-count date, 199 AD, heralds the classic period, during which the Mayan kingdoms supported a population numbering in the millions. Tikal, the largest of the kingdoms, alone had 500,000 inhabitants (though the average population of a kingdom was much smaller—somewhere under 50,000 people). ...
;The Teotihuacan (200 BC-700 AD)
;The Toltec
The Aztec Empire (1325-1521 AD)
The Nahua peoples began to enter central Mexico in the 6th Century AD. By the 12th Century, they had established their center at Azcapotzalco, the city of the Tepanecs.
The Mexica people arrived in the Valley of Mexico in 1248 AD. They had migrated from the deserts north of the Rio Grande over a period traditionally said to have been 100 years. They may have thought of themselves as the heirs to the prestigious civilizations that had preceded them. What the Aztec initially lacked in political power, however, they made up for with ambition and military skill.
'Aztec religion was based on the belief that the universe required the constant offering of human blood to continue functioning; to meet this need, the Aztec sacrificed thousands of people. This belief is thought to have been common throughout Nahuatl people. To acquire captives in times of peace, the Aztec resorted to a form of ritual warfare called flower war. The Tlaxcalteca, among other Nahuatl nations, were forced into such wars.
In 1428, the Aztec led a war of liberation against their rulers from the city of Azcapotzalco, which had subjugated most of the Valley of Mexico's peoples. The revolt was successful, and the Aztecs became the rulers of central Mexico as the leaders of the Triple Alliance. The alliance was composed of the city-states of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan.
At their peak, 350,000 Aztec presided over a wealthy tribute-empire comprising 10 million people, almost half of Mexico's estimated population of 24 million. Their empire stretched from ocean to ocean, and extended into Central America. The westward expansion of the empire was halted by a devastating military defeat at the hands of the Purepecha (who possessed weapons made of copper). The empire relied upon a system of taxation (of goods and services), which were collected through an elaborate bureaucracy of tax collectors, courts, civil servants, and local officials who were installed as loyalists to the Triple Alliance.
By 1519, the Aztec capital, Mexico-Tenochtitlan, the site of modern-day Mexico City, was one of the largest cities in the world, with a population of 30,000 (estimates range as high as 60,000).
Adapted from the Wikipedia article History of Mexico, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
