Mesoamerica

(noun)

A region and cultural area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica, within which pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Related Terms

(proper noun)

A pre-Columbian cultural region extending from the southern part of Mexico to an area that comprises some parts of the countries of Central America.

Related Terms

Examples of Mesoamerica in the following topics:

  • The Mixteca-Puebla Tradition

    • The Mixteca-Puelba tradition of artistry originates from the pre-Columbian Mixtec peoples from the region of Puebla, Mesoamerica.
    • One of the major indigenous civilizations of Mesoamerica, today they inhabit the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Puebla in the La Mixteca region.
    • The work of Mixteca artisans was well-regarded throughout ancient Mesoamerica.
    • Using vast trading networks, the Mixteca-Puebla style of art spread from Cholula, a city located in the center west of Puebla, to other areas in the Valley of Mexico and eventually to Mesoamerica.

  • Cultures of Mesoamerica

    • Mesoamerica was dominated by 3 cultures in the Pre-Classical (up to 200CE) to Post-Classical periods (circa 1580 CE): the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec.
    • Mesoamerica is a region in the Americas that extends from central Mexico to northern Costa Rica.
    • There are three cultures that dominated the pre-columbian history of Mesoamerica: the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec civilizations.
    • The Maya had the most advanced hieroglyphic writing in Mesoamerica and the most sophisticated calendrical system.
    • The Maya were among the most advanced cultures of Mesoamerica.

  • The New World

    • Indigenous visual arts traditions in the Americas span thousands of years, representing cultures from Mesoamerica to the Arctic.
    • The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North America, Mesoamerica, and South America as well as Greenland.
    • An example of such a cultural area is Mesoamerica, where millennia of coexistence and shared development among the peoples of the region produced a fairly homogeneous culture with complex agricultural and social patterns.
    • Indigenous visual arts traditions in the Americas span thousands of years, representing cultures from Mesoamerica to the Arctic.

  • Agricultural Settlements and Chiefdoms

    • Current findings suggest that this plant was cultivated circa 2,050 BCE, independent of contacts with Mesoamerica.
    • More productive varieties were developed by Southwestern farmers or introduced from Mesoamerica.
    • Beans and squash were also introduced from Mesoamerica, although the drought-resistant Tepary bean was native.

  • The Classical Period of the Maya

    • The Classic Maya Collapse refers to the decline of the Mayan Classic Period and abandonment of the Classic Period Maya cities of the southern Maya lowlands of Mesoamerica between the 8th and 9th centuries.
    • Before there was a greater knowledge of the chronology of Mesoamerica, Teotihuacan was believed to have fallen during 700–750 CE, forcing the "restructuring of economic relations throughout highland Mesoamerica and the Gulf Coast".

  • Plant Nutrition

    • Take for example the Cucurbitaceae family of plants that were the first cultivated in Mesoamerica, although several species are native to North America.

  • Codices of the Mixtec

    • The Mixtecs were one of the most influential ethnic groups to emerge in Mesoamerica during the Post-Classic.
    • Chocolate or cacao was one of the most expensive and luxurious products in Mesoamerica, and cacao beans were used as currency.

  • The Mixtec

    • The work of Mixtec artisans who produced work in stone, wood, and metal were well regarded throughout ancient Mesoamerica.
    • The preservation of these extremely rare codices paints a distinct picture of Mesoamerica right before the arrival of Spanish forces.

  • Disease in the New World

    • While disease swept swiftly through the densely populated empires of Mesoamerica, the more scattered populations of North America saw a slower spread.

  • Archaeology and History

    • Although the Formative/Classical/Post-Classical distinction is still used in the archaeology of Mesoamerica, the divisions have been replaced in most of North American archaeology by more local classifications with a more detailed breakdown of periods.
    • Willey and Phillips considered only cultures from Mesoamerica and Peru to have achieved this level of complexity.