Great write up. Not the focus of your article but Mexico is also home to the Chicxulub impact site and the ring of cenotes. Humbling to walk in the footprint of an event that wiped out 75% of life on earth. So much more to the country than costal tourist destinations.
Teotihuacan's main avenue is extraordinarily vast and long. You could fit a dozen Roman Forums in it. Anyway, thanks. Superb, pithy and oddly moving piece.
Thank you. It means a lot. I e been struggling with this piece for 2 weeks. I didn’t know what to put in, leave out, focus on, what to highlight, what to cut, what were the main takeaways… I was going to add the Aztecs, but then thought it was just too long. Yet I had a hard time letting go. It’s like when you discover a new world, or a new book, and you have to leave it or you finish the last page. I dont know. It’s like I was doing a service to these lost civilizations by reawakening them, and in the process learned so many new aspects of history. Like who would have thought the flatness of a land could create communication hardships, and these in turn could impede civilizations? I don’t know, sounds like a world begging to spend more time in it, but the time is short
Ships weren't sailing from the ME to the Americas with the technology they had. Native Americans came across the Bering Strait though it's possible some Polynesians ended up in the Americas.
Charles Mann argues for the plausibility that settlers sailed to the Americas in his book 1491 and compares that with the Bering strait route. On third of that book is dedicated to discussions of the settlement timeline, but I don't remember anything conclusive. He also talks about the likely scenario that at least some Polynesians arrived at the Americas during their expanse, I think.
Kind of unrelated, but not... as I learn more about history, I notice more connections or potential economic and trade connections which are lost in political or non-causal historical narratives.... It feels like the fall of Constantinople in 1453 thoroughly disrupted the web of trade such that it might have kicked off the War of Roses in England (London being the opposite trade node on the other side of Europe) and set Columbus off in 1492 looking for new trade routes. Islam had created a religion around trade and owned the trade networks connecting Europe to Asia and Africa. And the Christian West went looking for ways around that. The first adventurers were the catholics but when the catholic system failed due to its centralization another wave of protestants followed. Gutenberg ironically made his money printing propaganda against the Turks -- the threat of the Turks created an economic business printing propaganda against them which supported the spread of the printing press which then is used for Bibles too... so the cascade that sends the Spanish to both Mexico and Japan and elsewhere is the Sultan's seizure of the trade node that fed Europe with goods from the East for a millenium....
Does anyone know any good economic history on the evolution of trade networks? There probably aren't any good sources because this was precisely the kind of information which the merchants would keep secret...?
Correct regarding the changes due to the fall of Constantinople.
I didn’t know it might have caused the war of roses!
No the Catholics didn’t fail. The Atlantic countries all developed. The Spaniards were the most powerful for 2 centuries after the discovery of America.
I don’t know about any history of trade modes. Interesting question!
OG, short for “original gangster” or “original gangsta,” is a slang term for someone who's incredibly exceptional, authentic, or “old-school.” OG was originally used in gang culture, but it is now used as a general term to praise someone who is an expert at something.
Very interesting article! I recently visited Tikal and was blown away by the construction and innovation of the structures there. One of the biggest things I remember is how windows in the King's (Emperor's?) room faced west, so he was not disturbed by the rising Sun and could sleep in.
I visited Tikal years ago (2001), either I didn't know or forgot about the 'constructed to channel water into reservoir'. Muy interesante. Anyway, was a magical place and around Guatemala I met many Mayan decendents.
Homo sapiens migrated from Africa to Europe, Asia, and America, Latin America about thousand years ago. Even today, we can still find some commonalities in human behavior in different regions.
Great write up. Not the focus of your article but Mexico is also home to the Chicxulub impact site and the ring of cenotes. Humbling to walk in the footprint of an event that wiped out 75% of life on earth. So much more to the country than costal tourist destinations.
I think I read this somewhere
Oh yes I remember
https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/25-fascinating-facts-about-mexico?r=36xnz&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Teotihuacan's main avenue is extraordinarily vast and long. You could fit a dozen Roman Forums in it. Anyway, thanks. Superb, pithy and oddly moving piece.
Thank you. It means a lot. I e been struggling with this piece for 2 weeks. I didn’t know what to put in, leave out, focus on, what to highlight, what to cut, what were the main takeaways… I was going to add the Aztecs, but then thought it was just too long. Yet I had a hard time letting go. It’s like when you discover a new world, or a new book, and you have to leave it or you finish the last page. I dont know. It’s like I was doing a service to these lost civilizations by reawakening them, and in the process learned so many new aspects of history. Like who would have thought the flatness of a land could create communication hardships, and these in turn could impede civilizations? I don’t know, sounds like a world begging to spend more time in it, but the time is short
Wow !!!
This is brilliant!
I love the, thanks to the Church burning their books, we learn about these fabulous cultures in Archeology instead of History!!
A tough pill to swallow for me. So much knowledge lost because of dogma and fanaticism
:-(
Yes indeed I totally agree. The culture and technology is just amazing.
What is the origin story of the mesoamericsns? Did they come across the Bering sea and down south? Or ships from the Middle East?
Ships weren't sailing from the ME to the Americas with the technology they had. Native Americans came across the Bering Strait though it's possible some Polynesians ended up in the Americas.
Charles Mann argues for the plausibility that settlers sailed to the Americas in his book 1491 and compares that with the Bering strait route. On third of that book is dedicated to discussions of the settlement timeline, but I don't remember anything conclusive. He also talks about the likely scenario that at least some Polynesians arrived at the Americas during their expanse, I think.
Kind of unrelated, but not... as I learn more about history, I notice more connections or potential economic and trade connections which are lost in political or non-causal historical narratives.... It feels like the fall of Constantinople in 1453 thoroughly disrupted the web of trade such that it might have kicked off the War of Roses in England (London being the opposite trade node on the other side of Europe) and set Columbus off in 1492 looking for new trade routes. Islam had created a religion around trade and owned the trade networks connecting Europe to Asia and Africa. And the Christian West went looking for ways around that. The first adventurers were the catholics but when the catholic system failed due to its centralization another wave of protestants followed. Gutenberg ironically made his money printing propaganda against the Turks -- the threat of the Turks created an economic business printing propaganda against them which supported the spread of the printing press which then is used for Bibles too... so the cascade that sends the Spanish to both Mexico and Japan and elsewhere is the Sultan's seizure of the trade node that fed Europe with goods from the East for a millenium....
Does anyone know any good economic history on the evolution of trade networks? There probably aren't any good sources because this was precisely the kind of information which the merchants would keep secret...?
Correct regarding the changes due to the fall of Constantinople.
I didn’t know it might have caused the war of roses!
No the Catholics didn’t fail. The Atlantic countries all developed. The Spaniards were the most powerful for 2 centuries after the discovery of America.
I don’t know about any history of trade modes. Interesting question!
I've spent nearly 6 months in CDMX and had never even heard of the Cuicuilco Pyramid! Great writeup.
Such a huge city
Very interesting and lively writing, thanks. What does OG mean though (AF I think I know😂)?
OG, short for “original gangster” or “original gangsta,” is a slang term for someone who's incredibly exceptional, authentic, or “old-school.” OG was originally used in gang culture, but it is now used as a general term to praise someone who is an expert at something.
I loved this so much. And I’m so mad about those book burnings!!!!!
Very interesting article! I recently visited Tikal and was blown away by the construction and innovation of the structures there. One of the biggest things I remember is how windows in the King's (Emperor's?) room faced west, so he was not disturbed by the rising Sun and could sleep in.
Great write up. You struggled with this for two weeks? It feels to me that years of knowledge went into this. Amazing job.
I visited Tikal years ago (2001), either I didn't know or forgot about the 'constructed to channel water into reservoir'. Muy interesante. Anyway, was a magical place and around Guatemala I met many Mayan decendents.
Could you please clarify what AC means?
After Christ. Just changing to AD moving forward, which I don’t especiallly like but is a more common convention
Homo sapiens migrated from Africa to Europe, Asia, and America, Latin America about thousand years ago. Even today, we can still find some commonalities in human behavior in different regions.
Not surprising at all as thousands of years is nothing on the evolutionary timescale.
What you are mentioning on Toltecs reminds me of all the debate in Spain about Tartessos :).
Great article!
True! Some similrities