Urban plan of Teotihuacan

An Urban, archaeological and topographical plan of Teotihuacan (copyright: Rene Millon). Teotihuacan was an ancient Mesoamerican city located in the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, 40 kilometres northeast of modern-day Mexico City.

Aztec warriors of the Jaguar Order

A beatiful artwork of Aztec warriors of the Jaguar Order preparing an ambush for the Spanish invaders. Artist unknown. The Spaniards paid a heavy toll till the final subjection of the native peoples of Mexico.

Maya more warlike than previously thought

Republication from  news.berkeley.edu (UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY)

 

David Wahl (right) and Lysanna Anderson taking a sample from Lake Ek’Naab using a hand-operated piston core on an inflatable platform. (Photo courtesy of Francisco Estrada-Belli, Tulane University)

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The Maya of Central America are thought to have been a kinder, gentler civilization, especially compared to the Aztecs of Mexico. At the peak of Mayan culture some 1,500 years ago, warfare seemed ritualistic, designed to extort ransom for captive royalty or to subjugate rival dynasties, with limited impact on the surrounding population.

Only later, archeologists thought, did increasing drought and climate change lead to total warfare — cities and dynasties were wiped off the map in so-called termination events — and the collapse of the lowland Maya civilization around 1,000 A.D. (or C.E., current era).

Urban and Fortification plan of Merida, Yucatan 1788

Urban and Fortification plan of Merida, Yucatan, Mexico in 1788 (Instituto de Historia y Cultura Militar, Madrid). Also a location map of Merida in Mexico.

Fortification plans of Fort San Diego, Acapulco

Plan of Fort San Diego, Acapulco, Mexico in 1776, designed by Spanish engineers a few years after 1600 (Instituto de Historia y Cultura Militar, Madrid).