Native American civilizations thrived in the Western Hemisphere before Europeans discovered the "New World."ÃÂ These civilizations had many similarities and contributed much to the development of the Latin American culture today. Each civilization was a part from each other, however they had accomplished almost the something and had ideas that were alike but they were so far apart its a astounding of what they came up with. The environment is very important to a civilization. The Mayas lived in a tropical rain forest where they were surrounded by plant life and tree. The Incas however lived in a more dry, grassy, mountainous environment. But the Aztecs settled in a watery area, actually their center town, to which al of their road went, was in the middle of a lake. Even thought these civilizations are so far apart they have created things that are similar, and they have done such fascinating things with such little technology.
Inca Stone Architecture - Machu Picchu - Peru 05
An illustration from Codex Mendoza depicting elder...
English: Aztec ritual human sacrifice portrayed in...For example the Maya were ahead of their time they had clocks, they could tell time, predict eclipse, they had a calendar, and a number system of zero. The Aztecs were also remarkable they had pyramids, math, language, herbs and medicine, and a calendar. Their religious practices were also similar. The Mayas believed in human sacrifices, burial chambers, and they had special pyramids that were like temples. These temples would be very high, because I think they thought that the higher the pyramid the closer to god they are. The Aztecs were very gruesome people they are sort of like the, Spartans, they believed in war and killing. When they won a war they would take prisoners. And they would ripe the hearts out when they were still beating! They too believed in human sacrifice. However on the other hand the Incas were more peaceful...