6 main CONTRIBUTIONS of the MEXICAN culture

Many of the elements that we have today in our day to day and whose origin we usually ignore, come from the Mesoamerican cultures, these societies being key to many of the elements that arrived in Europe after the conquest. To talk about the elements brought by one of the most important civilizations in this area in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we must talk about the main contributions of Mexican culture.

Before talking about the contributions made by the Mexica, we must talk about who were the Mexica or Aztecs to understand its importance in the Mesoamerican area and the reasons why its inventions reached European hands after the conquest by the Spanish.

The Aztecs or Mexica they were a great empire that dominated the American cultural zone of Mesoamerica during the postclassic period, this being the last stage of pre-Columbian cultures before the arrival of the Spanish colonizers. Arising from the union of three great Mexican peoples, they became the greatest empire of the entire American zone, its influence being capable of reaching the entire region and capable of conquering numerous peoples.

The area of ​​greatest influence of the Aztecs was the Mexico's valley, being especially dominant between the years 1300 and 1521. Even so, their influence was much more expanded over the years and reached more remote areas, being the reason why they were the greatest enemy of the Spanish upon their arrival in the region.

Characteristics of the Mexica or Aztecs

To fully understand who the Mexica were, we must talk about their main characteristics, this being key to forming a total characterization of their civilization. The main characteristics of the mexica civilization are as follows:

• Great importance of religion, having their own ideas and others taken from peoples like the Mayans.
• They carried out numerous rites and rituals, being especially important the sacrifices of humans.
• The form of government was a monarchy united to the military and religious life, reason why the governors could be priests.
• There were rulers in all the cities that were under the command of the emperor.
• Its economy was based on the agriculture, crafts and in the collection of taxes from conquered peoples.
• It was a town that based a large part of its life on the appearance military, being a conquering people.

To continue this lesson we must talk about the contributions of the mexica culture and understand the current and historical aspects in which Aztec inventiveness has been key to the evolution of world society.

The Aztec antecedents have been important in different ways, so we cannot talk about all contributions at the same level of importance. Therefore, we must talk about the most important contributions of the Mexica world, explaining the subsequent role they have had in Europe.

Numbering system

By using symbols like the suns or moons they created a number system based on twenty units, being very different from Spanish due to the evident distance between regions. This system over the years has been used to complex operations and other number systems that would have taken many more years to make if it weren't for the Mayans.

Solar calendar

The solar calendar is another of the great contributions of the Mexica culture. His calendar had 365 days of which were 18 months of 18 days. The peculiarity of this calendar is that it had 5 days at the end, which were used for the acts and rituals to end the year. This calendar has served so much to understand many of the dates in the history of the Aztecs as if to unravel mysteries of the astronomy.

Medicinal plants

Thanks to an incredible study of the human body and herbalism, the Aztecs were able to cure many diseases thanks to use of medicinal plants, being something that is now very common in western culture, but that formerly was more typical of the American and eastern peoples. For years, the Mexica used their education to teach Europeans about the benefits of herbs and to stop the increasing destruction of nature carried out by the Spanish.

Cocoa

Of course, another of the contributions of the Mexica culture is the trade with cocoa. Cocoa beans were a very important element in the Mexican culture, having an incredible value as if they were gold and possessing one of the highest values ​​in trade, being habitual that the nobles and the kings possess it. Used as an exchange or to create drinks, their arrival in Europe gastronomy changed world completely, being impossible to understand the world without cocoa right now.

Red tint

Until the arrival of the Spanish in America it was very rare to find red dye, but thanks to a beetle with American origin, Europeans were able to make high-quality red clothing, for years being the color of the influential or powerful people and being a clear example that the elite military troops wear robes red.

Universal and compulsory education

The Aztecs had an educational system in which all people managed to have a minimal education, having a few very low illiteracy levels and achieving an education that at that time did not exist in Europe. The universal and compulsory education model it was maintained with the appearance of the viceroyalties, causing it to later pass to Spain and little by little to the rest of Europe.