Books
Period
Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica
c. 1500 BCE–1521 CE
Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica contained a succession of urban societies linked by trade, warfare, tribute, religious traditions and shared systems of writing and calendrical knowledge. Major cultures included the Olmec, Maya, Zapotec, Mixtec, Toltec and Mexica.
Political authority was distributed among kingdoms, altepetl city-states and imperial alliances rather than a single continuous state. Maize agriculture, market exchange, craft specialisation and ritual centres supported large populations and extensive regional networks.
