Central America Region Study Part II

1. Central America Region Study Part II

2. Historical Culture Central America – Historically called Mesoamerica Mes·o·a·mer·i·ca - A region extending south and east from central Mexico to include parts of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In pre-Columbian times it was inhabited by diverse civilizations, including the Mayan and the Olmec. Central America’s history and culture are predominantly Indian inundated. It’s geography is rich in Indian tribesbranging from the Aztec’s in the central highlands, to the mayan’s that dominated the lowlands.

3. Basic Aztec History The great empire of the Aztecs and its capital city of Tenochtitlan flourished in the central valley of Mexico just before the arrival of the Spanish in 1519.      The Aztecs were late comers to the Valley of Mexico, heirs of ancient cultures and traditions that had flourished there for over 3000 years.  Legend says they left their original homeland of Aztlan around A.D.1100.  They arrived in the Central Plateau around 1200.  Tenochtitlan, founded in 1325, was built on a rocky island in Lake Texcoco where the Aztecs discovered an eagle perched on a cactus with a serpent in its mouth.  They had been told by Huitzilopochtli, their patron god, that this symbol, still the emblem of modern Mexico, would mark the spot for their capital city. In 1519 the expanding Aztec empire was governed by the semi­divine emperor Moctezuma II.  He ruled over a highly stratified society of nobles, commoners, serfs and slaves.  His magnificent palace stood at the center of the empire's capital Tenochtitlan, the sacred and secular heart of the Aztec state.   This beautiful island city, located where Mexico City stands today, was constructed on a series of artificial islands with canals for streets, towering pyramids and slendid public buildings.  In 1519 it had a population of at least 250,000 people, making it one of the largest urban centers in the world.  The city was connected to the mainland by three great causeways.  Along these causeways ran aqueducts carrying fresh water to the pools and public fountains of the town.  The canal system supplied efficient transportation and thousands of canoes carried goods and people through the city and to surrounding villages on the lake shore.  For the Aztecs this method of transport was particularly important as, like all the prehispanic cultures of the Americas, they lacked draft animals and the wheel. In this sophisticated metropolis were government buildings, schools, great markets, ball courts, temples, pyramids, palaces and simple homes.  At its center was the sacred precinct where the gods of the Aztec pantheon were worshiped through song, dance, ritual and human sacrifice.  At the heart of the precinct stood the Templo Mayor, or "great temple".  This massive double pyramid structure was dedicated to the two most important gods of the Aztec empire, Tlaloc, god of rain, and Huitzilopotchli, god of war and the sun.  These were the deities responsible for the sustenance of the Aztec state ­ Tlaloc as provider of the empire's agricultural needs and Huitzilopotchli as provider of the wealth and tribute resulting from wars of conquest.

4. Basic Mayan History Maya Civilization developed in the Mesoamerican lowlands by 600 B.C.E. At Nakbe and El Mirador, the Maya erected elaborate ceremonial centers of stone and stucco buildings standing on pyramids and platforms. Even as El Mirador prospered, other important centers like Tikal and Uaxactún grew in importance, ushering in the Classic Period of Maya Civilization from 300 C.E. to 900. Maya life was governed by an intricate calendar system and a recently deciphered hieroglyphic script. Their writings tell us of a lowland civilization ruled by powerful lords, who presided over small city-states. Each state competed constantly with its neighbors, as different centers like Tikal, Palenque, and Copán vied for control of key trade routes and for political and religious prestige. Maya lords considered themselves intermediaries between the living and spiritual worlds. A small nobility controlled Maya society. Their power base gave way suddenly in about 900 C.E., probably as a result of partial ecological collapse as farmlands became exhausted. Nevertheless, Maya Civilization continued to flourish in the northern Yucatán until the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century C.E. In the highlands, the Toltecs held brief sway over the Valley of Mexico from about 900 C.E. to 1200, ruling their state from Tula, north of the valley. They may also have had some influence over lowland politics, for there is strong Toltec influence at Chichén Itzá, a great ceremonial center in the northern Yucatán. Political chaos followed the collapse of Toltec civilization in the 13th century. Eventually, the Aztecs, once nomadic farmers, rose to power in the Valley of Mexico. Link to Mesoamerican inspired art pieces

5. More Recent Cultural Styles: In the years since World War II, Latin American art, literature, and film have assumed a prominent international status. Many Latin American artists of the postwar era have used their work to engage in social and political struggles. Poets such as Nobel Prize–winner Pablo Neruda (1904–73), whose most famous work, Canto General (1950), explores the history of Latin America from the point of view of the workers and peasants, examined issues and social groups that had been all but ignored. Cuban poet Nicolás Guillen, too, used traditions drawn from Afro-Cuban folk culture to attack imperial domination in Latin America. Over the past 50 years, the novel and short story have emerged as the two dominant art forms of the region. In the 1940s, the Argentine Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) rose to international prominence with works such as Ficciones (1944), which used magic and fantasy as its primary vehicle. The Mexican Nobel laureate (1990) Octavio Paz published his major work, The Labyrinth of Solitude (1950), in the immediate postwar period. During the same years, writers such as Miguel A. Asturias, who wrote Men of Maize (1949), were developing the school of magical realism in Latin America. These authors blended myth, fantasy, and native imagery to produce works that might be understood from the perspective of Indian cultures or as rejections of the “logic” of Western literary narratives. The boom in Latin American fiction began in the 1960s. During this decade, the Mexican Carlos Fuentes (The Death of Artemio Cruz, 1962), the Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa (Conversations in the Cathedral, 1970), and the Colombian Gabriel García Márquez (One Hundred Years of Solitude, 1967) gained international prominence. García Márquez (b. 1928), perhaps the most prominent Latin American author, used magical realism to retell some of the most tragic events in Colombian history, mixing fantasy with reality, making the two part of everyday life. García Márquez was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1982. In the postwar period, the Latin American film industry also grew significantly, but it was not until the 1960s that Latin American filmmakers emerged as major artists. Cinema Nôvo in Brazil produced a wealth of films exploring poverty in the region, focusing particularly on the favelas (urban slums) of Brazil's cities. During the 1960s the Cuban film industry, led by figures such as Tomás Gutiérrez Alea (Memories of Underdevelopment, 1968) launched a concerted assault against the dominance of Hollywood in the region. Elsewhere in Latin America, efforts at independent filmmaking have been frustrated by the lack of public and private funding.

6. Localized Web Site: LatinOL.com General Overview: LatinOL.com is an internet gateway for users from Central America, specifically Panama. The page is composed in entirely Spanish, the major language of this region, and the content focuses on this area. For instance, in the news section, the stories focus on current events in the region. There are also pages for localized events, such as car shows, and singer performances. Basically, this site is meant to cater to Panama, and it’s residents.

7. Localized Web Site: LatinOL.com Localization: This page contains a massive amount of content, much of it is information that applies globally, such as news. By having this information interpreted and reported by local reporters, the content is given a local spin. Furthermore, by adding extra local content, the site then appeals specifically to Panama.