Long before the appearance of Europeans in America, developed civilizations already existed. The indigenous inhabitants of the New World had a developed economy, they had a complex social structure, there were cities and roads. The culture of the ancient Indians, which developed quite apart, was distinguished by its vivid originality. Of greatest interest in this respect are the Maya and Inca civilizations.
Mayan civilization
The Mayan civilization that existed in Central America became famous for its preserved architecture and writing. It began to form two thousand years before the new era. The Maya culture reached its heyday by the end of the first millennium, after which it gradually began to decline. The settlements of this unique civilization are found in the territory of modern Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
The Mayans built their majestic cities of stone. Some of the settlements existed until the arrival of Europeans in America, others were abandoned and abandoned long before that. One of the most important achievements of this civilization was the use of a calendar, which was based on astronomical observations and accurately reflected the changing seasons. The Maya people had a fairly developed hieroglyphic writing, which scientists have not yet been able to fully decipher.
The Maya civilization consisted of several city-states that often competed with each other for territorial advantages. Each city tried to subordinate its neighbors to its influence and gain control over the trade routes along which the exchange of goods took place. The structure of Maya political power changed over time. For a significant period of history in this civilization, there were aristocratic and oligarchic forms of government.
Inca empire
Another center of culture in pre-Columbian America was located to the south - on the territory of the modern states of Bolivia, Peru and Chile. The Inca people have lived here since time immemorial. The basis of their empire was formed by a large tribe of the Quechua language family, which occupied the territory of Peru at the beginning of the second millennium AD. Over time, the Inca civilization became a powerful state formation with a developed social structure. It is noteworthy that the Inca culture, so developed at that time, had no idea about the wheel.
The flourishing of this culture fell on the XI-XVI centuries. The Inca state occupied vast territories of South America. To maintain communications between parts of the country, an extensive network of trunk routes was used. The Inca cities were built of stone without the use of cement mortar. Surprisingly, the stone structures were so strong that they were able to withstand significant earthquakes.
Excavations of archaeologists allow us to conclude that a significant number of the achievements of the Inca empire were inherited by them from previous cultures. A kind of ceramics and a system of underground water supply systems were borrowed by the Incas from the neighboring highly developed peoples. But the level of development of the Inca empire could not be compared with the achievements of the Europeans, who possessed not only modern weapons, but also assertiveness. Like many other cultures in America, the Inca civilization fell under the onslaught of the Spanish colonialists.
