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Blue is Beau, Green is Val, Red is Gideon

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The Aztec myth of the unlikeliest sun god - Kay Almere Read

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In Mesoamerica the Maya civilization made the greatest progress in science and technology. Among its innovations were the position-value number system with zero, the development of the most accurate known calendar, the invention of rubber and the corbelled arch.

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One of the greatest challenges in Mesoamerica for farmers is the lack of usable land, and the poor condition of the soil.

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The Aztecs followed a strict social hierarchy in which individuals were identified as nobles (pipiltin), commoners (macehualtin), serfs, or slaves. The noble class consisted of government and military leaders, high level priests, and lords (tecuhtli).

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The Aztec empire was made up of a series of city-states known as Altepetl.. Each altepetl was ruled by a supreme leader (tlatoani) and a supreme judge and administrator (cihuacoatl). The tlatoani of the capital city of Tenochtitlan served as the Emperor (Huey Tlatoani) of the Aztec empire.

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The geography of Mesoamerica is very diverse, with its humid/tropical land, dry deserts, high mountain terrain, and low coastal plains.

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Watch this video and learn about the ancient Mayan perception of creation as Morgan Freeman participates in a traditional Mayan ceremony and explores the ruins of Tikal.

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How did they entertain themselves?
Well, they would play many different games. This one you see up here ōllamalitzli (sometimes spelled ullamaliztli) this was  a quite famous game. This is how you play,

They have a rubber ball that is weighed around 10 pounds. They have teams of 4, they wear helmets just in case the ball falls on their head. I'm not 100% sure, but you have to hit the ball through the hole hung on the wall with your hip, and "pass" it to the other team. SImilar to spikeball, you have to hit it onto the net and it bounces to the other team.

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Where I Got The Information on Economics

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Where I Got The Information on Economics

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The cultivation of corn (maize), as well as of a number of secondary crops, provides basic subsistence for all of Mesoamerica. Secondary crops include beans, squash or pumpkins, chili peppers for seasoning, and tomatoes. Additional foods with a limited distribution because of differing climates and terrain are pineapple, sweet potato, cassava (manioc), chayote, vanilla, maguey, nopal (a type of cactus), mesquite, cherimoya, papaya, and avocado. Native commercial plants included cotton, tobacco, henequen for its fibre, and cocoa beans, which served as a medium of exchange. Important commercial crops that have been introduced since European contact include Old World cereals ( wheat, barley, oats), bananas, coffee, sugarcane, sesame, and peanuts.

Traditional slash-and-burn agriculture persists in the most isolated areas, but plow agriculture has replaced it in many places. Chinampa agriculture is limited to the Valley of Mexico: small artificial islands are built up about 1 foot (about 30 centimetres) above the level of the shallow waters of a freshwater lake, formed from the mud and vegetation of the lake floor. After settling, this serves as a rich bed for mixed-crop rotation, nurseries, and seed plots.

© Gerardo Borbolla/Fotolia

All modern Mesoamerican communities are tied to national and international markets, but the extent of that relationship varies considerably. The Lacandón of the Chiapas lowland jungles bordering Guatemala lie at one extreme. If imported tools such as the machete, ax, rifle, and matches became unavailable to the Lacandón through some catastrophe, they, of all Mesoamerican peoples, would have perhaps the least difficulty in adjusting to the challenge of their ecological situation. Living members of the community still retain personal knowledge of such traditional skills as working flint and stone and the making of fire, cloth, and pottery.

A larger segment of the indigenous Mesoamerican population is tied to the outside cash economy by one or more products, such as coffee, citrus, vanilla, livestock, or manufactured goods. Specialization is not the norm, but from before colonialism certain communities have specialized in particular products and skills; an entire community may be known for its pottery, weaving, or basketry.

Markets are typically organized into a network in which each of several towns hosts the market in its central plaza, a different town each day of the week. The network may or may not include a central market that is held every day of the week. Such a market consists of a core of local merchants, the ranks of which are swollen once a week by merchants from the outlying hamlets of the area. All of the merchants, whether from the central market or from outlying markets, tend to be organized in single household units.

Oscar H. Horst

Craft specializations that figure in the marketplace are also widely practiced to meet family needs. Before the appearance of inexpensive commercial cloth, it was the norm throughout Mesoamerica for every young girl to learn to weave cotton cloth and, as a married woman, to provide clothing materials for her family. That skill has declined in the face of easy access to materials of cotton, wool, silk, and synthetic materials and blends. The introduction of the treadle loom by the Spaniards brought men into the weaving industry, especially as a commercial operation.

Both men and women weave hats and baskets. Commercial products are produced from grasses, reeds, and palms, and lowland peoples also produce baskets of vine for local use.

A variety of pottery-making techniques are known in Mesoamerica. Before colonization, female potters made most ware, forming vessels by hand modeling, by building with coils, or by using a wooden paddle or molds. The Spaniards introduced the potter's wheel. Present-day techniques are a synthesis of indigenous and Western methods.

A lacquering art, now an integral part of the tourist trade, was practiced at the time of the conquest. A variety of gourd vessels of many sizes and shapes are artistically painted, using local materials and techniques. The beautifully decorated vessels serve a range of purposes, from simple utilitarian items, such as dippers, to elaborate ceremonial bowls.

The life cycle

Christian baptism is the first major event in the life of an individual. Indeed, among Chinantecs, a child is not considered fully human until the rite has been performed. If an unbaptized infant dies, the body is buried immediately without the usual ritual observances-ringing of the church bells, burning of incense, and reading and singing of prayers in the home, at the church, and at the graveside.

Nursing may continue for as long as three or four years, and childhood is a period of little discipline except for the responsibility placed on older children to care for their younger siblings while the parents work. Formal schooling is now available in most areas for at least a few years, but monolingualism in less-acculturated areas severely limits the efficacy of the training, which is almost always conducted in Spanish only. There is no puberty rite, so that the transition from infancy to adolescence is unmarked ritually.

A girl becomes an adult at marriage, but a boy becomes an adult in two ways: through marriage and through citizenship attained when he reaches the proper age, usually 14 or 15 years. At this time he must enter the labour pool of adult men who maintain community property and must contribute his share of any assessment the citizenry may impose upon itself to cover community expenses. He becomes eligible-and obligated-to serve in the lowest-ranking offices of the political and religious institutions of the community.

Death is marked by ritual and burial within 24 hours of death, with repetition of the ritual at periodic intervals after death, sometimes ending on the ninth day, sometimes repeated on the anniversary. An All Saints feast of several days' duration is prepared annually in the fall of the year for all of the dead.
William Richard Merrifield The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Modern developments

In the latter half of the 20th century, Mesoamerican Indians experienced increased access to material goods and the global economy. They generally accepted technological changes that improved their economic position and resisted externally imposed changes that affected their traditional social life. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, political strife (up to and including civil war) in Mexico and several Central American countries severely disrupted life for many Mesoamerican people.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Mesoamerican Indian - Economic institutions

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Mesoamerican Indian - Mesoamerican Indian - Economic institutions: The cultivation of corn (maize), as well as of a number of secondary crops, provides basic subsistence for all of Mesoamerica. Secondary crops include beans, squash or pumpkins, chili peppers for seasoning, and tomatoes.

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As you can see, from this website it tells you that they created aqueducts and dikes to make space for more land to grow crops and have space for the floating garden. What is an aqueduct and a dike? Glad you asked, the next picture shows.

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This is a picture of Mesoamerica in the 16th century 

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The Mesoamerican civilization, the complex of indigenous cultures that developed in parts of Mexico and Central America Prior to Spanish exploration and conquest of the 16th century.

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This is a picture from Jamestown and a little bit of what their land looked like.

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The early daily life was kind of difficult, actually it was VERY difficult. They had to clear land using handmade tools and they also had to produce all of their own food, and even make their own clothes out of natural resources. They didn't care about anything besides their family, and their health.

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So they mostly ate corn, but their Secondary crops include beans, squash or pumpkins, chili peppers for seasoning, and tomatoes.

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This is their god and his name is YHWH or Yahweh.

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stigmata, singular stigma, in Christian mysticism it is holes and pains on your body.

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Because the Spanish were the first Europeans to establish settlements on the mainland of North America, such as St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565, the earliest Christians in the territory which would eventually become the United States were Roman Catholics. Roman Catholicism, Christian church that has been the decisive spiritual force in the history of Western civilization. Also their god has Stigmata.