ABSTRACT
The highly stratified and advanced societies of Middle America shocked the Europeans who arrived there about 1519. The Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America were hardly unpopulated, uncultured lands before the arrival of the Europeans in the late fifteenth century. Many civilizations developed and collapsed in the area of Central Mexico and what is Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula. About 5,000 B.C.E. the people of Mesoamerica created settled communities and learned to cultivate maiz, or corn. One of the most important groups to settle in the Central Valley of Mexico, the Toltecs, originated in the northwest and moved down into the fertile Central Valley in waves. The Zapotec, Maya, and Toltec peoples are considered early geniuses on both American continents. The Toltecs left impressive architectural monuments at Tula, Cholula, and Teotihuacan, the latter representing a significant city, one of the most important examples of early classical Middle American civilization, generally dated between 200 and 600 C.E.
