Search Results: Tarascan Civilization

The Tarascan civilization (aka the Purépecha, after their language) dominated western Mexico and built an empire that would bring it into direct conflict with that other great Mesoamerican civilization of the Post-classic period, the Aztecs...

Civilization (from the Latin civis=citizen and civitas=city) is a term applied to any society which has developed a writing system, government, production of surplus food, division of labor, and urbanization. The term is difficult to define...

The distinctive pyramid structures of the Tarascan capital Tzintzuntzan, Late Post-Classical period (1350-1520 CE). These structures, known as yacata, are unique in Mesoamerica and combine rectangular and circular stepped pyramids on a large...

This ceremonial seat in the form of a coyote comes from Mexico's Lake Pátzcuaro Basin in Michoacán. This seat was likely occupied by a person of importance, and it was made by artisans residing in the Tarascan State. (Museum Rietberg, Zürich...

A map of Mexico indicating in green the extent of the Tarascan empire in the late Post-Classic period (1350-1520 CE) and the Tarascan capital of Tzintzuntzan. Indicated in grey is the contemporary Aztec empire.

An incense burner of a deity with a headdress of the rain god Tlaloc. Produced by the Tarascan civilization which flourished in western Mexico between 1350 CE and 1522 CE. (Snite Museum of Art, Indiana)

The Indus Valley Civilization was a cultural and political entity which flourished in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent between c. 7000 - c. 600 BCE. Its modern name derives from its location in the valley of the Indus River...

The Aztec Empire (c. 1345-1521) covered at its greatest extent most of northern Mesoamerica. Aztec warriors were able to dominate their neighbouring states and permit rulers such as Montezuma to impose Aztec ideals and religion across Mexico...

Dogs were an integral aspect of the lives of the people of Mesoamerica regardless of their location or culture and, throughout the region, were recognized as liminal beings belonging not only to the natural world and that of humans but to...

The Maya are an indigenous people of Mexico and Central America who have continuously inhabited the lands comprising modern-day Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco, and Chiapas in Mexico and southward through Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador...