Media, News, Publishing: LB Russian News update (27/08/2020 (1)

At present, most researchers believe that the settlement of the American continent came from Asia through the Bering Strait. But how did people manage to cross it in ancient times? Scientists believe that four great glaciations helped them in this, and most likely the last two (between 40 and 20 thousand years and 13-12 thousand years BC).

In the era of the great glaciations of the Bering Strait, it froze up and turned into a kind of huge bridge, which allowed the nomadic tribes to be unhindered on the neighboring mainland. The time range of the appearance of man on the American continent is from 10 to 30 thousand years ago.

Going on his first voyage in 1492 in search of a western route to India, Columbus took with him the translator Luis de Torres, who knew Arabic and a few Chinese and Japanese words. Oh, the holy naivete of the great navigator! It turned out that in the India he discovered at that time there were 1700 different languages and dialects.

Among the many tribes that lived on the continent, in terms of their numbers and, in part, in terms of development, the following can be distinguished: Eskimos, Iroquois, Pueblos, Navajos (North America), Aztecs (Mexico), Maya (Mexico, Central America), Caribs and Arawaks (Antilles, Orinoco basin), Tupi-Guarani (Brazil, Paraguay), Chibcha (Colombia), Quechua and Aymara (Peru, Bolivia), Charruas (Uruguay, Argentina), Araucans (Chile).

By the time the Europeans arrived in the New World, in its various regions, the tribes differed significantly from each other in terms of economic structure. The Indians of Mexico, Central America and Peru had the highest level of social and economic development.

The development of all known civilizations of world history was based on the cultivation of a particular cereal: in Europe - wheat, in Asia - rice, in America it became corn. Mexico, Peru and Bolivia have almost equal chances for priority in its cultivation. This happened about 7 thousand years ago.

The Indians were very skilled farmers. In total, they ate almost 20 thousand plants - more than all the peoples of other continents combined. True, this figure includes dozens, and sometimes hundreds of species of the same culture.

The chinampas system, used by the Aztecs before the Spanish conquest, is perceived today as a miracle, the height of sharpness and wisdom. Its essence was to create gardens and orchards in the waters of the lakes. Rafts made of reed and wood were tied to piles, covered with silt and... the water surface pleased the eye with a clear geometry of many fragrant areas. This method of farming in hot summer conditions created maximum convenience: water is at hand, coolness from the reservoir, you can catch fish at any time. The chinampas system has stood the test of time and is still used in parts of Mexico.

In addition to corn, the American continent "gave" the world potatoes, tomatoes, cocoa, sunflowers, tobacco, quinine and balsam medicines, and such a complex operation as trepanation of the skull. At the same time, the natives of the New World did not know the wheels, horses, did not melt iron, which they learned to process much later than gold, silver, platinum, copper and bronze.

Prior to the European conquest, the most advanced civilizations of the Western Hemisphere took shape in Mesoamerica and the Andes. The concept of "Mesoamerica", first introduced in 1943 by the German scientist Paul Kirchhoff, archaeologists designate a geographical region that includes Mexico and most of Central America (up to the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica). On this vast territory, replacing each other, five ancient civilizations left their mark. The most famous among them are the Mayan and Aztec civilizations.

Scientists attribute the lower chronological boundary of the Mayan civilization to the 2nd millennium, and sometimes to the 3rd millennium BC, the upper one to the 10th century. AD Its greatest flowering falls on the UP-USH centuries. AD

The Maya Indians extended their influence to the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize, part of Honduras and El Salvador, and the territory of several states of modern Mexico. Such vast geographic boundaries of this civilization (325 thousand sq. km) covered the habitat of several dozens, and maybe hundreds of tribes that inherited one culture, although it naturally had regional features.

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четверг, 27 августа 2020 г.

LB Russian News update (27/08/2020 (1)

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четверг, 27 августа 2020 г.

LB Russian News update (27/08/2020 (1)

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четверг, 27 августа 2020 г.