Totonacs

Páginas: 9 (2008 palabras) Publicado: 10 de diciembre de 2009
Mesoamerican Tradition 09-2 Prof. Carmen Tatay Fdez.
Third Semester Group: 1
ARCHAEOLOGICAL FILE MESOAMERICAN CULTURES
CULTURE: TOTONACS/EL TAJIN (VER.)
* Geography

1.1. Map of the culture

1.2. Location

* Eastern coastal and mountainous regions of Mexico at the time of the Spanish arrival in 1519.
* The region of the Totonac "Totonacapan"; which then extendedroughly from Papantla in the north to Cempoala in the south in Veracruz.
* The Totonac were initially established in the north of current state of Puebla. Ancient Totonacapan was located to the south of Papaloapan River in Oaxaca and the mountains of Puebla.
* From the first to the eight centuries B.C., they reached Veracruz, creating important centers in El Tajín, Cempoala and Papantla.,the Totonac continue living in those places of Puebla and Veracruz currently.
* El Tajín is a pre-Columbian archaeological site in the northern Gulf Coast of Mexico region.
* It is located in the state of Veracruz, Mexico with some 81% of the declared archaeological zone lying within the territory of the modern-day municipality (municipio) of Papantla.
* The remainder of thearchaeological zone falls in the municipality of Coatzintla (some 16%), with a small portion (approximately 3%) extending into Poza Rica.
* The culture spanned the Gulf Coast between the Pánuco River on the north and the Papaloapan River on the south.

* TOTONOCAPAN

Totonacapan is the name given to a region located mainly in the northern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz. This region wasoriginally comprised around the pre-Columbian city of El Tajín and later, during the Colonial era until our times, around the city of Papantla.

1.3. Main geographical facts (5)
* Totonacapan was largely hot and humid on the gulf coast region
* Cool in the highlands of Puebla.
* Abundant rainfall and extremely fertile soil in the coastal regions of Veracruz
* From the tropicalforests of the inland regions come dyewoods, hardwoods, and rubber.
* In the cooler regions in the west, one found maguey, cactus and coniferous forests.
1.4. Main cities

* el tajin
* yohualichan
* nepatecuhtlan
* the higueras
* nopiloa
* zapotal

* Chronology

4.1. Rise of civilization

* In the pre-Hispanic period, Veracruz was inhabited primarily by fourindigenous cultures. The Huastecos and Otomíes occupied the north, while the Totonacs resided in the north-center. The Olmecs, one of the oldest cultures in the Americas, became dominant in the southern part of Veracruz.
* By the time, the Spaniards arrived on the Gulf Coast of Mexico in 1519, the Totonac Indians occupied a province known as Totonacapan, occupying some fifty towns andboating a population of a quarter million people. The Totonacs spoke four primary dialects.

4.2. Fall of civilization

* During the Fifteenth Century and the early years of the Sixteenth Century, the mighty Aztec Empire, ruled by the Mexica Indians from their capital city Tenochtitlán, began a concerted effort to subdue and incorporate the rich coastal areas into their domain. Eventually,Veracruz, along with portions of the neighboring states, would make up the Aztec provinces of Tochtepec, Cuetlaxtlan, Cempoallan, Quauhtochco, Jalapa, Misantla, and Tlatlauhquitepec.
* After their conquest by the Mexica ruler Axayacatl in 1480, the Totonacs were incorporated into the Aztec provinces of Cempoallan, Misantla and Xalapa.
* The province of Cempoallan, and its associatedTotonac towns and fortifications, could mobilize up to 50,000 warriors at a time. The natives of Cempoallan, incited by the neighboring Tlaxcalans (who remained an independent enclave within the Aztec Empire), continuously rebelled against the Mexica. Even the last Mexica emperor Moctezuma II spent the early years of his reign leading campaigns against the Indians of Veracruz.
* After the...
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