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TEXT 14. The Civilizations of Ancient Mexico

Many ruins, the remnants of ancient cities and villages, are scattered over nearly all the present-day Mexico. Sculptures, great monoliths, small terracotta masks and idols have constantly been ploughed up in some parts of the country. These, as well as arms, jewels, and many other objects discovered there, are proofs of a great degree of culture attained by the native people. The study of ancient Indian civilizations, the problems, which are connected with the origin of these peoples, their languages and scripts have agitated scholars for centuries.

The Spaniards were the first to arrive in America. The first conquest in the West Indies during last years of the 15th century was a failure for the Spanish adventurers in search of riches. Then a rumour began to spread that beyond the mountains there lived the emperor of the people called the Aztecs. It was said that he lived in a gold castle, slept in a gold bed and ate from gold plates.

In 1519, six hundred Spaniards led by Hernando Cortez landed at the Mexican coast. In two years and five months they conquered the capital of the “Aztec Empire”.

The Aztec Empire flourished on the territory of present Mexico at the time of the Spanish conquest. The Aztecs and other highly civilized peoples inhabited the central and southern parts of the country. One hundred and twenty five languages were spoken throughout the area. A system of writing and an efficient numerical system were widely used. They had a calendar of their own which was based in part on the solar year. The Aztecs raised maize, beans and other aboriginal crops. Trade was highly developed. They had an organized government and a priesthood which administered their elaborate religion.

The conquerors were greatly impressed by the wealth of the native rulers and the advanced culture of the priests. But they were more ruthless in trampling out the "heathen" civilizations of the American Indians and a decade later all the beautiful towns were churned to rubble, the manuscripts reduced to ashes and most of the people destroyed or enslaved.

(Source: Jack Nigel. Brief Analysis of Ancient Civilizations (2007). New West Indian Guide. Volume 83)

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TEXT 15. How the Calendar Came About

The word “calendar” has been derived from the Latin "calends", the day of the new moon and the first day of the ancient Roman month. The calendar now in use throughout the world is called the Gregorian calendar; it was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in the 16th century.

Though in early days a calendar was required primarily for religious observance, it was used for civil purposes as well. Unlike modern man, who uses artificial time intervals, primitive man utilized the cycle of recurring natural phenomena, the most obvious and most precise of which were the alternation of night and day and phases of the moon. Other less precise but naturally recurring phenomena were also made use of for calendar purposes, e.g. the sprouting of leaves, the coming of the rains, etc. Longer periods of time were often marked off by the number of harvests, the number of winters or some other occurrences. Thus a child who had lived through ten harvests or ten snows was ten years old.

Primitive man was intrigued by various celestial phenomena which displayed themselves in the clear night skies. He had recognized stars long before he invented written records. Principal stars were grouped into patterns which men identified with familiar animals or with the gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines and creatures of mythology. Since the appearance of the predominant constellations coincided with the natural phenomena, it was possible to trace the path of the moon and that of the sun through the sky. Those constellations were visible just before sunrise, or just after sunset, so primitive man naturally watched them as he rose with the dawn and ''went to bed" at sundown. The risings and settings of stars allowed him to derive the position of the sun among the stars and thus a calendrical year was ultimately obtained.

The height to which the sun rose above the horizon at midday was carefully observed by men and finally it was noticed that the sun was above the horizon for the longest period at midsummer. The shadows which were cast by trees were used by primitive civilizations to measure the altitudes of the sun. In such a way the seasons were discerned.

(Source: Richard Lowson. How the Calendar Came About. Diversity, 2005.)