11 Facts About Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America.

Mesoamerica was the site of two of the most profound historical transformations in world history: primary urban generation, and the formation of New World cultures out of the long encounters among indigenous, European, African and Asian cultures.

Mesoamerica is one of the five areas in the world where ancient civilization arose independently, and the second in the Americas.

Mesoamerica is one of only six regions of the world where writing is known to have independently developed .

The exact geographic extent of Mesoamerica has varied through time, as the civilization extended North and South from its heartland in southern Mexico.

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Several distinct sub-regions within Mesoamerica are defined by a convergence of geographic and cultural attributes.

The tallest mountain in Mesoamerica is Pico de Orizaba, a dormant volcano located on the border of Puebla and Veracruz.

The latter site, Kaminaljuyu, is one of the longest occupied sites in Mesoamerica and was continuously inhabited from c 800 BCE to around 1200 CE.

Mesoamerica lacked animals suitable for domestication, most notably domesticated large ungulates.

Stelae were common public monuments throughout Mesoamerica, and served to commemorate notable successes, events and dates associated with the rulers and nobility of the various sites.

Mesoamerica would deserve its place in the human pantheon if its inhabitants had only created maize, in terms of harvest weight the world's most important crop.