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Mexico was home to magnificent civilizations and cultures prior to the coming of the Europeans, and much of the country’s subsequent history has witnessed attempts to deny, suppress, and, more recently, politically incorporate the vestiges of those civilizations and cultures. Part II focuses on the two principal pre-Columbian civilizations, the Maya, based in southeastern Mexico, and the more powerful Aztec empire, which radiated outward from its imperial base in central Mexico. Mesoamerican cultures were complex and sophisticated, but they also gained a reputation for brutality. Part II provides a brief introduction that contextualizes the religious beliefs and practices, the politics, and the enduring legacy of these cultures, which, while certainly subordinated, continue to resonate in modern Mexico.

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