Cholula Pyramide Temple, Puebla, MX 8.22.2018
Great Cholula Temple Pyramid
The Great Pyramid of Cholula, also known as Tlachihualtepetl, is a huge complex located in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico. It is the largest archaeological site of a pyramid in the New World, as well as the largest pyramid known to exist in the world today. The pyramid stands 55 metres above the surrounding plain, and in its final form it measured 450 by 450 metres. The pyramid is a temple that traditionally has been viewed as having been dedicated to the god Quetzalcoatl. The architectural style of the building was linked closely to that of Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico, although influence from the Gulf Coast also is evident, especially from El Tajín.
Cholula, just outside the city of Puebla, is the site of the massive Cholula pyramid (The Great Pyramid of Cholula). In the days before the Spanish conquest, Cholula was a sacred city, and also a major commercial centre. When Hernan Cortes say it, he declared it to be the most beautiful city outside of Spain itself. The area has probably been inhabited for over 3000 years, and the original pyramid may be over 2000 years old.
Betty Martinez, my grandson Rudy Dominguez and I traveled to Mexico in August 2018 with the goal of seeing the Great Piramide at Cholula. We call them pyramids today because our culture is most familiar with this word and shape of these ancient TEMPLES. I am slowing down, so I brought my Rudy Dominguez who ran to the top of every temple! Here it is ! Also known as Tlachihualtepetl (where the water falls, waterfalls- Tla-chi-hual-te-petl). It is the largest archaeological site of a pyramid in the New World, as well as the largest pyramid known to exist in the world, so far. It is the largest man-made temple monument EVER known in the world.The Egyptian pyramids are taller, but the square base of this monument is larger. Construction began in 500-200 BC by the Tolteca Chichimeca civilization and construction around the base by many cultures never stopped until the 1500's and the Mexica civilization. Traders came here from Monte Alban and Teotihuacan. The great pyramid itself was abandoned, buried and overgrown when Hernan Cortez arrived in 1521, so the Spanish did not see it ( In the video I say that the people buried the temple; this is not correct). In 1564, Cortez built a Catholic Church dedicated to La Virgen De Los Remedios at the top of the mountain temple. The current church was built in the 1800's. Several tunnels have been excavated under the mountain to allow us to see the actual temple steps and levels of the buried temple.
Videographer: Ramon J. Martinez
20180822090253 (1).m2ts
Aztec | Wikipedia audio article
This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Aztec
Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.
Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain
Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.
You can find other Wikipedia audio articles too at:
You can upload your own Wikipedia articles through:
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
- Socrates
SUMMARY
=======
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec peoples included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica from the 14th to the 16th centuries. Aztec culture was organized into city-states (altepetl), some of which joined to form alliances, political confederations, or empires. The Aztec empire was a confederation of three city-states established in 1427, Tenochtitlan, city-state of the Mexica or Tenochca; Texcoco; and Tlacopan, previously part of the Tepanec empire, whose dominant power was Azcapotzalco. Although the term Aztecs is often narrowly restricted to the Mexica of Tenochtitlan, it is also broadly used to refer to Nahua polities or peoples of central Mexico in the prehispanic era, as well as the Spanish colonial era (1521–1821). The definitions of Aztec and Aztecs have long been the topic of scholarly discussion, ever since German scientist Alexander von Humboldt established its common usage in the early nineteenth century.Most ethnic groups of central Mexico in the post-classic period shared basic cultural traits of Mesoamerica, and so many of the traits that characterize Aztec culture cannot be said to be exclusive to the Aztecs. For the same reason, the notion of Aztec civilization is best understood as a particular horizon of a general Mesoamerican civilization. The culture of central Mexico includes maize cultivation, the social division between nobility (pipiltin) and commoners (macehualtin), a pantheon (featuring Tezcatlipoca, Tlaloc and Quetzalcoatl), and the calendric system of a xiuhpohualli of 365 days intercalated with a tonalpohualli of 260 days. Particular to the Mexica of Tenochtitlan was the patron God Huitzilopochtli, twin pyramids, and the ceramic ware known as Aztec I to IV.From the 13th century, the Valley of Mexico was the heart of dense population and the rise of city-states. The Mexica were late-comers to the Valley of Mexico, and founded the city-state of Tenochtitlan on unpromising islets in Lake Texcoco, later becoming the dominant power of the Aztec Triple Alliance or Aztec Empire. It was a tributary empire that expanded its political hegemony far beyond the Valley of Mexico, conquering other city states throughout Mesoamerica in the late post-classic period. It originated in 1427 as an alliance between the city-states Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan; these allied to defeat the Tepanec state of Azcapotzalco, which had previously dominated the Basin of Mexico. Soon Texcoco and Tlacopan were relegated to junior partnership in the alliance, with Tenochtitlan the dominant power. The empire extended its reach by a combination of trade and military conquest. It was never a true territorial empire controlling a territory by large military garrisons in conquered provinces, but rather dominated its client city-states primarily by installing friendly rulers in conquered territories, by constructing marriage alliances between the ruling dynasties, and by extending an imperial ideology to its client city-states. Client city-states paid tribute to the Aztec emperor, the Huey Tlatoani, in an economic strategy limiting communication and trade between outlying polities, making them dependent on the imperial center for the acquisition of luxury goods. The political clout of the empire reached far south into Mesoamerica conquering polities as far south as Chiapas and Guatemala and spanning Mesoamerica from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceans.
The empire reached its maximal extent in 1519, just prior to the arrival of a small group of Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés. Cortés allied with city-states opposed to the Mexica, particularly the Nahuatl-speaking Tlaxcalteca as well as other central Mexican polities, including Texcoco, its former ally in the Trip ...