Great Ages of Man. A History of World's Cultures, Ancient America by Jonathan Norton Leonard, New York 1967
THE EARLIEST AMERICANS
Picture Essay: A GROUP PORTRAIT
THE GREAT STONE CITIES
Picture Essay: A RACE OF MASTER BUILDERS
AN AGE OF WARRIOR-KINGS
Picture Essay: THE LEGEND OF EIGHT-DEER
HIGH CULTURE IN THE ANDES
Picture Essay: "SWEAT OF THE SUN"
GODS AND EMPIRES
Picture Essay: STAGING AN AWESOME PAGEANT
TRIUMPHS OF NATIVE GENIUS
PictureEssay: THE INDIAN ENGINEERS
HORSEMEN FROM THE SEA
Picture Essay: THE AZTECS' ORDERLY SOCIETY
THE DEATHLESS HERITAGE
Picture Essay: A PEOPLE'S PRIDE
Chronologies
Bibliography, credits and art notes
Acknowledgments
Index
"This country," wrote Simon Bolivar, the great South American liberator, "was guided by an in?stinct that can be called the wisdom of nature itself. There were no known models for its creations, and its doctrines had neither teachers nor examples, so that everything about it was original, and as pure as the inspiration that comes from on high." Bolivar was referring to Peru, the land of the Inca, but his words apply to the entire hemisphere. No one has better described the mysterious isolation in which all of the ancient American civilizations arose, sealed off from the rest of the world by ocean barriers un?til the great adventure of Christopher Columbus. The theater in which the pre-Columbian peoples developed their cultures was immense, extending from pole to pole. Man did not arise from the land itself; he came from Asia by way of the Bering Strait, traversing cold and inhospitable zones where life depended on the hunting of animals. Continuing his advance in search of more favorable regions, he reached the beautiful Valley of Mexico and the plains of Yucatan. Then he passed on into South America and climbed to the high Andes where the climate is wonderfully healthful and the sky has in?finite depth and luminosity.
In fully tropical lands arose the admirable culture of the Maya: great stone cities characterized by the mingling of nature, technical accomplishments and an original architecture. The ways of the Maya were peaceful, and they ruled their destiny by a calendar that appeared to join time to the infinite.
In the fertile Mexican highlands, archeologists have found evidence of a long cultural evolution culminating in Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, sited where Mexico City now stands. With a population exceeding European cities of the time and a splendor that dazzled its Spanish conquerors, Tenochtitlan was a vigorous, warlike city-state. Its culture had developed under the whip of fierce barbarian in?vaders, but nevertheless it grew to rule over a wide domain that came close to being a true empire.
Genuine empires appeared in the Andean high?lands. They reached their fullest and ultimate ex?pression in the Inca Empire, whose efficient cen?tral government and generally benevolent policies toward its subject states made it more than a mere confederation. Gradually there arose a kind of wel?fare state that combined the predominance of an elite with an intense concern for social well-being. Until it fell before the Spaniards, its success was so extraordinary that the Spanish chronicler Fer?nando de Santillana exclaimed: "Never was there hunger in that land."
Such, briefly, is the cultural picture of America before Columbus. To write his brilliant and delight?ful text about it, Mr. Leonard has combined the testimony of the early Spanish chroniclers and misssionaries, the illustrious travelers, the sociologists and especially the observations of the modern archeologists and anthropologists.
The author of these lines does not feel qualified to tread the rocky path of judgment in the field of ancient American anthropology, which is full of conflicting theories and opposing opinions; that is the domain of the specialists. Yet he does feel confident that a book such as Mr. Leonard's is a splendid contribution to intellectual understanding, and a stimulating invitation to further discussion?
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