Teotihuacan Intervention in the Maya City-States

>>2484183
Despite no animals, Mesoamericans were fast at relaying messages. It's how the Aztecs became aware quickly of the Spaniards arrival. Teotihuacan was not the first empire with far reaching power. The Zapotecs did something similar in the Preclassic period. And apparently Teotihuacans influence went as far into Honduras.

>>2484183
>, Mesoamericans were fast at relaying messages

Relaying messages is one thing: it is relatively easy to have a system of practiced and seasoned runners who can cover ground quickly. But it is another thing entirely to march an entire armed host with its assorted food supplies, weapons, and equipment (without horses or carriages) through the dense, marshy jungles of the the Peten.

human slave labor in the transportation of military supplies is a globally observed phenomenon, it's nothing unusual. past that, I think you might be underestimating the possibility of canoes being used to move supplies along coastlines. during aztec times, there were trade routes to islands that were beyond the horizon line from the coastline near tenochtitlan.

when it comes down to it, it was probably a mix of slave labor and pillaging.

>>2484183
"David Stuart, a leading Maya expert, suggests that there are two possible scenarios to explain the interaction
between the Maya and Teotihuacan. The externalist perspective portrays Teotihuacan as a dominant center that
forced its culture onto the Maya region by conquering various sites. The internalist perspective proposes that
the Maya were active participants in their relationship with Teotihuacan and they willingly appropriated central
Mexican art and ideas for their own purposes (Stuart, 2000). "

>>2484273

Slave labor is pretty effective when you can get sacrificed brutally if you fuck up and the slaves willingly submit to the indignities.

File: 548664681.jpg (203KB, 375x594px) Image search: [Google]

203KB, 375x594px

>>2484183
There is evidence of Teotihuacan power in the south Veracruz near tabasco going south. This stele was found still standing infront of mounds of an unkown city. Recorded with a historical-calendar inscriptionabove we see numeral 7 and the Teotihuacan sign "Eye of Reptile"

File: cdice-grolier-cultura-maya-museo-nacional-de-antropologia-estado-de-EB75F1.jpg (224KB, 1300x960px) Image search: [Google]

224KB, 1300x960px

I really wish so much of the history of mesoamerica was not lost. Imagine not having the Odyssey story because the books were burned. Just sad.

>>2484183
>"(...) the next morning we left Sempoalla. Four hundred Indian porters, who, in this district, are termed tamenes, were sent to accompany us. Each of these porters is capable of carrying a weight of fifty pounds to a distance of twenty miles. We were all highly delighted that each of us had a man a piece to carry our baggage; for previously every one had to carry his own knapsack, the five or six Cuba Indians we had with us being of little use. Doña Marina and Aguilar said that according to the custom of this country the caziques were bound in times of peace to lend their porters to any one who required them."
- The True History of the Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Chapter XLV
i.e. The lords of townships who were located the route of the invading army would provide porters and supplies if forced to.

>>2484273
>when it comes down to it, it was probably a mix of slave labor and pillaging.
>slave labor

>"There are houses where they supply food and drink for payment. There are men, such as in Castile are called porters, who carry burdens."
- Third Letter of Relation by Cortes to Charles V

>>2484477
>Slave labor is pretty effective when you can get sacrificed brutally if you fuck up
They didn't sacrifice misbehaved slaves, they simply killed them. Don't mix things.

>>2484530
From the glimpses like Huemacs tale and the Popol Vuh it looked interesting. Unfortunately we only get a peak of what stories they had.

>>2484417
I honestly think the idea that the Mayan people selectively adopted ideas from prestigious Teotihuacan, without any military intervention as a reason. Makes more sense.