On this page you will find the inventions, accomplishments, and contributions of the Olmecs, Maya, Zapotec, Mexica, Inca, and the other civilizations and cultures of our Cemanahuac continent. Cemanahuac refers to what is Eurocentrically called the "Western Hemisphere"and the equally Eurocentrically named "North and South America".
This information is for and about the Nican Tlaca (Indigenous, so-called Indians) people who are called Mexican, “Central American”, “Native American”, and the “First Nation” people of this our Anahuac continent that is Eurocentrically known as “North America”. By extention this information is ALSO for all Nican Tlaca of ALL of Cemanahuac.
We the Nican Tlaca people of Anahuac ("North America") are united by racial and cultural by extention to the rest of the Nican Tlaca people of the Cemanahuac ( “Western Hemisphere”).
The following is a series of lists showing how we the Nican Tlaca (Indigenous people) of Anahuac (“North America”), and the Nican Tlaca of "South America", used our genius and science to make improvement to the world’s knowledge, health, wealth, art, and awareness of the beauty of the universe.
We would like to thank the following authors for their books of valuable information that has helped make up this list:
1) Encyclopedia of American Indian Contributions To The World by Emory Dean Keoke and Kay Marie Porterfiel (link here to their website);
2) Aztec Medicine, Health, and Nutrition by Bernard Ortiz de Montellano;
3) Medical Practice In Ancient America by Miguel Guzman Peredo;
The following is a list of inventions, accomplishments, and contributions that originated and that were developed in the "Western Hemisphere" by Nican Tlaca people for thousands of years. This list is not complete. This page is meant to be an introduction to the list of our inventions, accomplishments and contributions.
INTRODUCTION LIST OF
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
THE WHOLE WORLD needs to know of the civilizations and achievements which our Nican Tlaca (Indigenous) People made in Anahuac and Cemanahuac.
EUROPEANS did not bring civilization here (actually, they came here and destroyed civilization in the traditions of the Germanic tribes which had brought destruction upon Roman civilization.)
3) We are one of the three places in the world where civilization originated without outside help from the outside world, these are known as "pristine civilizations" according to archeologists (the other two are Iraq and China.)
4) Creators of the the world's largest city three separate times: Teotihuacan, Tenochtitlan, and Cholula.
5) Independent inventors of the wheel: Don't believe the nonsense that we didn't invent the wheel or that we had no metals. We had gold, silver, copper, and bronze.
6) First people in the world to use zero (even before the Hindus).
7) Creators of a base-20 mathematics system with positional notation (predating Europeans)
8) Creators of the world's most accurate calendar
(after 1492, Europeans changed their calendar to the Gregorian system because they realized it was inaccurate.)
9) Possessors of a pyramid tradition that extended all the way up north the Mississippi River to Wisconsin, and all the way to the East Coast. And of course this pyramid tradition was independent of Egypt. The heart of this civilization was in what is now called Mexico and "Central America". (Do a Google on "Cahokia" for more info.)
10) We created a calculator/abacus which we called the Nepohualtzitzin.
11) Creators of books, and many libraries:
12) Top-notch astronomers measuring and predicting the movements of the sun, moon, planets, and stars (Europeans imitated the style of our observatories after 1492, changing their own in the mid 1540's)
13) First people in the world to have mandatory education (Tenochtitlan). (see "Daily Life of the Aztecs" by Jacques Soustelle)
14) Independently devleoped 12 writing systems (of which the Mayan system was the pinnacle). (see "Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs" by Michael D Coe)
15) Creators of cities before there was a single town or city in all of western Europe.
16) Creators of the world's two largest pyramids: the Pyramid of Danta (Mayan) and the Pyramid of Cholula. (see Discovery Channel's DVD series entitled "Pyramids, Mummies, and Tombs.)
17) Biogenetically domisticated the corn plant into its modern variant giving the world one of the most nutritious foods. (read "1491" by Charles Mann)
18) Creators of the world's first team sport (the ball game)
19) Architecture which inspired European architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright
and then there are the myriad of other inventions and developments that we made:
* chocolate
* vanilla
* cotton (our cotton was more durable than the Egyptian type, thus used today)
* the syringe
* latex treatment to create rubber
* chewing gum
* cataract removal with obsidian blades
* concrete (made of limestone, also invented in China)
* dentistry
* board games
* geometry
* mirrors
* popcorn
* a vast pharmacopeia (botanical medicine)
* roads systems
* scalpels
* umbrellas
* toothbrushes
* plus all the fine arts in scultpure, painting, goldworking, featherworking, poetry, music, etc
And there's so much more that we should have invented
if it were not for 500 years of European terrorism against our people.
INVENTIONS, ACCOMPLISHMENTS,
AND CONTRIBUTIONS
OF CEMANAHUAC*
*Cemanahuac refers to what is Eurocentrically called
the "Western Hemisphere"and the equally Eurocentrically named
"North and South America".
We will be adding to this list on a regular basis. Please understand that this is not a complete list. For a summary of this go to our Anahuac Book under the section of accomplishments, hit this link here.
ASTRONOMY
Study of the position and movements of the moon, sun, planets, stars, and constellations. Our Anahuac big focus was on movements that happened at the horizon. We predicted solar and lunar eclipses. We combined all of this knowledge to help in the development of calendars, which in turn helped with the development of agriculture.
Almanacs
Almanacs are books containing astronomical and weather information beginning 3,500 years ago on our continent. Europe only began keeping almanacs in 1150 AD.
Observatories
Structures built specifically to observe the night skies and the movements of the sun. Famous observatories are at Chichen Itza and Mayapan. Other lesser known observatories are at Casa Rinconada at Chaco Canyon, the observatory at Uxmal, and the Bighorn medicine wheel in Montana. But then again, almost all our buildings were aligned astronomically and were serving as specialized buildings to observe the sun, the moon, venus, and other parts of the sky.
GOVERNMENT
Iriquois, Mexica, and Inca governing structures made more of an influence and impact on the ideas of Democratic freedom, women in government, and other ideas than were Greek or Roman ideas of government.
MATHEMEATICS
Abacus
The abacus is called the nepohualtzitzin in the Nahuatl language, (900-1000 AD). The abacus is a portable calculating device. This was a way to do faster calculations of the inventories of food and other products. Adding and subtracting were made easier. Critical thinking and great knowledge of mathematics were involved in the invention of this accounting tool. Our nepohualtzitzin was developed independent of the Chinese abacus.
MEDICINE
This is one big area where we have been denied our proper credit. Effective medicines from 200 plants that are now part of U.S. Pharmacopoeia were developed by our people. Over 120 drugs used today were first developed and made by us.
Agave
Agave was and is used as medicine. It has uses as an antibiotic, laxative, and treatment for burns.
Anesthetics
Materials that cause partial or total loss of sensation or loss of concioussness. Peyote, coca, and datura were the main materials used to be applied to an area of the body in preparaation for surgery.
Anatomy
In 1519 the Mexica ("Aztec") physicians had a better understanding of the heart and circulatory system than Europeans.
Antibiotics
Materials that destroy bacteria are called antibiotics. The Mexica of 1519 used maguey sap to dress wounds in order to prevent infection. Europeans did not use antibiotics until 1941.
Antivirals
Echinacea was used as a successfull antiviral.
SURGERY
Different surgery techniques were successfully used in different parts of the body by the Mexica before they were ever used by Europeans.
Arthrocentesis
Operation to remove excess fluid from the knee joint. Mexica ("Aztec") doctors did this operation hundreds of years before Europeans.
Asepsis
Shoshone and Paiute used Apiaceae as an anticiptic hundreds of years before Joseph Lister (1827-1912) got credit for discovering that microorganisims cause infections and other illnesses. Our people routinely used boiled water to treat wounds. European doctors didn't see a need to even clean wounds until the nineteenth century.
