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Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca is located between Bolivia and Peru and, at an altitude of 3,800 metres (12,500 feet), it is the world's highest navigable lake. The tundra plain known as the altiplano stretches to the south and was the location of Tiwanaku...
Definition
Casas Grandes
Casas Grandes or Paquimé was a major pre-Columbian city that flourished due to its extensive trading networks between c. 1150/1200-1450 CE in the northwest of present-day Chihuahua, Mexico. Casas Grandes is one of the largest and most important...
Article
Inca Food & Agriculture
The Inca empire controlled four climate zones and, consequently, their agricultural produce was diverse. Ancient Andean people were largely vegetarian, supplementing their diet with camelid meat and seafood if they could. The Incas developed...
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Aztec Food & Agriculture
The Aztec civilization, which flourished in central Mexico between c. 1345 and 1521 CE, was able to provide an astonishingly wide range of agricultural produce thanks to a combination of climatic advantages, diverse artificial irrigation...
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The Iberian Conquest of the Americas
European explorers began to probe the Western Hemisphere in the early 1500s, and they found to their utter amazement not only a huge landmass but also a world filled with several diverse and populous indigenous cultures. Among their most...
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The Banquet Stele of Ashurnasirpal II
When he came to the throne in 884 BCE, Ashurnasirpal II had to attend to revolts which broke out across the empire. He ruthlessly put down all rebellions, destroyed the rebel cities and, as a warning to others, impaled, burned, and flayed...
Article
Why Kokopelli is Not Kokopelli: Paiyatamu & The Four Flutes
The iconic image of Kokopelli, the flute-playing kachina spirit of the Pueblo peoples, specifically the Hopi, is easily the most recognizable figure from Native American culture in the Southwest United States but, according to traditional...
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The Nazca Lines: A Life's Work
The World Heritage-listed Nazca lines are a well-known part of the ancient heritage of Peru. One woman spent over 50 years studying and protecting them. Ana Maria Cogorno Mendoza shares the story of Dr Maria Reiche. The lines and geoglyphs...
Definition
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire (1206-1368) was founded by Genghis Khan (r. 1206-1227), first Great Khan or 'universal ruler' of the Mongol peoples. Genghis forged the empire by uniting nomadic tribes of the Asian steppe and creating a devastatingly effective...
Definition
Indus Valley Civilization
The Indus Valley Civilization was a cultural and political entity which flourished in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent between c. 7000 - c. 600 BCE. Its modern name derives from its location in the valley of the Indus River...