Ancient America

The civilizations of the Aztecs, Incas and Maya were the towering achievements of the peoples that arrived in Central and South America thousands of years earlier. The Olmecs...

Aztecs

When the Spanish arrived in the Americas, the dominant power in Mexico was the Aztec Empire, founded by the Mexica people. The Mexica arrived in central Mexico in around 1250. They...

Incas

About 500 years ago, the Incas ruled an empire in the Andes Mountains of South America. Until the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, it was the greatest empire South America had...

Maya

The Maya built magnificent stone cities, temples and palaces in the rainforest of Central America between AD 250 and 900. They invented a number system for counting and used...

Moche

The Moche were brilliant potters and metalworkers who built up a kingdom of thousands of people. Their civilization lasted from about AD 100 to 800. Because their homeland along...

Nazca

The Nazca people lived on the edge of the desert in southern Peru. Their culture thrived between around 200 BC and 750 AD. They are known to have traded with the Moche people...

Olmecs

The Olmecs lived in the swampy lands near the Gulf of Mexico in the region of modern-day Mexico. Their civilization, the first in Central America, thrived from about 1400 BC to 300...

Teotihuacán

The great city of Teotihuacán was built from around 200 BC, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from present-day Mexico City in Mexico. Teotihuacán is also the name given to the...

Ancient America A-Z