Indians are the earliest inhabitants of America. When Columbus arrived in America at the end of 15, he mistakenly thought that he had arrived in India and called the local residents Indians, that is, Indians. Later, this mistake was corrected, but the original inhabitants of America were still called Indians. Indians have black and stiff hair, prominent cheekbones and brown skin. Anthropologists think they belong to Mongolian race. It is generally believed that Indians went from Northeast Asia to America tens of thousands of years ago, first to Alaska, and then slowly spread to the whole America (some people think that they first reached South America through Australia and the South Pacific Islands).
Maya is a branch of Indians, who created a prosperous culture in the 4th 4- 10/0th century. Maya, who lived in Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize, were the only Indians with writing, and were called "Greeks of the New World". Before 1 1,000 BC, the Mayans had primitive agriculture and planted tomatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, cocoa, cotton, tobacco, peppers and other crops, some of which later spread all over the world, making contributions to enriching human life. At the beginning of the AD, Maya appeared in cities, with more than 65,438+000 people, including Palinke, Tikal, Mayapan in the northern Yucatan Peninsula, Chyi Chin-Cai Yi and so on.
In Mayan cities, there are flat-topped pyramids built of stone, with wide steps around them, and a temple dedicated to the sun god at the top of the tower, which is decorated with beautiful murals and sculptures. Take the pyramid of Ku Ku Ku Kun Temple in Qiqin, Caiyi as an example. The abutment of the pyramid is 24 meters high and each side is 55 meters wide. There are 90 steps and the temple is 6 meters high. At the bottom of the front steps, there are two feathered stone carvings of snake heads, which open their mouths and stick out a long tongue, which is very spectacular. Every spring equinox and autumn equinox, when the sun shines on the railing of the side wall, there will be a huge snake-like wave swimming, which is vivid and reflects the superb wisdom of the Mayan working people.
In the14th century, another group of Indians came to Mexico, settled on two small islands in Lake Teskoko, and established the city of Nostitlan. The Astark people worship the sun god Viziropochitri, and it is said that the place where the eagle stands on the cactus and pecks at the snake is their residence. "Mexico" means the place designated by the god of war, and the eagle eating snake pattern is still the national emblem of Mexico. Astek people are good at architecture. It took them less than 200 years to build the capital, Mexico City, into a big city with neat layout and great momentum. There is a giant pyramid in the central square of the city, which is 35 meters high. There are 120 steps on both sides, above which is a big temple dedicated to the god of war. There are 40 such pyramid temples in the city, which are very spectacular.