MAYA EMPIRE
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Spanish Conquistadors were ruthless mercenaries, who murdered thousands of Aztec natives, for gold. The Aztecs were also bloodthirsty, with rituals involving live human sacrifices. Spain, like many other European countries at that time, were keen to establish colonies, from where to export riches to their European masters. Such a notion, while viable at that time was doomed to eventual independences, as slaves revolted against their masters.
The
Maya civilization of the Mesoamerican people is known by its ancient temples and glyphs. Its Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. It is also noted for its art, architecture, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical system.
Rule during the Classic period centred on the concept of the "divine king", who was thought to act as a mediator between mortals and the supernatural realm. Kingship was usually (but not exclusively) patrilineal, and power normally passed to the eldest son. A prospective king was expected to be a successful war leader as well as a ruler. Closed patronage systems were the dominant force in Maya politics, although how patronage affected the political makeup of a kingdom varied from city-state to city-state. By the Late Classic period, the aristocracy had grown in size, reducing the previously exclusive power of the king. The Maya developed sophisticated art forms using both perishable and non-perishable materials, including wood, jade, obsidian, ceramics, sculpted stone monuments, stucco, and finely painted murals.
The Aztec and Maya empires were neighbours in Central America, convenient to Spanish conquest objectives. As opposed to the Inca, who were in South America.
Artists impression of the city of Tenochtitlán
Like
the ancient
Egyptians, the Maya were quite advanced metallurgically.
The Spanish laid siege to the Aztec city of Tenochtitlán, driven by gold fever and dreams of conquest.
Montezuma and an Aztec ceremonial outfit, adorned with gold, the eventual downfall of the civilization.
Spanish Conquistadors were ruthless mercenaries, who murdered thousands of Aztec natives, for gold. The Aztecs were also bloodthirsty, with rituals involving live human sacrifices. Spain, like many other European countries at that time, were keen to establish colonies, from where to export riches to their European masters. Such a notion, while viable at that time was doomed to eventual independences, as slaves revolted against their masters.
In 1511, a Spanish caravel was wrecked in the Caribbean, and about a dozen survivors made landfall on the coast of Yucatán. They were seized by a Maya lord, and most were sacrificed, although two managed to escape. From 1517 to 1519, three separate Spanish expeditions explored the Yucatán coast, and engaged in a number of battles with the Maya inhabitants. After the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan fell to the Spanish in 1521, Hernán Cortés despatched Pedro de Alvarado to Guatemala with 180 cavalry, 300 infantry, 4 cannons, and thousands of allied warriors from central Mexico; they arrived in Soconusco in 1523. The Kʼicheʼ capital, Qʼumarkaj, fell to Alvarado in 1524. Shortly afterwards, the Spanish were invited as allies into Iximche, the capital city of the Kaqchikel
Maya. Good relations did not last, due to excessive Spanish demands for gold as tribute, and the city was abandoned a few months
later. This was followed by the fall of Zaculeu, the Mam Maya capital, in 1525. Francisco de Montejo and his son, Francisco de Montejo the Younger, launched a long series of campaigns against the polities of the Yucatán Peninsula in 1527, and finally completed the conquest of the northern portion of the peninsula in 1546. This left only the Maya kingdoms of the Petén Basin independent. In 1697, Martín de Ursúa launched an assault on the Itza capital Nojpetén and the last independent Maya city fell to the Spanish.
STORM BY NAME, STORMY BY NATURE - Only two people knew where Henry Morgan's golden hoard was stashed, and they are both in Davy Jones Locker. Blackbeard was tortured to death by a British officer, trying to extract the secret, Henry Morgan died of a heart attack in Jamaica. John Storm discovers the location, but refuses to tell, even in the International Court, where Hague prosecutors try every trick in the book to make him reveal all. The British and Spanish gambits backfire, when the Court find no claim for Britain or Spain, but exonerate John, and appoint him unofficial arbitrator, with the full backing of those with genuine heritage claims.
The best known golden treasures are Doubloons, Guineas and Sovereigns. Other forms of transportable money are diamonds, rubies and emeralds. In this fictional John Storm adventure, Henry Morgan is the pirate who liberated the gold that the Spanish had stolen from the Aztecs, Inca and possible Maya Empires. And Blackbeard is the pirate who knew part of the secret location, that he took with him to the grave.
The original Treasure Island was written by Robert Louis Stevenson, becoming an instant hit, popular with children and adults, the subject of many films and graphic novels.
When food shortages and the energy crisis really begins to bite, only gold, silver and gemstones will be worth anything, by way of savings and pensions. Banks who trade in real coin of the realm, are the only ones who will be trusted in the future. Coins could soon make a comeback. The good news is that countries do not need to mint their own. Anyone can produce a quarter ounce dollar, based on the value of gold itself, rather than what any nation says it is worth. We'd suggest that gold is index linked to food, timber and other essential commodities.
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Dig for treasure with our A - Z or set a course for HOME me hearties
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