Highlighting the long and intricate history behind the myths and legends of the Aztecs, the Maya, the Toltecs and the Olmecs.

Gorgeous Collector's Edition. Mesoamerican culture is rooted in the region of modern Mexico where some 3500 years ago ancient peoples called the Olmecs farmed and created beautiful art and pottery at roughly the same time as the Middle Kingdom Ancient Egyptians, the Babylonians and a little after the Indus Valley societies of India. After the Olmecs many different groups emerged, amongst them the sophisticated Maya 200 years after the beginning of the Common Era. In turn they would be superseded by the Toltecs, during the long period that the Vikings swept across the length of Europe in search of silver.

Another precious metal, gold, was plentiful in the Americas, the control of which was mastered by the successors of the Toltecs, the Aztecs, also known as the Mexica, who grew to dominate the region from the 13th to the 15th Century. Soon they would lend their name to the a great new city, Mexico. Through a fascinating selection of historical texts on the region and a thoughtful new introduction summarising how we understand the region today, his book traces the development of the early peoples, the emergence of some of the key civilizations of the many rich and varied societies of Mesoamerica, ending tragically with arrival of the Spanish explorers hungry for land, and for Aztec gold.