Toltec

The Toltecs (from Nahuatl tolteca, "inhabitants of Tollan " ) were a Mesoamerican culture that dominated most of central Mexico between the 10th and 12th centuries. In pre-Columbian times was understood by the term " Toltec " also, more generally, people who were sent artisanal or artistic extraordinary, as one of the "historic" Toltecs nachsagte appropriate skills.

History

The reconstruction of the history of the Toltecs based on both archaeological and historical sources. Unfortunately, the statements of a source type can hardly be linked to those of others. One reason for this may be that the historical descriptions are present in texts that were written after the middle of the 16th century, ie about half a millennium after the supposed heyday of Tollan Xicocotitlan. Therefore, they are actually more legends as historical reports.

According to historical sources

The Toltecs migrated to central Mexico in the ninth century. There they established their city Tollan Xicocotitlán ( Tula, Hidalgo ) as a new leading power, having reigned a power vacuum in the approximately two hundred years after the sinking of Teotihuacán. The immigrants lived in their town along with another group called Nonoalca and their origin is suspected on the Gulf Coast. Possible reason for the rise is the acquisition of control of already used by Teotihuacán obsidian deposits.

Paul Kirchhoff reconstructed from a few sentences of the Historia Tolteca - Chichimeca, a document in Nahuatl of the modern state of Puebla, a toltekisches territory, which was divided into four provinces, but this reconstruction is very controversial. The situation is similar with the reach of the cultural influence of the Toltecs. According to legend, the priest Quetzalcoatl left after the decline of the city of Tula and moved with his followers to the east, where they submitted to the Mayan city of Chichen Itza. Indeed, can the Toltec 's influence in the art and architecture of Chichén Itzá prove. A compound of two cultures therefore can not be denied, how they came about, is not clear.

Big problems arise especially when trying to gain from the often conflicting sources of historical facts, especially in the case of loss of Tula. The key role in the legends play two men named Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl and Huemac, for their existence, life or role in the Toltec society so far in science still no real consensus could be achieved. It is extremely difficult to filter out of the sometimes contradictory legends real historical facts.

In the ancient sources it is said that Quetzalcoatl was seduced by demons to debauchery through which he brought evil upon his home. Finally, he had after he was repeatedly plagued by visitations, leave Tula with his followers. Then Huemac took control, but died soon after he had also been plagued by demons. Quetzalcoatl, however, took to the sea, where it is either burned himself, and became the Morning Star or moved away over the sea. It is still debatable whether he actually promised before his return, or whether this was a deliberate invention from the period after the Spanish conquest of Mexico and to what extent such a promise during the conquest played a role.

After the archaeological record

Archaeological findings confirm colonization of Tula to the 11th century. The culture of the Toltecs seem to have included a large part of central Mexico, but the existence of a Toltec empire is the question of size, structure, nothing at all practically assured.

Main factors for the decline may have been Bodenauslaugung, climate changes, disputes between the Nonoalca and the descendants of the settlement group from the north as well as an invasion of peoples from the north. Most of these invaders is the role of the Chichimeca, a nomadic people from the north of Mesoamerica attributed. Whether the penetration of the Chichimeca was a causal factor in the decline or rather one of its consequences is not decided.