Ancient American Civilizations

by Friedrich Katz

Book Overview

From small village communities to prosperous city-states that culminated in the magnificent empires of the Aztecs and Incas, this classic work traces the development of pre-Columbian America, its... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0785818340
• ISBN13: 9780785818342
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Packages
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Ancient Americas - from the beginning to the Invasion

From the cover: Originally published in Germany in 1969. Ever since Columbus set foot on American soil ("invaded" is the correct term), and convinced he had reached India, called the native populations Indians, the origins of the aboriginal inhabitants have been hotly debated. There are few empires about which such contradictory ideas persist as those of the Inca and the Aztecs. Katz Begins his study of the ancient American civilizations - spanning the vast period from the first peoples, thirty-five to fifty thousand years ago, to the Spanish Conquest of 1517 - with a discussion of the sources of our knowledge. He describes the inhabitants, their agriculture - and the cultural sphere of Mesoamerica. Tracing the development of the civilizations of pre-Columbian America from village communities to prosperous city states, this is a fascinating account of how these civilizations culminated in the magnificent empires of the Aztecs and Inca.