Native American Encyclopedia The-Other-Magpie To Zuni

Native American Encyclopedia The-Other-Magpie To Zuni — page 7
10 Toltec Toltec refers to an ancient civilization of central Mexico that flourished from A D 900 to A D 1200 It was the second of three great empires of its region The first was the Teotihuacan Empire and the third was the Aztec Empire The Toltec Empire was the first in the region to use military force to control its neighbors During its height the Toltec Empire controlled most of central Mexico the Yucatan Peninsula and the Gulf Coast Its capital Tula was a planned city with paved streets and about 60,000 residents Toltec people considered their leaders to be like gods Their religion included two main gods Quetzalcoatl a feathered serpent and Tezcatlipoca the god of fate and destiny Toltec artists decorated city walls with carvings such as snakes and skulls and built huge statues of men called the Atlantes In the 1100s attacking groups years later the Aztec Empire controlled central Mexico Tomahawk is a type of axe invented by Native Americans The word tomahawk comes from the Algonquian words tamahak or tamahakan A tomahawk is lightweight and easy for throwing It has a straight handle and a wide blade Native Americans made their first tomahawks with blades of sharpened stone They later made blades from iron or brass which were prized trade items gotten from Europeans They used the tomahawk both as a weapon and as a tool Native Americans held up tomahawks to show that a war was to begin They would bury a tomahawk to show there was a peace agreement Tomahawks could also be important symbols of leadership destroyed the Toltec Empire Two hundred Europeans presented tomahawks to Native American chiefs as a symbol of friendship Some tomahawks are richly decorated such as this Missouri River tomahawk axe