The Olmec Culture

The Olmec Culture

The first indigenous groups that settled down in Mesoamérica was the Olmec culture. We belive that they arrived more or less in the year 1.100 before Christ and that they came from mountains of Guatemala. They had like characteristic the construction of done primitive pyramids with mud, earth and stones, on which their temples were raised.

They called to themselves the Xi (chi) and their language was protomayanhuastec.

The inhabitated mainly in the states of Veracruz and Tabasco to borders of the Gulf of Mexico, in a region with jungles in which the rivers, lagoons and marshes abound.

That zone had advantages for the development of agriculture because it rained much and the soil was fertil. The fauna of the place in where they inhabited consisted in monkeys, opossum, turkies, deers, birds of beautiful plumages and jaguars, that also served for their feeding and like religious symbols.

The Olmec culture has been considered like the culture mother of the Mesoamerican civilizations beacuse of being the first and because from it, the others were derived, it influenced in the other cultures.

Their main cities were 3 Zapotes, and San Lorenzo in Veracruz, as well as la Venta, in Tabasco.

Goverment

Its government was theocratic, that is to say, it was presided over by king-priests who took care of which the religion and the policy were always closely interlaced. They had a Politheist religion. The most important deity was the one that represented agriculture. The life was represented by a jaguar and one snake. The jaguar represented the Earth and the serpent the Water. The maize grew in the Earth along with the Water, and therefore from the combination of the two the Life came.

Some of their Gods were:

Quetzalcóatl - God of rain, the climate and the maize.People imagined him as a sanke covered in feathers.

Huehueteotl - the old God, God of the fire.

The Jaguar God - the most important God, God of the Life, represented by an animal half jaguar, half serpent.

Agriculture

Agriculture was the base of its feeding, the more known products were the maize, the beans and the pumpkins. In order to plant seeds, they used the cutting system and grazes, that consisted of cutting and burning, which it allowed an advantage of the fertile ground of the forest.

Astronomy and Mathematics

For the Olmec culture the ceremonial centers were very important, from which a sacerdotal one was derived chaste dedicated to the knowledge of astronomy, the mathematics, the calendar, the beginnings of the writing and several principles of the technology.

Another equaly important thing was the military men, made up of the chiefs and the soldiers. Another group of powerfull men was the one of shamans and old men, although these were under the orders of other leaders of greater hierarchy.

Art

Their art had several forms like the enormous monoliths that conform the colossal heads, the altars in form of thrones and the wakes, that narrate historical events. Also there are smaller pieces as stone axes, masks, busts, command batons of wood or rubber balls.

How arriving to:

How to arrive to Tabasco:

By car

By the state highway 180 can be arrived at Tabasco from the Distrito Federal, Puebla and Veracruz; also, by this route in inverse sense, of east to west, it is possible to enter the state from Quintana Roo, Yucatan and Campeche.

If you are in Chiapas, you can arrive at Tabasco by highway 195.

The lines of terrestrial transport that operate are: ADO, ADO GL, Uno and Cristóbal Colón. www.ticketbus.com.mx

By sea

Tabasco's State counts with a height port, 2 Bocas, where they can berth boats or yachts.

By Air

More than 300 weekly flights they connect to Tabasco with the whole world

The international airport of Villahermosa receives daily flights of Houston, Texas; Mexico, D.F.; Tampico, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, City of the Carmen, Mérida, Cancún, Rich Poza, Puebla and of Havana, Cuba.

These flights are operated by the main air lines like Aeroméxico, Mexican, Aerocaribe, Aviacsa, Aerolitoral, Aeromar and Continental Airline.

From the Federal District's Zocalo to until Villahermosa, Tabasco.

How to arrive to:

By land

The State has modern and functional terminals of buses exist, in which economic services of first class are received and, being the main lines of buses:

ADO

UNO

AU

Cristóbal Colón

The main wagon axes are:

Freeway Mexico - Puebla - Orizaba - Cordova - The Tinaja - Veracruz Freeway The Tinaja - Wagon Coatzacoalcos Federal Mexico - Puebla - Perote - Xalapa - Wagon Veracruz Veracruz - Coast Emerald - Rich Poza - Tuxpan - Wagon Tampico Veracruz - The Tuxtlas (Santiago, San Andrés, Catemaco) - Wagon Coatzacoalcos Mexico - Pachuca - Rich Poza Also it can in aerial route, since veracruz has with a national and international airport, and counts on accessible prices. Of the Zocalo of the Federal District until Xalapa, Veracruz.