What are the differences and similarities between the Maya, Inca and Aztec?
There are far more differences than similarities between these three.For example, their agriculture was vastly different. The Quechua (aka Incas), native from the Andes mountain range, had a system of terraces known as Anden. They also developed animal husbandry (alpacas, vicuñas and llamas) to a level unknown elsewhere in pre-Columbian America.The Mexica (aka Aztecs), living in a far different environment, the islets on the marshy Valley of Anahuac, developed the Chinampa: a floating device to grow vegetables that covered an important fraction of the Xochimilco and Chalco lakes.The Maya, enjoying a somewhat better situation than their neighbors from central Mexico, developed the Milpa cycle, and slash-and-burn agriculture.The common denominator was Maize, originally from Mexico and which was already a staple of Quechua diet by the Spanish arrival.Their pantheons, social and political organizations, and architecture are some other fields were they developed differently.Also common among the three civilizations were civil calendars, the founding of cities, the practice of monumental architecture and the use of hydraulic engineering to provide and control the water supply, something that in the end made possible the birth of these civilizations.
How does (Fine) Art influence architecture, infrastructure and urban planning? Can you show examples?
Architects extract inspiration from lots of different fields outside of the architectural bubble and the fine arts have certainly been influential. This influence, to a large degree, is not always obvious and where it has been, the trend has often been short lived. Architecture is a broad field and fashion and stylistic trends are so fast moving that architects either can't keep up or do not believe in submitting to these 'vices' lest their designs be soon rendered irrelevant.Below, however, are some examples of movements where the influence of the fine arts has been overt, and straightforward.Der StijlComposition XI - Theo Van Doesburg (1918)Composition with Black, Red, Gray, Yellow, and Blue - Piet Mondrian (1920)Schröder House - Gerard Reitveld (1924) ExteriorSchröder House - Gerard Reitveld (1924) InteriorTheo Van Doesburg Painting's influence on Mies Van Der Rohe's plan for Barcelona Pavilion (1927).Art NouveauPeacock Skirt - Aubrey Beardsley (1892)Tassel House - Victor Horta (completed in 1894)Paris Metro Entrances - Hector Guimard (1900)Cubism + Russian ContructivismRussian Contructivist Painting - Kazimir Malevich (1915) Approx Vitra Fire Station - Initial Conceptual Drawing by Zaha HadidVitra Fire Station - Zaha Hadid (Completed 1993)Glass on Table 1 - Georges Braque (1912)Guggenheim Museum Bilbao - Frank Gehry (1997)
Did the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas coexist or were those cultures sequential?
I have read the textbook academic account of precolumbian America, and found little compelling evidence to support their claims. The account given by the mystics seemed more credible.Edgar Cayce reported that the Inca empire began in circa 10,000 bce. Right after a pole shift, that put much of central America on the seabed. The Toltec culture may have collapsed as a result. Many of the survivors of the inundation migrated to Peru, Ohio to become the moundbuilders, and to Arizona.There was another pole shift in 3113 bce, that uplifted much of the lands of central America, including Yucatan, with its empty cities and pyramids.Peru had a major uplift of its central plateau during the last event, losing much cropland. The Inca decided to make Yucatan a colony, and sent a major migration there. This was mentioned by the early writer de la Vega. They were joined by some Hebrew Lost Tribes, and they began the Mayan culture.Sometime later those Toltec that had went north to Arizona, known as the Aztec, returned to Mexico. Blood rituals and human sacrifices became a part of the Aztec and Mayan religion. This terrible situation caused many to flee Mexico and head to Ohio, to start another phase of moundbuilders, the Hopewell.Over time, the expansion of the Incas, and the human sacrifices of Mexico, caused more tribes to flee north, becoming the native tribes met by colonists.