What the Ancients Did for Us - The Aztecs and Maya 1/3

What the Ancients Did for Us - The Aztecs and Maya Part 1

Series examining the innovations and inventions of ancient civilisations. Roving reporter Hermione Cockburn describes Aztec and Mayan inventions.

The Aztecs and the Mayas - known collectively as Mesoamericans - have been processing rubber and latex for over 3500 years (imagine a world without rubber or chewing gum) and they also invented the rubber ball and used it in their deadly ball game where the losing team would be sacrificed.

As an alternative to iron these inventive people made their knives, spears and arrow heads from Obsidian, an extremely sharp stone. Nowadays, surgeons use Obsidian instead of steel scalpels.

They understood the healing power of the rainforest and its plants - amazingly three quarters of all our medicine comes from plants - and in their hands, the wild yam formed the basis of world's first birth control pill. They understood quinine and many European settlers preferred to attend the local Aztec healer rather than their own doctor.

More than half the foods we eat originated in the New World, including potatoes, tomatoes, maize and turkey. But there was one thing that the Aztecs loved above all: chocolate. To them, the cacao bean was so precious they used it as their currency.

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• Aztec
• Maya
• Mexico
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[AdawehiMeliLayton]

5 stars for the info! Would have been much better if Aztec and Mayans were the ones talking about their history, instead of europeans who pick and choose only what they like.

[1racehumanrace]

european children are learning our history, what the fuck mexico wake up and keep the fuck up... teach YOUR indegenous children their history, their pride, their culture... fucking bitch this vid pisses me off and some of his facts are wrong. the natives did not have the concept of gods that is an colonial term, it was more about science, reality, duality. mexica belief system has been dramaticaly misinturpreted...

[coolestpyro]

heh heh.... cockburn

[jethro035181]

@Chuckjagerdiver ...syphilis was unknown in europe prior to the voyages of christopher columbus...the first major outbreak occurred in naples in 1494...columbus's sailors picked it up doing christian missionary work among caribbean natives...the reservation system, and wetbacks aren't our only benefits from these people

[Chuckjagerdiver]

@jethro035181 Native Americans came up with syphilis? Man you're a 'tard. Sorry. I didn't know your limitations.

[jethro035181]

@Chuckjagerdiver ...they also gave us cocaine, tobacco, chicano street gangs and freddy fender, but does that make them a great civilization...native americans also came up with syphilis...enough badinage, 'cause i must go to a john birch society meeting

[Chuckjagerdiver]

@jethro035181 Well, Jethro if you've ever put a few snickers bars in that beergut of yers you should know that chocolate is from these civilizations. Coffee too. Tomatoes too. There's too much more to really waste my time with an ignorant redneck like you.

[Chuckjagerdiver]

The hell is she looking at thru the telescope when it's overcast with T-storms?

[mattcooke]

hermione cockburn........lol

[wildcora]

It is the same in Canada....we learn about nothing about the First Nations in our schools....if we do it is so watered down and trivial

[jethro035181]

i've watched 1/3 of this video and have yet to see one contribution to civilization that these cannibalistic savages have accomplished....no farmer needs a calendar to know when to plant...meso-america has given us chili peppers, chihuahua dogs and illegal immigrants, not anything else....it's fashionable now to ascribe all sorts of mystical knowledge and merit to native americans, where none existed...this is yet another exercise in political correctness

[halfpipepuppies]

@halfpipepuppies WTF