CENTRAL AMERICA: MAYA, INCA AND AZTECS
Floor 1Of all pre-Columbian cultures of Central America, the most prestigious was the Maya and its influence on other peoples (especially Aztecs) is comparable to that of Greeks on Romans during classical antiquity.
During the first millennium, while the western populations were sinking into obscurantism, the Mayans reached the peak of their achievements in various fields: art, architecture, mathematics and astronomy.
They discovered the principle of position and invented zero. The system was based on twenty, the symbols were very simple: points and strokes.
The Mayan Mature was developed solely to meet the needs of time calculation and astronomical observations.
Around the thousand and until the Spanish conquest (1521) was in use at Inca of Peru the quipu, a method of registration, formed by colored strings with knots.
The Aztecs They used a modified additive representation method to represent numbers of their numberal system with base 20.
The Mayan Country extends from the Yucatán coast to Guatemala, from the Tabasco to Honduras, for about 1700 Km from north to south and 600 Km from west to east.
The quipu, the first counting device used by the Incas (1200-1500 CE).
The Aztec Sun Stone has a diameter of 3.5 meters and weighs 26 tons.
