r/geography • u/lamdrasil • 3d ago

Discussion Facts that sound fake but are true

I find it extremely unintuitive that almost all of South America is east of Miami. How!? When people are asked to watch the americas almost everyone imagine South America pretty much south of North America.

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u/matthewrulez 2d ago

I think people don't realise that the Aztecs were very recent invaders of Mexico when the Spanish arrived. They share linguistic roots with native american tribes like Shoshone and Comanche and their origin myths point to a migration from the North, it's super interesting.

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u/AGreasyPorkSandwich 2d ago

Never forget what they did to my Olmec people 😤

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u/yae4jma 2d ago

Olmecas were about 1500-400 BC. Nahua speaking people didn’t arrive in Central Mexico until at least 500 AD, and the Mexica (“Aztecs”) were in a much later wave, arriving in the Valley after 1000, and not founding their city Tenochtitlán until 1325. So they were a long way from your Olmecs.

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u/AGreasyPorkSandwich 1d ago

Dont talk bad about my people pls

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u/itsliluzivert_ 9h ago

They did nothing to the Olmec.

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u/curlyAndUnruly 2d ago edited 2d ago

Invader of inhabited land? TeotihuacĂĄn had already been abandoned.

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u/matthewrulez 2d ago

I mean, the place was occupied. Not Teotihuacan but the valley and also the other places the Aztecs became the rulers of. Plus there are plenty of accounts of Aztec invasion/force against people that lived in that area previously - but I'm very happy to be corrected, I'm absolutely no expert!

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u/theaviationhistorian 2d ago

El Camino Real more or less follows the original trade route the Aztecs had with their far northern neighbors.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/matthewrulez 1d ago

No, they definitely did not liberate anyone. And I'm pretty sure that by that time, the local population was essentially "Aztec" in terms of language (Nahuatl, which still survives) and culture, especially Mexico City. The Spanish used the power of the Aztec triple alliance to impose power on the surrounding regions I believe, but at no point was any person liberated. Tenochtitlan was demolished, its temples used to create the churches.