Mesoamerican and Andean ethnicity indicates genetic origins in “Mesoamerica” which is a historical term denoting the geographical region which housed pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations — such as the Aztec Empire — roughly corresponding to modern Central America. Further south, the Andean Mountains, which run along the western edge of South America, encompass most of the territories of the former Inca Empire. The populations of Mesoamerica and the Andes include a number of indigenous groups with pre-Columbian roots, including the Maya peoples of Mesoamerica, and the Quechua, Chibcha, and Aymara peoples of South America. As a result of a mixture between indigenous peoples and European colonialists, Mesoamerica is one of the most ethnically diverse regions in the world, with a predominance of mixed European and Indigenous American descent. Over the past century, growing economic and political disparities between North and Central America have precipitated a continuous wave of immigration from Mesoamerica into the United States.
Mesoamerican and Andean history
Starting in the second millennium B.C.E., Mesoamerica saw the rise of advanced agricultural societies which developed monumental ceremonial architecture as well as writing, cities, and states. The Olmec civilization flourished in modern southern-central Mexico between 1500 to 400 B.C.E. By the third century C.E., Mayan civilization had taken root in the area encompassing southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Aztec (self-named Culhua-Mexica) formed an empire across central and southern Mexico. Advanced agriculture undergirded the success of the Aztecs, including intensive and efficient cultivation, as well as elaborate systems of irrigation and reclamation of swampland. From its base in Tenochtitlán (modern-day Mexico City), the Aztec Empire held authority over 400 to 500 small states, ruling over 6 million people. Valor in war was the surest path to advancement in Aztec society, which was caste- and class-divided but allowed for upward mobility. Central American civilizations, including Mayans and Aztecs, produced many important innovations, such as unique writing systems, pyramid construction, complex mathematical and astronomical observations, early forms of medical surgery, and accurate calendar systems.
Between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Inca Empire was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America, encompassing most of western South America, centered on the Andean Mountains, and headquartered in Cusco in modern-day Peru. The Inca built extensive road networks throughout the empire and invented high-altitude agriculture methods specially adapted to the challenging conditions of the Andes region. The Inca social order was rooted in its unique cosmology: religious beliefs dictated everything from marriages to agriculture, government to burials, and successes and failures of any kind in life were ascribed to the influence of the gods and the Inca’s ancestors. Incas used quipu — elaborate knotted cotton or camelid fiber strings — to collect data and keep records, monitor tax obligations, collect census records, and organize the military. The most famous icon of Inca civilization is Machu Picchu, a fifteenth-century citadel located in southern Peru, which was abandoned following the Spanish conquest.
The sixteenth century saw a short but decisive chapter in Central and South American history: under the command of Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro, Spanish conquistadors overran the Aztec and Inca Empires. Through a combination of violence and disease (or, as historian Jared Diamond has famously put it, “guns, germs, and steel”), the indigenous peoples of the Americas were decimated by the European invaders, who often formed alliances with local tribes in order to destroy others. Although the Aztec and Inca Empires fell within a few decades, the ensuing colonization of the Americas involved staggering violence against indigenous populations up to the early twentieth century.
Mesoamerican and Andean culture
Today, Central America is overwhelmingly Christian (95%), with the majority of people maintaining the Roman Catholic faith introduced by the Spanish. Central American culture is warm, colorful, and eclectic: with a mix of Creole, Maya, Spanish, and British influence, music bars and dance halls are filled with salsa, calypso, and reggae music. Cuisine varies from nation to nation, but some of the region’s most famous dishes — including arepas, tacos, tortillas, and various salsas and other condiments like guacamole and chimichurri — are prepared and enjoyed all over the world.
Central America is a region with deeply rooted ancestral traditions; depending on the time of year, life, the dead, the saints, and the harvests are all celebrated. The most renowned of these festivals is the Mexican “Day of the Dead” (Día de Los Muertos). Despite its gloomy name, the holiday is a demonstration of love and respect for deceased family members: in towns and cities throughout Mexico, revelers clad in dazzling costumes and colorful makeup hold parades and parties, sing and dance, and make offerings to lost loved ones.
The culture of the Andes boasts a rich textile tradition dating back thousands of years. The designs of Peruvian textiles are as diverse and rich as the cultures that produced them, including both figurative and abstract designs and patterns. While garments are traditionally brightly colored and elaborately patterned, the garments worn by highland Andeans during the colonial period were characteristically plain and black. This has been interpreted as an act of mourning for the lost Inca Empire, but might simply be a result of cultural influence by Spanish colonists.
Mesoamerican and Andean languages
Quechuan, the main language family of the Inca Empire, is still common among peoples in the Peruvian Andes and highlands of South America. It is the most widely spoken language family of indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of some 8–10 million speakers. The region of Mesoamerica is much more linguistically diverse, containing several hundred different languages and several major language families, including the Mayan, Oto-Mangue, Mixe–Zoque, Totonacan, Uto-Aztecan, and Chibchan language families. Many Mesoamerican languages today are either endangered or already extinct, but others, including the Mayan languages Nahuatl, Mixtec, and Zapotec, have several hundred thousand speakers and remain viable. Yet, for all of the area’s linguistic diversity, Spanish stands as the most common language in Central and South America.
Explore more about ethnicity estimates
- MyHeritage DNA at MyHeritage
- Ethnicities around the world at MyHeritage
- What Is My Ethnicity? How MyHeritage Estimates Ethnicities at MyHeritage Knowledge Base
- Where's My Ethnicity?!: Why An Ethnicity Might Not Show Up In Your DNA (and How To Find Evidence Of It Anyway) at MyHeritage Knowledge Base