The Americas and Time Keeping: Crash Course History of Science #5

In this episode of Crash Course History of Science, we travel to the Americas to ask the question, "When are we?" and get some answers. We'll look at the Maya, Inca, and Olmec civilizations and how they recorded their science.
***
Crash Course is on Patreon! You can support us directly by signing up at / crashcourse
Thanks to the following Patrons for their generous monthly contributions that help keep Crash Course free for everyone forever:
Mark Brouwer, Glenn Elliott, Justin Zingsheim, Jessica Wode, Eric Prestemon, Kathrin Benoit, Tom Trval, Jason Saslow, Nathan Taylor, Divonne Holmes à Court, Brian Thomas Gossett, Khaled El Shalakany, Indika Siriwardena, Robert Kunz, SR Foxley, Sam Ferguson, Yasenia Cruz, Eric Koslow, Caleb Weeks, Tim Curwick, Evren Türkmenoğlu, Alexander Tamas, D.A. Noe, Shawn Arnold, mark austin, Ruth Perez, Malcolm Callis, Ken Penttinen, Advait Shinde, Cody Carpenter, Annamaria Herrera, William McGraw, Bader AlGhamdi, Vaso, Melissa Briski, Joey Quek, Andrei Krishkevich, Rachel Bright, Alex S, Mayumi Maeda, Kathy & Tim Philip, Montather, Jirat, Eric Kitchen, Moritz Schmidt, Ian Dundore, Chris Peters, Sandra Aft, Steve Marshall
--
Want to find Crash Course elsewhere on the internet?
Facebook - / youtubecrashcourse
Twitter - / thecrashcourse
Tumblr - / thecrashcourse
Support Crash Course on Patreon: / crashcourse
CC Kids: / crashcoursekids

[@torrawel]

Mesoamericanist here (yes, that actually exists :). A few points: (I actually really liked the video by the way. Please don't see all these points as very negative. Most of them are just tiny things. On of the biggest problems indigenous peoples of the Americas face nowadays is that their history is being ignored. In schoolbooks, at universities, in Europe, but (more sad), in the Americas as well. So thank you for making this and keep up with the good work!). "Stone carvings mostly concern gods and wars" (1:35)...... Not entirely true. There is indeed a lot about wars, that's right. But the 4 books actually talk a lot more about gods than the stones, who mostly talk about human (or supposed human) history. The idea that they were mostly about gods is a bit outdated (= pre- 1990s/1980s). (2:26): besides the "art style", the others are not Olmec but (lookalike Maya), Maya, and Aztec (calendar system). (3:15): not only future dates, also for the past (3:29): we are very, very, very sure that didn't believe the world would end in our year 2012. They also didn't run out of anything and wrote about events that will happen in the far far future, well beyond our 2012 year. (3:48) again, the calendar shown here is NOT Mayan, but Aztec. And we see different calendars, they didn't . For them it was one system. (5:29) "symbolic" is a bit of a weird word. Pictographic, logographic & ideographic would be better. (7:31) ah, I was waiting for that one... the wheel and the horse... :). We don't really know if they used the wheel a lot or not. They surely had it (as was proven a long time ago). One of the fascinating lidar discoveries is that the roads (the so called "sac beho'ob", white roads) were a lot longer, bigger & wider., connecting not only palaces, but also cities. The horse wasn't there, that's true. But obviously you don't need those to build big cities. The idea that they didn't have wheels is a misunderstanding of 19-century research about the lack of chariots (which, of course, makes sense when there are no horses). (7:31) A common mistake... There was no Maya empire, neither hydraulic, nor otherwise. There were a lot of city states, some bigger than others, some, indeed, almost empire-like. But there never was 1 big Maya empire. That says of course nothing about how big the civilization was. (7:49): "under stress"... Hot research topic and well discussed nowadays! 1st of all, there was no such thing as a civilization collapse (thank you, mister Jared Diamond). It transformed a lot: old cities fell in disuse, new ones grew and became very powerful (like Mayapan for example). What seems to have collapsed was the ruling system of the Classic Period. About the Long Count. Another misconception I'm afraid. It was still used at the time of the Spaniards, as in evident from the remaining books (all written in the Post Classic Period, and mostly at the end of that period, between the 13th and the 16th century). (8:20): "Nah WHO ahs?". ooooww! That actually hurt my ears :) . It's pronounced something like (spelling for English language speakers): "Nah Wahs". And the Lake, in there language Nahuatl is pronounced "Tesh-Co-Co". The "x" was pronounced as "sh". It later changed in Spain to represent the "ks"-sound of today, but when the Spaniards arrived in the 16th century it was still a "sh"-sound. (9:14): The Aztecs (or better: "Mexicah", with a sh-sound!) didn't use the MAYA-calendar Round, the thing was Mesoamerican, not just Mayan. (10:35), yep. Not only Mesoamericanist, altough I'm not sure if the word "Andeanist" also exists :) Anyway, to answer a lot of the questions about the spelling: yes, Inka is as correct as Inca. Quechua (the language of the empire and still spoken in different forms from Colombia till Argentina) nowadays, has officially adopted the letter "k" in a lot of places although the "c" is also still wildly used. The same goes for the letter "w", versus the more Spanish looking "hua" (kay/cay = to be. Wasi/Huasi = house). By the way, the Inka/Inca-empire didn't start at CE 1100. The people were there, for sure, but the empire only started in the 15th century.

[@norhaifahbanyamen4560]

Mayans and aztecs are so amazing because they discovered some medicine, science and astronomy. The progression of science in america answered a lot of questions about the progression of science. But it so sad that everything lost. Spanish empire is truly a destroyer because if i'm not mistaken even here in the Philippines we lost our ancient knowledge becuase of them.

[@krono5el]

maya were around thousands of years, the aztec were only around a couple hundred, aztec prob adopted their knowledge from the maya

[@xSTTS]

I always feel a little warm inside me when I read about Mayans because they were so smart and if you only knew how poorly their descendants are still treated you'd weep, anyways great video as always Hank you're a great guy

[@LazyMe420]

...It's always so sad to know a part of history was lost :/

[@Celebfinewn]

Yeah I had a hard time not crying

[@Monochromicornicopia]

RIP Notre Dame

[@mdennisrva4301]

Mr Shambleface wasn’t human sacrifice relatively rare though?

[@Mamarchist]

@@danstiver9135 We still send our kids to war. JS.

[@Mamarchist]

More like destroyed.

[@greyjay9492]

What is thyme and how do we measure it Thyme is a vegetable. Quantities of thyme are mostly measured in cups, kilos, pounds, and grams

[@fatmahsumayyahlangco7971]

Mayans, Aztects, and Inac contributes a lot in Science especially in the fields of Astonomy and Medicine. What an admirable cultures.

[@leonelmanzanares7044]

As a Mexican, I truly appreciate the use of the term "Spanish Genocide". When they teach History in our schools, they're never that brave to call it for its real name.

[@sirlordhenrymortimer6620]

Leonel Manzanares most of the Aztecs died because of diseases ,not by Spanish conwuestador. Beside which, local tribes despised the Aztecs because of their religious sacrifices so, they invited the Spaniards.

[@tecpaocelotl]

Leonel Manzanares people get scared, but that is what it was.

[@Artemisarrowzz]

You have to take into account that many died of deseases and infighting. The spanish were aided by the aztect's enemy in their conquest, as they had the habit of enslaving their neighbours, like most ancient cultures did. In fact, I was suprised to learn that in most of my country (Colombia), at least half of the spanish army was made of indians, who took payment in exchange of literally aiding to kill all their neightbours and even betraying many of their tribes, because some of them (SOME) were so shitty that they prefered to join the spanish. Of course that doesn't excuse the treatment of everyone that wasn't a spanish spanish and not a colonist, specially slaves (remember that if you didn't come from spain, you barely had any rights), but it would be false to asume that it was a 1v1 battle, or that we had it better before they came. The world was extremely horrible at the time, no matter where you were, wars were common and slaves too valuable. And it wasn't a genocide, just a regular conquest. Genocide would be if they had killed every person who looked or descended from an indian (like what happend with jews in ww2), and I believe that specially mexicans, bolivians and peruans are a perfect example that it wasn't that case.

[@leonelmanzanares7044]

Laura Castañeda I do take that into account. However, a Genocide is not only the killing of peoples, it's also the systematic erasure of their culture and history. Spain definitely played that role in the conquest.

[@Artemisarrowzz]

Leonel+ you are right in that last statement. It really sucks that the spanish inquisition was so obsessed with the elimination of other cultures after they quicked the moors out, but I could understand it a little. Eliminating their identity would make any fallen empire easier to enslave.

[@17roses32]

2:57 he's so enthusiastic about this Crash Course and I'm loving it

[@darkrai6543]

Hank, I hope you do an eventual episode on the fantastically fascinating number Zero like John promised long ago back during the World History course. I wanna see it, and this is just the right course for it!

[@oliviamercer2186]

+

[@rawhamburgerjoe]

Ooooooooo yeaaah!

[@NidaAhmed1711]

My students will benefit from this a lot.

[@mattzhang4854]

+

[@alexventimilla6910]

@CrashCourse, Thank you so much for the final lines. The knowledge lost because of the Spanish genocide was invaluable, and people of Mesoamerican descent lost this heritage due to European colonization. You sort of talked about this, but I think the most valuable knowledge that the Aztecs had that we could all benefit from today was how to run a 300,000 ppl city while producing essentially no human waste. How? They used human waste to fertilize their polycultures! (human waste--> detritus feeders (worms, insects) --> native fish and axolotls (edible and producers of fertilizer) --> crops on floating gardens). Anybody interested in learning more about this should pick up Lane Simonian's "Defending the Land of the Jaguar". Btw, it's pronounced na-WAH, not nah-who-ah :)

[@Pirate3World]

I guess you have the book? Could you do me a favour and look if she recites any reference for the fertilizer claim? I am sincerely interested to see what its based on. Please

[@MajoraZ]

Ra Firction: It's pretty well documented and established. A good general source on Aztec sanitation and medical systems is a paper called "Public Health in Aztec Society", which you can find online for free if you google it. That being said, I don't agree with calling it a Genocide per Alex Ventimilla's point: That's not to say what the Spanish diid wasn't bad, they just wanted a population to rule over and exploit, rather then to exterminate them: It's still just as bad, just not the same sort of bad. It does, howeverr, absolutely qualify as a CULTURAL genocide due to the intentional eradication and destruction of native books, religion, and social and political systems.

[@rebekahcastro5430]

Thank you for your comment! And for correcting the pronunciation of Nahua. I know a few words of Nahuatl from my husband who grew up in Toluca within view of the Ixtalcihuatl volcano. It's a fascinating history that still has its mark on the people there today, seemingly especially in small towns like where my husband grew up where thea large percentage of the population is of indigenous ancestry. I find it sad that some Mexicans that I know have made fun of others for "acting Indian" or "sounding Indian" (meaning Indian as in Native). I said something with a few slight mispronunciation once and my friend said "te eschuco bien India" and laughed at me. This is sad when you take into account the subjugation of the native Mesoamerican peoples and the fact that they remain marginalized today. I can comfirm, however, that many aspects of the cultures persist in small towns across Mexico and Latin America. My husband is teaching me about his heritage and I love it 💜💜

[@Ny0s]

The amount of knowledge lost for futile reasons is so sad... I'd love to see what a non destroyed Mesoamerican modern world would look like.

[@CSHallo]

Y'all should backtrack and do a segment on Polynesian navigational sciences and supporting knowledge bases.

[@AEHCPIRPTPS1120]

I wish something was mentioned about pre-Incan societies who are often forgotten. Archaeology has shown many of the Inca feats of engineering were done by previous cultures. The Inca stood on the shoulders of giants like the Nazca and Moche who built many road systems or agricultural terraces of pre-Chavin societies. Otherwise, solid video. There are some interesting books and articles by mathematicians and archaeologists about why the khipu could be an undeciphered language system, and I lean toward it being a language system. The khipu date back far: Chimor (900 CE), Wari (650 CE), Moche (500 CE), w/ earliest being dated to 3000 BCE at the inland site of Caral. Addendum: Evidence of bread baskets from the Pacific being found in Mesoamerica and the Andes. Contact dated from 700 CE and 1300 w/ thoughts of an established trade route. So the Pacific islander did not just show up and leave. Also, Mississippians also had complex science and engineering influenced by Mesoamerica. Also to whomever called Olmec furries, the word "furry" did not exist, Olmec did not call themselves that, and the hybrid animals exist in a religious context. This also applies to ancient Egypt.

[@a_wolf-tj_hyena]

Well, this video is about the Mayans (Mexico and Central America), maybe in a future video they'll cover the Inca (Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina) civilization more in-depth

[@AEHCPIRPTPS1120]

CC tends to devote only 1 episode to a certain country or region, so I doubt they will revisit this. Maybe in another series altogether, but not in this series.

[@ErdemZenginli]

I'd love read more about the contact between Polynesians and Mesoamericans, and the influence of Mesoamerica on Mississippian culture. Could you suggest any popular or scientific articles on this? Or a documentary?

[@olavu11]

Thank you. There are many similarities in African and Olmec cultures that go unmentioned. The intricate gardens, roads, river canals, big heads, pyramids that were used as tombs for elite and honored citizens, etc. The list goes on and on. Archaeologists have even found afro picks mixed in with Mesoamerican artifacts and cocaine and nictoine found in Egyptian mummies which could only have been brought from the Americas.

[@AEHCPIRPTPS1120]

Do you have sources on parallels between Olmec and African art? I am interested in reading about that. There are also similarities between Olmec and Shang Dynasty art, as well as very early Japanese art and Andean art. Louise Levanthes, When China Ruled the Seas: The Dragon Throne, 1405-1433, pp. 28 draws parallels between Shang bronze animal form in abstract design and Chavin animal forms of similar nature, that do not resemble jaguars but patterns similar to Asian tigers. The author also claims that scholars agree that some sort of Asian influence existed in the Americas b4 European contact. See also: Garry Tee, "Evidence of Chinese origin in jaguar motif in Chavin art," Asian Perspective 21:1 (1978), 27-29. Jerry Towle, "Jade: an indicator of trans-Pacific contact?" Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers, 35, Corvallis, Oregon State University, 1973, 165-172. For Argument for pre-Columbian Asian contact: Joseph Needleham and Lu Gwei-djen, Trans-Pacific Echos and Resonance: Listening Once Again, Singapore, World Scientific, 1984.

[@ciervo42]

Couldn’t help but noticing the inaccuracy at 3:46 since that Calendar Face is Aztec, not Maya. Such a common misconception :/

[@109Rage]

Funny thing. I just started researching the Maya and Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica a couple days ago, so this video is an extreme coincidence to me, lol. Learned a lot of interesting things from this video, anyways. Good to know!

[@augustusmcgovern6084]

Michael a there are underberg of resources on KZbin that actually tell the truth.

[@BenRoprim]

Thank you Crash Coarse Team, for continuing to give us what we love about getting smarter. From the bottom of my heart, you have my utmost appreciation.

[@BrianHutzellMusic]

When I was growing up and going to school, American history classes always began with Columbus. Everything that happened in the Americas prior to the Columbian Exchange has always been something of a mystery to me. I’m glad you’ve dedicated at least a little slice of this course to the cultures who were on the continents before 1492. Two books on my To Read list are "1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus" and "1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created," both by Charles C. Mann. Has anyone here read them? If so, what did you think? I’ve heard rumors that the Oxford History of the United States series will eventually include a book on Pre-Columbian America, but I have not heard anything definite about it.

[@supernenechi]

And everything is lost... So sad, all of this is so interesting

[@christopherhicks858]

Is Inka an actual variant of Inca?? Its used twice in the video but I've never seen it spelled that way before.

[@peanuttygoodness1588]

I came here to ask this.

[@KarinaGarcia-kg1hv]

Finally the acknowledgement of Mesoamerican culture in this channel!!!!!!!

[@joelRmontfort]

Inca with a k?

[@xyzsccr]

Thank you for making a video on the Americas and their Native Inhabitants!

[@pacoramirez2714]

NAWAS! IT'S PRONOUNCED NAWAS! INCA GOES WITH A "C"!

[@TheTariqibnziyad]

this series is taking a really interesting approach, as always exceeds my expectations

[@Darmok_onthe_ocean]

Suppose to be studying for my ethics class... 6 episodes deep into this crash course playlist.

[@VincoMalus]

Beautiful episode!!🙌👏

[@brickstonesonn9276]

The thought that records about mesoamerican civilizations themselves we’re destroyed makes me wince as much as the thought that the library of alexandria burnt down.

[@ioan_jivan]

I'm so hyped for this series

[@bearianna]

i don’t usually comment on crash course videos, but Hank and Nickelodeon just blew my damn mind! 🤯

[@TeachingandLearningOnline]

My husband got a Masters in History by taking Duke University's then history of science curriculum back in the late 1980s/early 1990s and I got to doctoral candidacy (then we both went back to psych and got our PhDs in psych), anyhow we're big fans of history of science and you're doing a great job, and great to see a history of science that's really diversified since we were at Duke. How cool! By the way, what happened episode #4?

[@liamjones6402]

Just noticing that at 10:30 in the video he spells the Inca "Inka", all though i really love the video

[@liamjones6402]

He uses this through out the video.

[@engnick]

The map shown @2:36 is wrong. Honduras/El Salvador messed up

[@brianrubin2069]

+

[@MrSlathbog]

I really hope you guys will cover the European medieval educational systems in an episode. From the Carolingian monastic schools to the early Italian universities, there was a wealth of educational creation and sharing that many people today are ignorant of as they consider "The Dark Ages," which some people (cough, cough, Petrarch) lengthen to the entire Middle Ages.

[@conormccann2850]

This may be a shot in the dark, but could you please make a video on inoculation/variolation and the origins of vaccination? Or at least one on the influences of traditional forms of ethnomedicine on biomedicine? I would love a video like that, and I hope other fans of the show would as well.

[@Anaguma79]

Dammit, Hank. Mispronouncing things is John's thing.

[@kimmyrarity811]

I was just thinking this!!

[@lindavilmaole5003]

The Culture being discussed in this episode is about the Americas before Vasco de Gama came in.

[@fatmahsumayyahlangco7971]

Mayans, Aztects, and Inac contributes a lot in Science especially in the fields of Astronomy and Medicine. Even though the Mayans monumental stone was destroyed by Spanish and their is only four exist today and it's so sad to heard that, also the Mayans are the one who use a lot of calculation of time for their Religious purpose. In addition, the Olmecs inveted a mathematics involving the Number 0 and calendar system that influence by Mayans. What an admirable cultures.

[@niajeon6107]

The americas focused on astronomy, agriculture, hydraulic engineering and medicine. I was amazed by how wide the development or discovery made by the americas in the field of science. From the locations of the planets to hydraulic engineering. Such ashtonishing growth of knowledge. Humans are indeed the smartest species on this planet.

[@jeamilainidal714]

I wonder how time and astronomy works togother. I got more curious about when is the time that time actually starts. It is amazing how maya made calculations for time by observing the astronomy. The Aztec who made botanical and medical knowldge. The Incan who involve in variety of things that we commonly face today. All the simple observations and norms that they did got a big impact on our todays science.

[@moh.aliariraya8350]

I love how art has a contribution to our history for evidences. The aztec people are one of the civilized in early age. The invention of calendar helped them so much especially in farming and determining eclipses.

[@iftisambalindong7381]

It is really amazing how the ancient maya made calculations about time through astronomy.

[@gravitypapa]

waiting for thissssss thankss

[@legrandhanf]

This is awesome!

[@moularaoul643]

Thank you!!

[@SSleid]

You should talk about Xochicalco. It is theorize that in that city took place one of the first astronomical conventions of Central America, gathering people from numerous tribes and places.

[@TheRachaelLefler]

I tend to think of it as Mayans were like the Greeks, stargazing philosophers, and the Aztec were conquerors like the Romans. Although that's oversimplifying a bit.

[@patb6692]

I love corn. Thank you, Meso and South America!

[@connormurphy683]

There were also North American civilizations, known today as the Mississippian culture. They constructed huge mound architecture and their largest city (Cahokia, across the river from modern St Louis) had 40 thousand people, fairly large on the world scale for the period. They had an elaborate religious system and class hierarchy and polities engaged in complex politics with one another. The staple crops of maize beans and squash spread to North America in 100 BCE about 4600 years after their origin in Mexico I believe (not especially familiar with the exact dates but it's about that time frame). Over the next thousand years, societies gradually developed into the Mississippian culture. We then had about 400 years of this civilization before it temporarily collapsed and then was colonized by Europeans. Because of the limited time frame, it doesn't look as impressive as Mesoamerica and is usually brushed to the side. Another part of the problem is that we don't know very much about their actual society beyond the very basics. They didn't have stone architecture or writing, which are both extremely important in piecing together the history of mesoamerica. There was also Oasisamerica (the Pueblo peoples) and a lot of cultures in the area in between Mesoamerica and the Andes (what is now Central America and Colombia), known as the Isthmo-Columbian area. From Wikipedia: this featured cities with "impressive platform mounds, plazas, paved roads, stone sculpture and artifacts made from jade, gold and ceramic". They also developed a very sophisticated metallurgy tradition. This area also had no writing tradition and apparently no giant polities like Aztec or Inca, so it tends to be overshadowed as well. Muisca, tairona, timoto cuica, diquis, and the so-called "ciudad blanca" of Honduras are the most noted here. Most of Ecuador was also more similar to this area before they were briefly conquered by the Inca Empire. They developed the city of Quito (Kitu) and had a tradition of maritime trade with the coast of western Mesoamerica. There were also cultures of the Caribbean that produced ceramics, stone carvings, petroglyphs. Agriculture was introduced at a similar time to North America. I have no doubt that if the conquest didn't happen, we would have seen the development over time of interesting and sophisticated civilizations in the Caribbean, in California and perhaps on the fringe some parts of the Pacific northwest, in the Paraná + Paraguay river area in Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil, in Venezuela, and perhaps also in northeastern and Central Brazil and in the Amazon (which by the way did develop the Marajoara culture, supporting 150,000 people and some amazing pottery, as well as a really sophisticated mode of life and ecological management that produced massive geoglyphs), and the real flourishing of civilization in North America, Colombia and Central America. It would have been fascinating.

[@lindenbrock4102]

Amazing!

[@horizon241]

So good!

[@manthirammaheswaran1870]

I like your speech sir!!!!

[@thewoopastor]

Great, though I was hoping to hear about family dynamics, personal development, etc. But again, great!

[@geoffreywinn4031]

Cool video!

[@elman2012]

Love the videos! One little thing - at 2:38 the map of Central America has an area labeled El Salvador where Nicaragua and Honduras should be.

[@socialscienceinc.9006]

Awesome tc

[@jboon4175]

First of all, amazing videos, guys. I have been addicted to these for weeks. Animation, presentation, and humor are all great for understanding the complex stories or history! Question, though: So, ever since I watched the Kurzgesagt video on reprising our dating system to begin with Göbekli Tepi, I cringe when I hear "C.E.", "B.C.E", etc. It's so crazy that everything from 2000 years ago is turned backwards! Is there any chance you guys (and maybe even Science at large) will ever adopt the Human Era dating system? I mean, "The year 9000" is so much more intuitive than "1000 B.C.E". I mean, for goodness sake why is all of time roped into this one religion!? I have to do math every time I want to know how many years ago something happened, if it's over 2000 years ago! That's nuts.

[@Zleatherman_34]

Can u guys plz do a explanation video on worm hole /and The Rosen bridge love this channel thx for the content

[@subschallenge-nh4xp]

NERD TUBE uu

[@Kissmyass314]

I’ve only ever watched your videos on Great Depression, new deal, progressive era etc for the past year and I just wanted to see your most recent video holy cow you’ve changed!

[@kaylenpeterson1773]

malawian_ girl ? Those videos were hosted by his brother, John. There are also multiple other hosts on this channel hosting different series.

[@ericfrazier9223]

1:34 that makes sense, cause why would you carve a picture of what you had for breakfast into a stone?

[@o_o8203]

"You're welcome for all the best foods" - Mexico

[@Gyroglle]

Why are there 2 deleted videos in the playlist?

[@yonihales9133]

Oh yeah, so its because two videos were deleted....hope that helps.

[@AirmaxTycoon]

Thought provoking videos

[@nathanoliver9237]

Nathaniel Shaw thoughts of your mother

[@ThainaYu]

I wish this series would started with tools, engineering and machinery of ancient since stone age Or would there be CrashCourse History of Enginerring in the future?

[@magnetwhisperer]

Why were the last two history of science videos deleted, Hank?! I watched the one about India and loved it, but I didn’t get to see the one after that! :(

[@rohankumar2910]

I like this *Green* lanterns channel.

[@TheGuroLOLITA]

this is like history

[@spaceb0b]

Thought Cafe’s brilliant animations disappear far too quickly to appreciate their depth of creativity!

[@YoghurtOchMysli]

Great video! I have question: You said the maya had a base 20 number system but no fractions, but you also said they determined the lunar month to three decimal places. How did they deal with number smaller than 1 (decimals) when they did not use fractions?

[@angusmclellan918]

Could khipu be a system of storing information like in computer programming?

[@simonjensen596]

Damn Hank. Button that collar!

[@miketacos9034]

Nuh-HOO-uh?! lmao, bro, it's "Na-wa" great episode love you guys

[@Shuker8964]

The future people will judge us by our movies just like how we judge the Olmecs by their giant head statues

[@prestonkemp2283]

when the future people see cats they will think we had brain problems though...

[@miguelrosario3935]

Thank you Crash course I love history And I love scince in same time

[@jacobfertleman1980]

Do one about south America and Africa

[@mikemiguel5073]

3:48 that’s the Aztec calendar not the Mayan and I’m from Guatemala 🇬🇹 lol

[@LiLi-vk9us]

Hi, Crashcourse team,. may I know what happened to the #4 video?

[@diplomatamaravilhosa2813]

3:23 Wait! Isn't when things started to be different? Somehow it did. lol

[@unvergebeneid]

Why was episode 4 deleted? The playlist only contains two deleted videos where the last episode should've been.

[@jesusfakincraist]

Fun fact: while Spaniards mixed with the natives since at least Cortés, giving way to "mestizos", interracial marriage was forbidden in the US till 1961. Ever wondered why there is so much people in central and south America and so few in the North? There is no denying of the brutality of history, but North Americans should be careful when accusing others of genocide. Also, strange that there is no mention to conflict and violence between American empires, which is what explains the conquest. Otherwise, cool program and wonderful channel!

[@Tfin]

("Codices" is the plural form of "codex," which essentially means "book.")

[@Laura-qp9iw]

dang this is cool

[@tiltiktekwani7562]

Crashcourse, thank you. You agree with salvadorian people that los bolsones are ours (also thanks for the rest of Honduras, we didn't even know they gave it to us).

[@thaheeraalthaf1970]

Undergraduates, yes!

[@nishapan1376]

Do you have the source of the LiDAR project? I would like to check that out!

[@lucky1adrastus]

Very good. One correction though: the Maya did not cultivate vanilla. It was exclusively grown by the Totonac peoples of west-central Mexico until the Spanish arrived.

[@maheshkawade6968]

Videos are really helpful but i request you to publish it with english subtitles that i can gain more effectively. Thank you

[@MundoYui]

I'd love to see a crash course about mexican and latinamerican history, I think it would help to build more understanding among americans (and by americans I mean everyone that lives on the continent).

[@rainydaylady6596]

Why did Hank laugh in that early section? A blooper that wasn't caught? Lol

[@AfterSkool]

7.7 million subs. Incredible content. Why do your most recent uploads have low views?

[@persassybedammed]

intresting

[@issacnewton7059]

the "najuas" hahahha im dead lol………. "na-oo-as"

[@MythicBricks]

Cool

[@somethingtothinkabout2946]

43rd comment. Yes! I didn't know that you were going to make this episode today. So thank you.

[@leosousa7404]

I really wanted to hear on the science of human sacrifice mesoamericans developed. How did it work?

[@magtovi]

There was no science behind it but religious tradition and belief.

[@jomariroxas3474]

So glad you uses BCE/CE instead of BC/AD

[@dimitrylebed4800]

Jomari Roxas why dose it matter

[@camiloiribarren1450]

Time to ask the Doctor about time. Most people believe time to be a straight line of cause and event, but in reality, time is more like a big bulb of wibbly wobbly timey-wimey stuff

[@kyoung21b]

Camilo Iribarren - Ask Who ?

[@HashimKhan-ot6fb]

Started well that sentence

[@realshaoran4514]

Blink and you're dead. Don't turn your back. Don't look away. And don't blink. Good Luck.

[@jezreelmartinez9800]

The time cube? 😎

[@MrNoeljames06]

The Doctor!!!!

[@joshuajonme48]

3:24 the prediction was December 21st, 2012 not December 23rd

[@inkkbell]

Proud to be Chapin (Guatemalan)!

[@BaneLoki]

Where did episode 4 go?

[@a_wolf-tj_hyena]

This episode is great, although the monument you showcase at 3:47 is not Mayan, it is Aztec, and it is not a calendar it is a religious symbol, it is wrongly called the Aztec calendar, it's actual name can be roughly translated to the Solar stone.

[@leehaber]

Your map at 2:35 has 'El Salvador' where 'Honduras' should be

[@chris_mastro]

that noise every scene cut is slightly annoying

[@bartonmahaffey8685]

The map of the Maya at 2:31 has Honduras labeled as El Salvador.

[@KraigKrist]

What happened to the previous two episodes?

[@pablosantos8112]

Oh, by the way, it is not nahua (with rough h) but nahua (silent h), but that reference is general to many different nations that used nahuatl language as a lingua franca