Mesoamerican Armies

[Patrick Waterson]

Maya, Toltec, Aztec and associated and related cultures.

[Duncan Head]

So Mesoamerican, not Central American, then?

(Mexico is part of North America, "Central" America being the isthmus region to its south. The term "Mesoamerica" is used for the classic cultural region being referred to here.)

[Jim Webster]

I assume this bit would also include Inca?

Jim

[Duncan Head]

Incas are neither Central nor Meso, so I presume not. Either rename this "Precolumbian" or "Early American" to include the whole brace of continents, or you'd want a separate topic for Incas, Tupi, et al.

[Jim Webster]

Personally I'd go for Early American. If we get too much stuff, then it might be time to worry about where to stack it 

Jim

[Sharur]

Geographically, Mexico can be counted as part of Central and/or North America (it spans part of both regions in simple latitudinal terms in that part of the world). Typically it tends to be classed that way still as Central America, though politically it might wish to be elsewhere.

From what I recall, "Mesoamerica" was a term invented by anthropologists to use with the Pre-Columbian cultures in the region around and either side of the Yucatan Peninsula, taken up by archaeologists subsequently, and now somewhat hazily used at times to include both Pre- and somewhat Post-Columbian peoples in the area (e.g. Aztecs vs. Spaniards).

Of course technically, "meso-" means "middle", "between" or "central" anyway, so it's really just a term for the same region at a different time to now.

Incas and their predecessor cultures would be South American.

Probably settle for either three topics - North, Central and South American Armies - or one, as Early American Armies with the option to split later as Jim suggested. Then again, would using the different cultural names really be such a problem? I'm guessing nobody would be happy with, say, the Carthaginians classed solely under "African Armies", "North African Armies" or "Mediterranean Armies".

[Mick Hession]

I recently read a definition of Mesoamerica as being whatever portion of central and southern America is needed to support a given hypothesis 

Mick 

[Jim Webster]

I recently read a definition of Mesoamerica as being whatever portion of central and southern America is needed to support a given hypothesis 

Mick

works for me 

Jim

[Patrick Waterson]

So would anyone like to add anything about the armies? 

[Jim Webster]

That demands knowledge
I'm far more comfortable picking holes in the syntax 

Jim