Their "way or life" was African slave trade lmao
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They could have done it like Apocalypto.
https://youtu.be/gj7O6rPJ-14
Apocalypto is really badly under-rated.
In an interesting way, it's actually more of a horror film. And as bad as it is, the violence and villany of the Mayans is actually far worse than what was depicted. When you read the accounts of what the Mayans did from other American sources, it's clear that this was a civilization of actual god damned savages who built an empire of terror, going so far as to cook and eat leaders of tribes in order to intimidate other tribes they intended to vassalize.
Frankly, any film depicting the Mayans authentically is probably a horror film.
Friendly reminder that the Mayans were so utterly detestable the other Natives begged the Conquistadors to destroy them.
They were so terrible that when they fell, all of the vassalized populations invaded the capital and ate them in revenge.
...
The level of barbarian you would have to be to make your enemies patiently wait until they could eat you out of spite is pretty high.
That's actually worse than when Vlad invaded Ottoman territory, and burned all the cities & towns along the way, and impaled hundreds of people in each town, mostly the Ottoman appointed leadership and he got swarms of volunteers.
If Vlad The Impaler sounds like the good guy to people who are watching their neighbors slowly descend spikes impaled through their anus & out their mouth, as they die horribly from exposure among a town of burning rubble, then clearly the Ottomans are pretty shit.
Mayan Empire collapsed waaaay, way before the Spanish arrived in America. You're thinking of the Aztecs who were fighting constant flower wars with their neighbours for slaves, so when the Spanish arrived all the smaller tribes welcomed them with open arms to help fight against their oppressors
Ah, I'm not too knowledgeable about South American history, so I always mix the two up.
The Aztec and Mayan civilizations give credence to St. Paul's assertion that foreign gods were demons.
Not exactly wrong!
So much so that when some strange, swarthy people came on moving islands carrying fire sticks and wearing an unknown armor, other tribes threw themselves at these strangers and begged them to help kill the Mayans. Same for the Aztecs. And while there were plenty of American Indian tribes that were reasonable, there were plenty that were just as insane and violent. Which is why so many Westerns have Indians as the bad guys.
But remember, they are just poor, misunderstood, Noble Savages and we should learn from them. (note: this stance makes a lot more sense now that I have gone back and learned more about Rousseau)
I will say, the only difference is that the North American tribes were a lot less violent than the Central Americans.
The Iroquois never pulled any crazy shit like that.
Yeah, there was scalping, but they literally did that to everyone including each other. And it wasn't super common, normally it was just proof that they had killed someone.
Deathly winters which kill half your young really puts a damper on the ability to sacrifice half your young in extravagant religious rituals.
Oh yea! That makes sense. Well too much sense for Hollywood