Activities Of The Olmec Culture And Its Economy

Today we will teach you much more about the activities and organization in the Olmec Culture and its Economy, based on agricultural products and also perfected the trade of other products such as precious stones.

OLMEC CULTURE AND ITS ECONOMY

The Olmec culture and its economy

The Olmec culture served as an image for the rest of the culture in terms of economy. They were pioneers in the commercialization of their products and even their services. They took advantage of all their resources so that their population could survive over time. Later, other civilizations took these mercantile models and modified them for their own subsistence.

No one can say that the disappearance of the Olmecs was due to mismanagement of their resources. In fact, their business models were quite advanced for the time and situation in which they lived. All this, added to its political and social organization, made the population work together for their subsistence.

Economic activities of the Olmec culture

There were mainly 3 economic activities that advanced the Olmec culture in their time, or that is what they made us understand after so long.

Agriculture

The first and most important economic activity to mention is agriculture. At the same time, they obtained their products or materials for their food and trade. The Olmecs knew how to take advantage of the land where they had settled and the hydrological capacities at their disposal.

One of its main agricultural products was corn, which is a great heritage that continues today. Other food sources were avocado, beans, sweet potatoes, cocoa, pumpkins and chili. Each of these ingredients served to support their population and also to trade with other civilizations.

All their agricultural work has been possible thanks to their innovative irrigation systems. Thanks to them, they were able to ensure the passage of the waters that surrounded them through each of the roads they established. They also prevented floods that, in principle, brought countless problems to their crops.

fishing and hunting

Although their main method of conservation was agriculture, hunting and fishing were not far behind. The Olmecs learned to develop different ways of eating or interacting with certain animals. Poultry or venison was his favorite prey.

They were also able to take advantage of the passage of the different waters around them again. For this reason, they have managed to take advantage of the products obtained by different types of fish. Shellfish were also part of their diet and as objects of trade.

Stores

The Olmec trading system has developed over time. This civilization has taken advantage of each of its natural resources to found a stable economy.

One of his first innovations was to use highways for large-scale trade. They toured different areas, using waterways, where they obtained new materials and traded more easily.

OLMEC CULTURE AND ITS ECONOMY

It is thanks to this that the trade of different products was born, in addition to agriculture, hunting or fishing. Materials such as rubber (for which they are well known), handicrafts, threads and also ceramics have been included.

Semi-precious stones have also become part of the economy, along with exotic items and ceremonial adornments. All of the above have been transported to adjacent lands to trade with other crops and obtain greater resources for themselves.

The foregoing gives us cause to say that the economic exercise of the Olmec culture and its ability to use its resources for the growth of its economy is highlighted again.

As they grew in this aspect, they also developed as a population, revaluing their characteristic activities such as ceremonies or rituals.

Know its management, modalities and expansion

Almost all of the original ethnic groups of Mesoamerica had a common denominator in their production systems, the Olmec economy was originally based on the same model of agriculture.

OLMEC CULTURE AND ITS ECONOMY

Although this was not their only means of subsistence, they still met their needs through hunting, fishing, and herding, from which they obtained fish, turtle, venison, and venison meat. meat from domestic dogs, agricultural products shaped over time, the strongest foundations of the Olmec economy.

Functioning of the Olmec economy

Agriculture, as the mainstay of the Olmec economy, consisted mainly of the cultivation of corn, accompanied by sweet potatoes, avocados, yams, beans, pumpkins, cacao, and chili peppers.

Their establishment in marshy and very humid places, which made them very fertile, allowed them to develop the agricultural systems of Roza, carrying out plantations with semi-uniform crops.

They also established irrigation systems on the land, taking advantage of the proximity of the main rivers and the abundant rains that generated beneficial overflows for large-scale production.

At the same time, they were exploiting their agricultural resources by relying on the slash-and-burn system, and harvesting wild fruits and tubers.

Modalities of trade within the Olmec economy

Having established agriculture as the basis of its means of production, the Olmec economy moved into the realm of trading its merchandise in two areas.

The first, by remaining in the agronomic line, when they begin to carry out internal exchanges at the same time as negotiations with other nomadic tribes and ethnic groups from more geographically distant regions, such as the cities of Guerrero, Oaxaca, the Mayan region. and the Valley of Mexico. Guatemala

Over time, to expand their trade base, they created trade routes for the trade of rubber or rubber, basalt, handicrafts, ceramics, and threads made by women, collecting seashells and other goods.

These frequent trade routes allowed them to acquire other important raw materials: semi-precious stones such as rock crystal and jade, obsidian, and lodestone, which would be used to develop their art.

But without a doubt, everything related to agriculture would be transcendent in the economy and livelihoods of the Olmecs and the civilizations that later supplanted them.

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