[swilhelm73]

It is laughable just how bad our public education system is in regards to the history of the colonization of the New World.

The local indians in Mexico were the primary reason for the downfall of the Aztecs to the Spanish. Tired of being *eaten* by the Aztecs their neighbors banded together with the Spaniards under Cortez. So, everyone knows about the evvvvvvil handful of Spaniards that destroyed the Aztecs - but almost no one knows about the thousands of native allies that fought with them.

As for the Incas, being a brutal pagan, communist dictatorship - yep you heard that right - when the Spaniards under Pizarro destroyed their leadership in a quick strike, their whole society fell apart quickly, as other subjugated indians saw the Spaniards as a lesser threat. Of course, the Incas were just finishing a brutal civil war of their own.

[blam]

"The local indians in Mexico were the primary reason for the downfall of the Aztecs to the Spanish. Tired of being *eaten* by the Aztecs their neighbors banded together with the Spaniards under Cortez. "

Correct. That's what all the sacrifical killing was about...protein. There were no large mammals. The victims were thrown down those steps and were cut up and divided (by rank) amoungst the population to eat. The only domesticated animals they had were the turkey and the dog...and both those ate the same things that humans eat.
The large land animals of Africa, Europe and Asia can digest cellouse (we can't) so, we ate the animals without any loss of food to us. Now, the pig is a different story, they eat the same thing we do and that is why in some cultures/religions the pig is taboo.

Our word BBQ is really a Carib Indian word meaning: roasted human arm.