Disembarking from their ship at a point somewhere close to where modern day Mexico City is situated, they discovered a country populated with people who called themselves Aztecs. The organised armies of the Aztecs, and their Emperor Montezuma, first met the Spaniards not far from the coast. The encounter was friendly and Cortez and his men were invited back to Montezuma’s palace.

Before Cortez and his men entered Montezuma’s palace they had to cross several inner yards with fountains squirting crystal-clear water into the air. Their way led them through great chambers with ceilings panelled in aromatic woods and beautifully carved. Incense-burners spread a pleasant and pervasive scent.

Above the main entrance to the palace the Spaniards found a device known to them from home: an eagle with a panther in its talons.

In the antechamber to the Emperor’s hall the Spaniards were greeted by members of the nobility, who took off their shoes, hid their robes under a cloak of the coarsest cloth, and then, barefoot and with downcast eyes, stepped humbly into their emperor’s presence.

According to historical accounts, a murmur of surprise rose from the ranks of the Spaniards as they finally stood before Montezuma: The Emperor was sitting on a throne, just as their own rulers did — and the courtiers paid their respects before the throne in the same way the Spaniards would have done at home. They were to see much more than this that would remind them of home.

Montezuma was wearing a cloak with a girdle, sandles with gold soles and fastened by gilt straps. His cloak and sandles were embroidered with pearls and precious stones. The Emperor was tall, slim, and about forty years old. He had black, straight hair, a thin beard, and his skin was paler than that of the other Indians.

Although the Spaniards would not have realised its significance, Montezuma wore on his head the Aztec’s greatest treasure: a magnificent head-dress of feathers containing the long tail-feathers of exotic birds. Similarly, and almost certainly not coincidentally, a Cretan prince wears a crown of lilies with a plume of peacock feathers on a coloured six-foot frieze of stucco in the Palace of Knossos (Crete, 1650 BC).

What amazed the Spaniards the most was the numerous similarities in custom and insignia between the Aztecs and the Old World. Throne and litter (entourage), sceptre and crown, flowing drapery, purple, heraldic beasts — all existed in both their worlds. Were these parallels just coincidence, or had there been prior contacts between the two worlds in the distant past? Before we examine this question, first let us travel back and imagine what it must have been like in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, 1519 AD.

In Historia Verdadeira Da La Conquista Bernal Diaz, who accompanied Cortez on all his expeditions, wrote:

And we saw so many towns and villages on the surface of the water and many more still on the mainland, we were seized with wonder, and we said, it must be magic...for everywhere great towers, temples and pyramids rose out of the water; many a soldier thought he must be dreaming.

And Cortez himself records in surprise:

You find houses like those kept up by apothecaries, where you can buy medicinal potions ready for drinking, ointments and plaster. You see barber’s saloons where you can take a bath or have your hair cut. You come across houses where you can eat or drink against money.

The city of Tenochtitlan had about 60,000 houses and 300,000 residents. The Spaniards strode along the wide streets with huge mansions built of a red porous stone, nearly all having roof-gardens full of luxuriant plants. The streets were swept clean and well-washed. Strong pipes carried fresh drinking water from the mountain of Chapultepec right into the middle of the city.

At the height of its prosperity, it was then a lively, teeming city, with arsenals, granaries, an aviary, an enclosure for wild animals looked after by keepers (just as in the zoos of our day), many fountains and fish-ponds, large reservoirs set in chequered marble. There were residences for state visitors, schools, special blocks for priests’ living quarters, and other large buildings. Littered across the city you could see the tops of temple pyramids. The largest pyramid was situated in the town of Cholula, half as tall as the Great Pyramid of Giza, but measuring twice as long.

Of the wonderful market at Tenochtitlan, Bernal Diaz writes:

When we reached the square called Tlatelolco we stared in amazement. Not only at the mass of people and the profusion of goods but also at the orderliness that reigned in everything, because we had never seen the like of it before.

Cortez was so struck by the market that he wrote: “There is...still another market, twice as large as Salamanca’s and entirely surrounded by arcades.”

The Spaniards could not say enough about this fantastic spectacle, the tens of thousands who went there daily. The men wore cloaks slung over one shoulder and tied round their neck; their robes were adorned with wide belts, fringes, tassels, and all sorts of jewellery. The women wore several skirts, one on top of another, with very ornate ribbons and beautiful embroideries. Many had their faces covered with thin veils made from aloe fibres or rabbit wool. All the women wore long plaits.

Everything that was manufactured in the Spaniard’s world was to be had in this market of Tenochtitlan.

There were special stalls for Cholula’s jewellers and potters, Azcapotzalco’s goldsmiths, Tezcoco’s painters, Tenayuca’s stone-cutters, Xilotepec’s hunters, Cuitlahuac’s fishermen, Quauhtitlan’s basket- and chair-weavers, Xochimilco’s florists.

There were a great variety of curios you could buy there: golden fish with little scales of gold, golden birds with golden feathers and movable heads, vessels made from all kinds of wood, varnished or even gilt, bronze axes, warriors’ helmets with crests of animal’s heads, quilted cotton waistcoats for the warriors, feather armours, swords with obsidian blades, razors and mirrors from cut stone, hides and leather goods of all sorts, tame and wild animals.

In fact, delicate artistry reached such a high level in Aztec civilisation that a life-size human skull was carved out of a solid piece of crystal. This famous piece of work now resides in the British Museum.

At the food-stalls mountains of poultry, fish and game were being offered, a luxuriant array of vegetables, maize, baker’s wares, bread, cocoa, and Pulque, an intoxicating drink. There was also a profusion of flowers, beyond anything the Spaniards had seen.

The fairs of ancient Crete and Egypt must have been rather similar; as for clothing, what the noble Indians wore was very like the attire of the ancient Greeks; we know about it from the chronicler’s descriptions and in particular from the drawings in an old manuscript to be found in the Madrid Museum.

Plates, spoons and forks did not come into general use in Europe till the late sixteenth century. In the Indian civilisation, however, these requisites had been in use for at least 1000 years before the Spanish reached their shores.

Pierre Honore, in his book In Quest of the White God, elaborates:

According to the Spaniards — who watched Montezuma when he was their prisoner — the Emperor used to eat alone. Hundreds of dishes had been prepared for him in earthenware, gold and silver bowls. His favourite dishes were kept hot for him in special vessels. He sat on a big cushion on the floor, with a low table in front of him. Plates and cups were made of pottery...He also owned a golden set, which was used on holy days. Torches of resinous wood lit the large room where the Emperor took his meal. Five or six of his intimate councillors stood in silence at the far end of the hall during the meal...

After the main meal there was bread, cakes and pastries of all kinds, which were baked by the girls in the hall itself; for instance rolls and ‘waffles’. Then the Emperor would drink his ‘chocolate’, viscous like honey, from a gold mug, and use a gold spoon for it. After dipping his hands in the water, which was brought him in a silver bowl, he smoked his pipe and let himself be entertained by conjurers, jugglers and clowns. Then he had a siesta, which was followed by receptions for dignitaries and emissaries. They would appear before him with lowered eyes, wearing a hirsute gown, barefooted, and walk backwards when they left his presence.

The procedure was similar at the table of the Incas of Peru, where there were also spoons, and plates and cups made of pure gold. So here were these requisites being used before they had come into use in Europe. But, even more surprising, they were quite current in the ancient civilisations of Egypt and Crete. The Egyptians had spoons 3,000 years before the birth of Christ. Assuming, therefore, that these utensils were at one time brought into the New World [Central/South America] from the Old [Europe/Mediterranean], they could only have come out of one of the very ancient civilisations.

According to all the chroniclers’ accounts, the Aztecs had created an advanced and thriving civilisation, on par with civilisations like that of Mycenae, Crete, China, Rome, Phoenicia and Sumeria.

The Spanish were soon to discover that the Aztecs were not the only people existing on the continent. The remnants of even earlier peoples were found.

We now know of the great empires of the Mayan, Tultecs, Zapotecs, Tarascans, Olmecs, and on the Peruvian plains that of the Chimu, and in the Andes, probably the earliest and greatest of all, the Chavin. All existed either simultaneously or followed each other from about 1100 BC until the tradition was crushed by the arrival of the Spanish.

As the Spanish slowly moved south on their search for gold and precious stones they were still to encounter another great thriving civilisation, this time in Peru.

After subjugating the Aztecs, the Spanish still dreamt of discovering the legendary ‘Eldorado’, or City of Gold. Pizzaro, the leader of the Spanish expedition, sailed south from Panama in 1531 and on the evening of the 15th of November, 1532, the Spaniards entered Cajamarca, the residence of the Incan ruler. Fortunately for the Spanish, the empire was reeling from internal strife and conflict.

Upon first seeing the Incan ruler Atahualpa, the Spanish were amazed to see the use of a litter, and we still have a picture of it. He also wore purple, as did the Aztec emperor. For solemn occasions the Incan ruler held a golden sceptre as large as a halberd. His big leather shield was adorned with a heraldic bird, a falcon.

We know both throne and sceptre as emblems of royal dignity not only from the Aztec and Incan empires, but also from drawings on ancient Mayan vases and the painted friezes found on many Mayan temples.

On their heads the Incan priests wore something like a tiara, decorated with a golden sun. The Incas therefore recognised the Spanish bishops with their mitres as the high priests of the new religion.

When the Spanish marched towards the Incan capital Cuzco, they were surprised to find road engineering on a vast scale. All the Spanish chroniclers stated that the roads were better than those of ancient Rome, nor had they met such magnificent roads in any European country.

But the Incas had something the Aztecs did not have: scales of balance. Measurements are the foundation of all science. The Incas used beam scales, like those of the ancient Romans. There was another similarity with the old Romans: The division of the Incan army into units of tens, hundreds, and thousands, just like the legions of Rome. The Incas also used the decimal system and the old Sumerian sexagesimal system of measurement by six, twelve and sixties. The decimal system is over 4,000 years old. It was already known in Egypt as far back as that, and later, around 1700 BC, in Crete. The Greeks adopted it from there, the Romans from the Greeks, and subsequently reached all of Europe.

In the Incan empire every citizen was classified by age according to the decimal system starting with babies and ending with centenarians. The Incas had taken it from the ancient people of Chimu, who had long been subjected to them; the Chimu had been familiar with the decimal system centuries before the Incas appeared.

On entering Cuzco the Spanish saw another thing which was familiar to them: nearly all the Indian dignitaries had turbans. People are shown wearing turbans in paintings and statues of the Hittites, the Babylonians, the Egyptians. All predate our era.

Some of the Spanish had an odd experience in Cuzco.

Everywhere in the Incan empire they were greeted and addressed as ‘Viracocha’. Hearing the word again and again, they at first took it for a form of salute and had no idea of its meaning. In Cuzco they learnt that it was the name of the great god who the Indians say came in the dim past and brought them all their knowledge.

Pierre Honore relates a remarkable incident that occurred in Cuzco:

...the conquerors heard about the temple which had been erected outside the town to the god who was greater than all other gods. A party of them hurried off there, hoping to find an immense store of gold. They came to the temple of Viracocha, a one-storeyed building about 125 feet by 100. They went in and entered a maze of passages: there were twelve narrow passages going round the building. They made their way from one into another, and finally penetrated to the sanctuary, a small room paved with black slabs.

On a little dais on the far wall there was the figure of a man. When they stood before it even the wildest, roughest and most hardened veterans took their caps into their hands and hastily crossed themselves: they knew that figure from all the churches and chapels in Spain. It was an old man with a beard, standing erect, holding a chain in one hand; the chain was round the neck of a fabulous creature which lay before him on the ground. It was a statue of St. Bartholomew.

When they had recovered from their surprise they slowly filed out into the passage again. They found no treasure here; the great temple contained nothing but the statue of the god... (In Quest of the White God)

This was not the only strange experience the Spanish had. The legend of the bearded White God appeared everywhere they visited and conquered.

The Tultecs and Aztecs of Mexico called him Quetzalcoatl, the Incas called him Viracocha. To the Maya he was Kukulcan, who brought them all their laws, also their script, and was worshipped like a god by the entire people.

They could do practically anything, nothing seemed too difficult for them; they cut the greenstone, they melted gold, and all this came from Quetzalcoatl — arts and knowledge.

— Fray Bernandino Sahagun

The numerous legends of the great White God say that he brought the Indians all their sciences, knowledge of engineering, laws, and their higher level of civilisation.

As Quetzalcoatl, he taught the people morality, gave them wise laws, and showed them how to till the land. He forbade human sacrifice and preached peace. Men were no longer to kill animals, even for their food; they were to live on fruit and vegetables.

This golden age did not last long, for (say the legends) a demon plunged Quetzalcoatl into sin, debauchery and the neglection of his religious duties. Quetzalcoatl was so full of grief and shame for his misdeeds that he left the country with his followers. According to other legends, he boarded a ship on the shore, which sailed back with him to the land he had come from. But before his departure he promised to return.

As for South America, one of the Spanish chroniclers, Cieza de Leon, records the appearance of a man with a beard by Lake Titicaca long before the time of the Incas. He was a mighty man who taught the people everything to do with law and civilisation. He was the creator of all things and commanded men to be good to one another and live without violence.

Everywhere in the Indian states of Central and South America, and even some parts of North America, the legend of the White God is known, and it always ends in the same way: The White God left his people with a solemn promise that he would one day come back. The legend, however, was one of the main reasons for the quick downfall of the Indian states. The people had the image of the White God so firmly fixed in their minds that they immediately accepted the Spaniards as the White God’s followers who had returned.

According to Pierre Honore, the time of the expected return of the White God was remarkably similar to the arrival of the Spanish.

The Aztec priests in Mexico had worked out that their White God, who had left them in the year Ce-acatl (1 Reed), would also return one day in the year Ce-acatl. In the Aztec calendar this year Ce-acatl recurs every fifty-two years. Before every such recurrence the stars and other portents were carefully observed, and each time the priests predicted whether the White God would return on the first day of the new cycle.

By a strange coincidence it was just before a new cycle started that word got round among the Aztecs of ‘water houses with swan wings’ cruising off their shores. Soon after the new year ‘1 Reed’ began Cortez landed on the coast of Mexico. Even the date, the day of the White God’s return, tallied exactly with the one the priests had worked out from their ancient records: the White God would return in the year 1 Reed on the day ‘9 Wind’. The date by our reckoning was April 22nd, 1519, Thursday of that year.

The White God who had come to the Indians so long ago had worn a black beret and a black gown. Cortez wore both these, and he landed at almost exactly the spot where the White God had once bidden his people farewell... How could the Indians doubt that he was the god, returning to take possession of his former realm?

But the white men with beards were a motley crowd of mercenaries and adventurers, to whom life was cheap; they came with fire and the sword. The credulous Indians took their sufferings at the Spaniards’ hands as a judgment from the White God, and this allowed a handful of adventurers to destroy the high civilisation of an entire continent.

However, with this in mind, we cannot ignore the brutal and bloody human sacrifices carried out on a large scale by the Indians in the temples of war-deities.

An increase in wars and feuding between neighbour Indian states had given rise to the worship of warrior gods, to the detriment of the high religion handed to them by the White God. At the time of the arrival of the Spanish in this new land, human sacrifice of thousands of enemy victims had become the order of the day. The chroniclers described visiting these temples of sacrifice where the victim’s heart was ripped asunder and the blood ran like a river.

The Spaniards felt morally justified in destroying what they called a barbarous society. Nevertheless, a crime was committed by the Spaniards and the zealous Catholic bishops that fared with them, when thousands upon thousands of Indian religious, scientific and historical documents were systematically burnt. Also, the near-total destruction of buildings, temples and even houses was expeditiously accomplished in an effort to wipe out all traces of idolatry.

On the destruction of the Aztec cities, Bernal Diaz wrote: “Everything lies shattered on the ground, and not a thing is left standing upright.”

For the Indians, the White God had returned. Yet this time, instead of bringing knowledge and civilisation, these ‘White Gods’ had brought suffering and total annihilation.

There is now very little left of these once great civilisations of the Americas. Of original Indian documents, only a few remain. How can we be certain that the legend of the White God is true?

There is no reason for the chroniclers to consistently invent stories. Moreover, one of the chroniclers, Don Fernando, was a descendant of Montezuma. He records that when Montezuma was crowned, the priests addressed the traditional warning to him:

Remember that this is not your throne, that it is only lent to you and will one day be returned to the one to whom it is due.

Thus, when the Spaniards landed, Montezuma was convinced the White God was returning to reclaim this throne.

Soon after the arrival of the Spaniards, Montezuma made a speech to his ministers and high dignitaries:

You know, as I do, that our ancestors did not hail from this country we live in, but came here from a far distant land, led by a great prince. This prince then left the country again with only a few of his followers, but returned a long time afterwards. He saw that our ancestors, his subjects, had built towns, had chosen wives from the daughters of the country, and had had children by them; that they had settled in their new land and would not go back with him, their prince. Since they no longer wanted him as their ruler, he went away alone, announcing that he would one day in the remote future either return himself with an immense army or send someone in his name to take back what was his due.

You know too that we have always been expecting him. All we have heard about the foreign commander and his emperor who has sent him to us across the great sea, from the direction where the sun rises, the direction in which that great prince of our ancestors once went back — all that makes me believe this is assuredly the great master we have ever been expecting....

A confirmatory note is the account of Montezuma’s statements upon meeting Cortez. To the Spaniard he said:

For a long time and by means of our writings, we have possessed a knowledge, transmitted from our ancestors, that neither I nor any of us who inhabit this land are of native origin.

We are foreigners and came here from very remote parts. We possess information that our lineage was led to this land by a prince to whom we all owed allegiance (vasalage)....We believe and hold as certain that he [the Spanish King] must be our rightful prince...

The Incas also regarded the Spanish in a prophetic light.

Cusi Hualpa, an old Inca general, described an assembly of Incan nobility to his nephew, the chronicler Garcilaso, who recounted a speech by the Incan ruler:

Our father, the sun, has revealed to me that after the rule of twelve Incas, his children, men of a kind unknown to us, will come into our country and subjugate our states. Without doubt they belong to the people whose men were sighted off our coast....Let me assure you that these strangers will come into our country and fulfil the oracle.

Of vital importance is the writings of the native historian Don Fernando de Alva Ixlilxochitl. He was able to collect evidence from Indians in other parts of the continent that also confirms what both the Incas and Aztecs claimed.

Of the Tultecs, who were in 1519 only a memory, Don Fernando writes:

...And the Tultecs...came to these parts, having first passed over great lands and seas, living in caves and passing through great hardships, until getting to this land. (Primera Relacion)

The same accounts appear again and again, too many to record in this article, and correlate too closely to be ignored. Modern historians still choose to reject this evidence and the likelihood that inter-cultural links were established between the Old and New Worlds. They prefer the ‘progressive’ view of history where cultures developed ‘separately’, from primitive tribalism to a more complex city-state structure. Of course, they always add that this progression all happened because of ‘economic necessity’.

Therefore, modern historians reject these legends and turn a blind eye to the innumerable cultural similarities between these two worlds. Is it academically correct to ignore the obvious though? Take the Mayan language.

A most remarkable discovery has been made in comparing Mayan glyphs with that of alphabets from the Old World.

In referring to the illustration you will note the very close likeness of both Mayan and Cretan Linear A scripts. Cretan Linear A script, appearing in 1700 BC, was later simplified into what is termed Linear B script in approximately 1450 BC. It is also known that the Phoenician script descended from Linear B type and thus the similarities between Phoenician and Mayan scripts is very obvious.

Therefore, Cretan Linear A script, used in the Cretan world (and probably surrounding areas) before 1450 BC, must have been transferred to the New World before this date (or vice-versa). Was it transferred by the ancient peoples of Crete? After all, the Mayan legends state that Kukulcan, their White God, taught his people the script he had brought with him.

Moreover, according to the Spanish conquerors, what language did the Incan royals and all the country’s notables speak, which neither the people nor the interpreters could understand? Perhaps this was the ancient Cretan language.

Clearly, many cultural influences from the Mediterranean and European regions reached the Indian civilisations very early in history.

Apart from the similarities we have already mentioned is the question of the Indian’s religion, and its origins. Again, we see many correlations.

Religion is the centre and core of a civilisation. In any culture, the style of architecture, of painting, the system of law, the structure of society, and the music are recognisably related to each other and that society’s past. This does not occur by chance.

In Michael Coe’s book, The Mayan Scribe and His World, he states that there “...was a single, unified body of thought in Meso-America — Mexico and South America — which we would call a Mesoamerican religion.” Certainly a unified body of thought was extent, but a ‘Mesoamerican religion’?

As we have seen, the White God brought the Indians a complete civilisation. And he also brought them a knowledge of the Solar Tradition, or worship of the Sun, as the symbol of the Almighty Creator. Pyramids, historically, were built in honour of the Sun God and were used for religious ceremonies. The numerous pyramid temples built throughout the Indian civilisations bear close resemblance to the pyramid structures of Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Sun-worship was the dominant religious influence in all advanced cultures during the long period before Christ. Jesus the Christ is recognised as reinstating the Solar Tradition, after a period of spiritual decline and decadence, much like the times we live in today.

We can safely assume that sun-worship was brought from the Old World to the New World at some time by the legendary White God. Therefore, Michael Coe’s assertion that a ‘Mesoamerican religion’ existed throughout the Indian civilisations is incorrect. Their religion, at its very core, we find is essentially identical to all sun-worshipping religions. Certainly the exoteric (outer) form of their religion might well have been quite different to that of other religions of the Old World at the time. Let’s take a look at some of the exoteric religious practices of the Indians at the time of the Spanish conquest.

The most remarkable thing the Catholic priests discovered after the Indians were conquered was their affinity with the stories and customs of the Bible.

They described a ‘baptism’ in one of the temples of Tenochtitlan, when a child was sprinkled with water and given a name, just as in the churches of the Old World. The priest said: “Take and receive, for on this earth you will live on water, water makes you grow and flourish, water gives us what we need for our life — receive this water.” The Aztecs also used incense (so did the Incas). They received large quantities of resin for incense, as can be seen from their tribute lists.

The Spaniards saw the Aztec priests ‘forgive sins’. At this ceremony small pieces of bread were distributed among the faithful in the temple. They ate the bread in a very devout manner, thereby propitiating the gods — so one of the Indians explained the ceremony. In the time of the first Spaniards a form of ‘confession’ was still going on in the Indian temples; they watched the priests blessing a marriage, saw the sacred crosses in the temples, and heard of the White God of the Indians, said to be born of a virgin of immaculate conception.

When Spaniards eventually settled — as priests, ‘civil servants’, or judges — they became more familiar with Mayan customs, and made some new and astonishing discoveries. The Maya were still celebrating their age-old festivals in the same way as they had done for centuries; these were strangely like the festivals of the Catholic world, and even fell on almost the same days. The 16th of May, for instance, was for the Maya the day when the waters were blessed; in Europe it was the day of St. John Nepomucen (patron saint of Bohemia), saint of the water. The 8th of September for the Maya was the birthday of the White God’s mother — in Catholic countries it is the day of the Blessed Virgin’s birth; and the White God’s birthday was celebrated on the 25th of December. On the 2nd of November, when Catholics even today visit the cemeteries to put flowers on the graves of their dear ones, the Maya used to go to the graves of their dead and decorate them with flowers.

This is not to say that the Indians were some sort of Catholics (although this cannot be ruled out entirely as we know that there were many expeditions from the Old to the New World after Christ). Many of the holy days mentioned were of significance to the so-called ‘pagan’ peoples of the Old World before the advent of Catholicism. It can be shown that the 25th of December is the date of birth for many pre-Christian Solar deities in the Old World.

Of course the Mayan may still have ‘fitted in’ these holy days later on, but the fact remains that these days existed on their calendars. There are too many parallels to ignore.

The discovery of the Los Lunos tablet in New Mexico, USA, signified a turning point in the debate over early voyages to the Americas. The inscription on the tablet has been found to be a summary of the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20:2-17. E. Raymond Capt in his Missing Links Discovered, says that the inscription is an “example of early Hebrew script resembling Phoenician writing (circa 1000 BC) under Greek influence.”

Another script on a stone discovered at Bat Creek, Tennessee, USA, was verified by the respected scholar Dr. Cyrus Gordan as authentic Hebrew. The latest dating for this inscription place it at approximately 1650 BC, raising the obvious implication that early Hebrew voyages to the Americas had occurred well before Columbus.

Some writers have even raised the notion that the White God was Jesus Christ, or one of his close disciples.

In her fascinating book He Walked the Americas, L. Taylor Hansen quotes tribal legends telling of a White Prophet, perhaps an Essene, an early follower of Jesus, who roamed through North and South America preaching Divine Truth, healing the sick and teaching all men the arts of peace. The Chippewas described him as bearded and pale of feature with grey-green eyes, copper-coloured hair, arrayed in a long white robe and wearing golden sandals. Of course, these legends could have been modified at a later date so that the White God was transformed into the figure of Jesus.

More complications arise when one considers some of the recorded traditions of the Indians. The highland Guatemalan traditions were recorded in 1654 and state that: “These [the ancestors]...were the three nations of Quiches, and they came from where the sun rises, descendants of Israel, of the same language and the same customs.” (Title of the Lords of Totonicapan, 1953) Again, we still must consider the possibility that convenient modifications were made to these traditions.

What we have attempted to show in this brief outline is that a high Mesoamerican (Indian/New World) civilisation existed, and that its origins are not so much fiction, as the evidence of its beginnings and the influences upon it can be traced. At its peak, the Indian civilisations must have rivalled those of the Old World such as the Cretan, Phoenician, Hittite and even Roman.

In making comparisons between the Indian civilisations and the Old World, we also have noted the many similarities and correlations. Evidence abounds that inter-hemispherical contacts took place many times, possibly over a period of more than 1000 years. It is such an absurdity that all our modern history books still contain the error that Christopher Columbus was the first man to discover America. That tide may gradually turn in the future. Some scholars have now recognised that America was visited by the ancient Libyans (Phoenicians), Cretans, a variety of Asian peoples, Africans, the early Hebrews, and even Sumerians.

A most intriguing aspect of Indian civilisation was the widespread belief in the White God who would one day return. The prophecy was suddenly and devastatingly fulfilled with the arrival of the Spanish — a mere coincidence, or the fulfilment of a promise made by a mighty man with great foresight?

Were the Spanish the descendants of the peoples of the so-called White God, and if so, would they have destroyed this civilisation so viciously, if bloody human sacrifices were not occurring? Although we cannot answer these questions, the wonderment and curiosity over these fantastic civilisations will not cease.

If we are to learn anything from this article, then it should be that human history has not simply moved from primitive man to ‘intelligent’ 20th century man. Real ancient history tells us that there did indeed exist great and wondrous civilisations in humanity's dim past. Our age may be advanced in the material and technological realm, but the peoples of antiquity placed spiritual awareness above such considerations. Quality of life was embraced and enhanced. Maybe 20th century humanity can still learn lessons from vanished civilisations, before it is too late. The past still has much to teach the present.

It is precisely within this context that we should view Mesoamerican civilisation.