History Main / Mayincatec

* In ''Film/PumaMan'' the villain wears a golden Aztec mask containing alien mind control circuitry. He is fought by Puma Man, a "man-god", sired by ancient alien Aztec pumas and equipped with a magical Aztec golden belt. Most of the real fighting is done by his mentor Vadinho, an Aztec priest to the space gods... who lives in a temple in the Andes. Inca territory. Gah!

** Played straight with the hairstyles, of all things. Incan women are shown wearing {{Horned Hairdo}}s, when it was the Aztec women who wore their hair like that.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'' is pretty definitively set in the Incan Empire, although the word "Inca" is never said, and Kuzco's theme song guy refers to them as "Mesoamerican", which the Incans really weren't. Still, the mountain-and-jungle setting, the farming of llamas and alpacas, and the overall art style are all specifically Incan, as is Kuzco's name; Cusco (or Cuzco) was the Incan capital (and is still a provincial capital in Peru today). The animated series ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool'' has decided to be a bit more specific and explicitly confirm that they are Incan, usually by way of jokes such as "[[Series/AmericanIdol Incan Idol]]", though extensive use of GratuitousSpanish is present.

* The jungle levels in the second installment of ''VideoGame/TheLostVikings'', which include distinctive ruins riddled with traps and spear-throwing savages, and a shaman who needs to collect some ingredients for supposed time travel.
* K. Rool's new outfit in ''[[VideoGame/MarioSuperstarBaseball Mario Super Sluggers]]'' has a marked pre-Columbian influence.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}'' has "mystical" ruins created by Mayans mysteriously appear after the publication of a book of such rumors. [[spoiler: Those ruins never existed before that. ''The book's release brought them into reality.'']]

** Ixalan is a more complete world, and has ''two'' factions that more properly resemble their real world counterparts: the Sun Empire, modeled after the Aztec with a few Incan trappings, and the River Heralds, a group of merfolk that is the local analogue of the Maya.

* The Lizardmen in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'', FantasyCounterpartCulture of the [=Mayincatec=]. Culturally they're closer to the Maya, with the interest in astronomy and prophecies and the like; however one of their major gods is based on Quetzalcoatl, and the jewelry they often carry is more Aztec-inspired, as is their focus on blood sacrifice. To complete the hat-trick, they have a habit of mummifying dead rulers and displaying them as relics, which is taken from the Inca (said mummified remains are haunted by Slann's spirit and are the most powerful magic users in the setting).

* ''VideoGame/TaiyouNoShindenAstekaII'' [[note]]a.k.a. ''Tombs and Treasure''[[/note]] is a first-person graphical adventure game that has the ruins of Mayan city Chichén Itzá as a setting.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Enel's "cover arc" featured an ancient civilization on the moon that used South American-Indian artwork. It's not clear if the moon-droids are good or evil -- they're fighting against traditionally evil-looking mink/weasel-men in Spanish armor); regardless, they're now in the hands of [[BigBad Enel]]....

* ''VideoGame/YookaLaylee'' has Tribalstack Tropics, which is full of ruins in this style and has enemies wearing matching masks.

* Through ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn'', the Whoopie Pie Twister goes from Mayincatec-inspired nightclub to vampire den to a full-blown Mayincatec sacrificial pyramid almost buried in the Mexican desert. All within a short distance of the Mexican-American border.

* Jungle settings and an abundance of wildlife: snakes, spiders, alligators/crocodiles, [[PantheraAwesome jaguars]] and [[EverythingIsBetterWithMonkeys monkeys]]. In case of Incas, [[EverythingsBetterWithLlamas llamas]] may pop up. May overlap with ArtisticLicenseGeography, as the Inca in particular were a mountain-dwelling culture rather than a jungle-dwelling one.

* Gold, [[TreasureRoom lots]] and ''[[GoldFever lots]]'' of gold. Sometimes [[CityOfGold enough to build a city]]. And hidden treasure. Idols. {{Curse}}d [[ArtifactOfDeath artifacts.]]

* Conquistadors often feature as conquerors of the Mayincatec. Alternate history or fantasy variations have the Mayincatic seeking to slaughter and/or sacrifice their would-be conquerors. The Conquistadors are also often used as villians in stories where the Mayincatec are the protagonists.

* Episode 3 of ''Anime/FlintTheTimeDetective'' happens somehwere in a South America covered in gold and being invaded by conquistadors.

** The NES game have him visiting Inca [[ArtisticLicenseGeography jungle]].

* ''Captive Universe'': a [[GenerationShips Generation Ship]] is launched to the stars. The population of the ship is given a copy of the Aztec's culture which is depicted as brutal but ideal, from the designers point of view: it is very stable and crushes all curiosity and restlessness.

* In ''The Saga of the Borderlands'' of the Argentine writer Liliana Bodoc, the inhabitants of the fertile lands are FantasyCounterpartCulture of the pre-Columbian peoples of America, so that among them we have the Zitzahay, who are governed by the Supreme Astronomers, wise men dedicated to study the stars from the top of their tiered pyramids, and also the Lords of the Sun, a very powerful empire with a very rich culture but who also practice slavery and human sacrifice, and also have stepped pyramids.

Unusually, the mix of South American cultures is explicitly explained in the [[AllThereInTheManual backstory]]; the ruins of La-Mulana are the birthplace of ''[[{{Precursors}} all civilizations.]]'' Every area contains elements of different cultures and mythologies, suggesting that theses cultures actually borrowed theological, architectural, and mythological elements from La-Mulana. Lemeza notes this in [[http://la-mulana.com/en/blog/al-005.html one of his lectures on the Wiiware remake blog.]] Being an [[AdventurerArchaeologist archaeologist]], he is quick to point out the images, structures and elements, seen in multiple ancient cultures including the Mayan, Teotihuacan, Aztec, Tiwanaku, Inca, and even ''Persian'' civilizations.

* The first half of ''VideoGame/SeriousSam: The Second Encounter'' takes place during the Mayan age, while ''The First Encounter'' took place entirely in {{Ancient Egypt}}. The player gets to visit Palenque and Teotihuacan, with the boss of the episode being the wind god Kukulkan aka Quetzalcoatl. While there are a few artistic liberties taken in the depiction, overall it's impressively accurate. Worth mentoning is that Kukulkan avoids two stereotypes: he is presented as a giant wind elemental spirit instead of a feathered serpent and the ingame bestiary explicitly says that he isn't evil or aligned with [[BigBad Mental's]] armies at all, instead he's simply doing his job as a guardian of a time portal and will even dissapear after beaten as a sign of respect for the player. There are also references to several deities (Ixchel) and real historic people (Montezuma).

* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' features the Ixa'Takans, a primitive Mayincatec FantasyCounterpartCulture complete with with an invasion by the very Spain-like Valuans.

* Most Nahuan languages (close relatives of the Aztec language, Nahuatl) are spoken in central Mexico, but some can be found as far as southern Chihuahua (Mexicanero) and northern Nicaragua (Nicarao). Nahuan langages are in turn part of the Uto-Aztecan language family, which includes many languages in the western United States, like Shoshone and Comanche.

* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalena_Solis Hernández Brothers Sect]] in 1960s Mexico was a scam that took advantage of the ignorance of their iliterate victims to claim "tributes" in exchange for favors from mysterious "Inca gods in the mountains" (victims and scammers alike being unaware that the Incas lived in South America). It went off the rails when the brothers, in order to keep TheMasquerade when two victims were becoming wary, decided to bring in an AxeCrazy prostitute, Magdalena Solís, and present her as the incarnation of the "Inca goddess" they were prophets of. Solís rapidly seized absolute control and, [[HiddenDepths being actually versed in Aztec mythology]], presented herself as the goddess [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coatlicue Coatlicue]] and demanded human sacrifices by [[AndShowItToYou removal of the heart]]. [[FromBadToWorse Oops.]]

** The Maya-style temple in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull''. [[spoiler: The film has aliens living with the ancient Maya and teaching them about agriculture, never mind that the characters are in Peru, closer to the Inca than the Maya, and even so using Inca may have been inaccurate geographically speaking.]] The civilization is supposed to be an {{Expy}} of El Dorado located in {{The Amazon}} , with references to the Maya and other Mesoamerican cultures. The temple also included artifacts from civilizations all over the world. It should also be noted, that apparently Indy picked up Quechua riding with Pancho Villa!

* ''VideoGame/CurseOfTheDeadGods'' is a Rogue Like based on the premise of exploring the single Aztec temple where their gods still have power since Cortez destroyed their faith. They have just enough power left to 1) sustain TheHorde of UnDead guarding their treasure, and 2) curse any explorer searching for it. Of course, curses are subjective...

* Kehjistan in ''[[VideoGame/{{Diablo}} Diablo 2]]'' combines Mayincatec building elements with South Asian jungles. It is also the seat of power of a monotheistic, very Christian influenced world religion, and most of it has a very DarkestAfrica feel. They do practice blood sacrifice - to the prime evil Mephisto, probably without even knowing it.

* Sauria in ''[[VideoGame/DinosaurPlanetRare Dinosaur Planet]]'' and ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'' is a combination of this and {{Prehistoria}}.

See Also: HollywoodHistory and VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory. Compare {{Spexico}}, LatinLand, TheCapitalOfBrazilIsBuenosAires and BananaRepublic, for when this happens to modern Latin American countries. Also compare InjunCountry and TipisAndTotemPoles for composite versions of Native American cultures from North America. The European equivalent is AncientGrome, when Roman and Greek cultures are mashed up together in AncientRome and UsefulNotes/AncientGreece settings. See EgyptIsStillAncient, which is when you have Egpyt depicted as if it were still a land of Pharoahs and gods.

Unusually, the mix of South American cultures is explicitly explained in the [[AllThereInTheManual backstory]]; the ruins of La-Mulana are the birthplace of ''[[ThePrecursors all civilizations.]]'' Every area contains elements of different cultures and mythologies, suggesting that theses cultures actually borrowed theological, architectural, and mythological elements from La-Mulana. Lemeza notes this in [[http://la-mulana.com/en/blog/al-005.html one of his lectures on the Wiiware remake blog.]] Being an [[AdventurerArchaeologist archaeologist]], he is quick to point out the images, structures and elements, seen in multiple ancient cultures including the Mayan, Teotihuacan, Aztec, Tiwanaku, Inca, and even ''Persian'' civilizations.

* Right in the Midwest, the Mississippian civilization had large urban centers, a powerful priestly class, warriors associated with birds (though they were falcons rather than eagles), giant pyramids (of mud, not stone), and human sacrifice. They collapsed in the 15th and 16th centuries for not entirely clear reasons, and from their ruins emerged the horse nomads of the plains that most people associate with prehistorical North America.

* ''VideoGame/CurseOfTheDeadGods'' is a Rogue Like based on the premise of exploring the single Aztec temple where their gods still have power since Cortez destroyed their faith. They have just enough power left to 1) sustain TheHorde of Undead guarding their treasure, and 2) curse any explorer searching for it. Of course, curses are subjective...

* The Huastecs are a Mayan people who migrated in ancient times along the Mexican Gulf coast, from the Yucatan to the modern Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The Aztecs conquered them around 1470 and were so impressed with their fighting, that they copied the Huastec battle dress for some of their ranks.

** Inversely, the Manteño-Huancavilca culture complex in coastal Ecuador was once suggested to be of Mayan origin, due to some artistic influences and a local native myth about civilization being brought to the region by a foreign king who came from the sea.

* Most Nahuan languages (close relatives of the Aztec language, Nahuatl) are spoken in central Mexico, but some can be found as far as southern Chihuahua (Mexicanero) and northern Nicaragua (Nicarao). Nahuan langages are in turn part of the Uto-Aztecan language family, which includes many languages in the western United States, including Shoshone and Comanche.

** The Huastecs are a Mayan people who migrated in ancient times along the Mexican Gulf coast, from the Yucatan to the modern Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The Aztecs conquered them around 1470 and were so impressed with their fighting, that they copied the Huastec battle dress for some of their ranks.

* ''[[Literature/WheresWaldo Where's Waldo Now?'' h]]as Waldo in the middle of a giant Aztec vs Conquistador battle. The Aztecs seemed to be winning. This may seem surprising, but during the ''Noche Triste'' (Sorrowful night), the 30th of June 1520, the population of Tenochtitlan (Mexico) rioted against the invaders and drove them out with heavy losses. Cortes came back with a vengeance...

* The LostTribe of Aztecs in ''Film/YellowHairAndTheFortressOfGold'' kill intruders by dipping them in molten gold, which carries strong overtones of the ''El Dorado'' ceremony of the Muisca people of Colombia.