Mind you, ancient Mexicans are the same people who gave the world chocolate or xocolatl (bitter cocoa water), which they called Theobroma cacao, "The food of the gods." Who were these celestial visitors or "gods," who pointed out the potent nutritional seeds and delicious flavor of the cacao fruit?
The first chocolate drink is believed to have been created at least 5,300 years ago, starting with the Mayo-Chinchipe culture in what is present-day Ecuador [3] and later consumed by the Maya around 2,500–3,000 years ago. A cocoa drink was an essential part of Mexico's Aztec culture by 1400 AD [4]. The drink was introduced by Mexico (New World) and became popular in Europe has undergone changes since. Until the 19th century, hot chocolate was used medicinally to treat ailments such as liver and stomach diseases. More
Amaranth (family Amaranthaceae) delivers complete protein, survives drought, and for centuries fed 20+ million people. Then in 1519, Spanish Conquistadors made growing it punishable by death in Mexico (Mesoamerica) and the Americas.
Amaranth contains 13-14% complete protein with all 9 essential amino acids, one of the very few vegan plant sources of a complete protein, along with quinoa.
Amaranth produces more usable protein per acre than cattle grazing and thrives in conditions where wheat dies.
The Aztecs mixed it with honey to create tzoalli—sacred dough shaped into gods, worshipped, and eaten for supreme nourishment.
To the European Spanish invaders, this was demonic and cannibalistic. To modern agriculture, it's a threat.
Donkeys (burros) and hairless dogs in the New World, natural helpers of humans
Heirloom seeds: DNA treasure
By 1970, amaranth had nearly gone extinct. Today it is sold as a $30-a-pound (lb) superfood in health food stores while wheat and corn—both harmful and incomplete proteins—dominate 90% of global grain production.
The amaranth ban ended, but the seed companies never brought it back. This is the story of how religion, colonial conquest, and industrial agriculture buried the most nutritious grain in the Americas.
🔍 IN THIS DOCUMENTARY:
Why amaranth was banned under penalty of death (2:15)
The complete protein the Aztecs discovered (4:30)
How Spain weaponized food to destroy a civilization (6:45)
Why modern agriculture still refuses to grow it (10:30)
Where amaranth survived for 500 years in hiding (12:00)
📚 SOURCES AND RESEARCH:
Florentine Codex (Bernardino de Sahagún, 1600)
Aztec tribute records and archaeological cultivation data USDA nutritional database comparisons
Robert Rodale's Organic Gardening research (1975)
International Center for Tropical Agriculture yield studies
🌿 RELATED LOST VAULTS: → The painkiller growing in ditches (wild lettuce) → The Omega-3 weed in our driveway (purslane) → The Native American fruit that vanished (pawpaw)
⚠️ DISCLAIMER: This video is for educational and historical purposes only. Always consult qualified professionals before making dietary changes. Historical events are presented based on documented sources and scholarly research.
🔔 SUBSCRIBE to Forgotten Roots for suppressed knowledge on forgotten plants, erased medicine, and food history they don't teach us in school. #Amaranth #AztecHistory#AncientGrains #ForgottenFoods #Conquistadors #Protein #Superfood #Agriculture #SuppressedKnowledge #Documentary
Caltrans removes Junipero Serra statue from Interstate 280 rest stop on the Peninsula
(KPIX | CBS NEWS BAY AREA) Oct. 7, 2025: Caltrans has quietly removed a statue of [colonizer and Catholic saint] Junipero Serra from Interstate Highway 280 on the Peninsula, and the move is reigniting a debate over the 18th-century missionary's legacy. Brad Hamilton reports.
Junipero Serra statue vandalized at California mission
(KSBY News) Nov. 3, 2017: Junipero Serra statue vandalized at California mission (again). [Why would any Indigenous (American Indian) mind a legacy of rape, ethnic cleansing, erasure, and genocide? Come on! It's American history and the legacy of European invasion, colonization, and Spanish conquest. It's Manifest Destiny. It's the will of God against savages to promote and elevate the White Man who cometh onto these shores to plunder and elevate everything to his liking.]
According to Antonio Pigafetta [7], one of the Ferdinand Magellan expedition's few survivors and its published chronicler, Magellan bestowed the name Patagão (or Patagón) on the GIANT inhabitants they encountered there.
Although Pigafetta's account does not describe how this name came about, subsequent popular interpretations gave credence to a derivation meaning "land of the big feet."
However, this etymology is questionable. The term might be derived from an actual character name, "Patagón," a savage creature confronted by Primaleón of Greece, the hero in the homonymous Spanish chivalry novel (knight-errantry tale) by Francisco Vázquez [63].
This book, published in 1512, was the sequel of the romance Palmerín de Oliva; it was much in vogue at the time and a favorite reading of Magellan.
Magellan's perception of the natives, dressed in skins and eating raw meat, may have recalled the uncivilized Patagón in Vázquez's book.
European meets American giants
Novelist and travel writer Bruce Chatwin suggests etymological roots of both Patagon and Patagonia in his book, In Patagonia[64], noting a tenuous similarity between "Patagon" and the Greek word παταγος, which means "a roaring" or "gnashing of teeth."
(In his chronicle, Pigafetta describes the Patagonians as "roaring like bulls"). More
New mind-blowing discoveries about ancient America: Where are the ancient ruins of North America? In Europe, they’re everywhere—henges, castles, cathedrals, medieval cities. But in the USA, the historical attractions are all post-European arrivals. This video shows Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson uncovering some surprising new discoveries about the ancient civilizations here in the United States just north of Mesoamerica. See They Had Names for details.
Discover the three pillars of Aztec genius in Tenochtitlán
Internal empires flourished before Spain entered
(LatinoAméricaAyer) Auto dubbed. How did the Aztecs (early Mexicans) build a metropolis for 200,000 people on a hostile lake in what is now Mexico City? The answer isn't luck or magic, but one of history's greatest engineering feats. In this documentary, we uncover the incredible hydraulic technology that enabled the construction of Tenochtitlán (the foundation of Mexico City) and changed the course of civilization in Mesoamerica, which is part of North America though no one likes to say so).
Matrilineal Native tribes?
Discover the three pillars of their genius:
Chinampas: The artificial islands that created land out of thin air and fueled an empire.
Aqueducts: The sophisticated double-pipe system that brought pure water to the city.
Dikes: The colossal barriers that tamed flooding and controlled the lake's chemistry.
Genocide of Native Americans in North America continues
Get ready to change your perspective on the ingenuity of the Aztec Empire built not on luck but engineering [likely enabled by extraterrestrial and interdimensional advanced technology]. Fascinated by history and ancient engineering? Remember to leave a like, share this video with someone who needs to see it, and subscribe to catch upcoming documentaries.
New genetic research reveals SHOCKING truth about the Aztecs
(Answers in Genesis) Aug. 1, 2025: This is the long-lost history of the Aztecs (the Mexica tribe). Join Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson as he reveals new genetic discoveries about this early American society that will blow the mind. Dr. Jeanson’s book, They Had Names, is now available: AnswersBookstore.com
(Ancestry Code) June 22, 2025: Underneath the surface of modern Mexico (officially called the United Mexican States) lies a tangled legacy of Indigenous ancestry, Spanish (Iberian European) conquest, and a brutal caste (casta) system designed to divide and control based on racial superiority with pure peninsular Spanish at the top. This video uncovers the shocking genetic and social consequences of colonization, from the erasure of native bloodlines to the invention of racial categories that still echo today.
What does it mean to be a "Mexican Buddhist"? Born and raised in Los Angeles, which is still in many ways Mexico just like it originally was, I went to visit my brother in Orange County. We had recently returned from skiing at Mammoth, where I would meditate in the snow for fun outside the sliding glass door. I didn't realize his young daughter would watch me. So as I'm talking to him in his very modern kitchen, she yells, "Tio! Tio, look!"
Alyssa's a Mexican Buddhist, too
I stick my head into the living room, where she is wearing a Peruvian cap with tassels seated in full lotus with perfect poise focused on her breath. "I've been practicing!" I didn't know what I was looking at. I thought I was the Mexican Buddhist (Chicano/a, Latin, Hispanic, whatever). Oh, to have had a phone camera in hand at that moment! In lieu of that, we've tried to reenact the moment with a mannequin.
Happy Mexican Independence Day (El Grito deDolores, "The Cry of Dolores [Hidalgo]," whose name literally means "pains"), which is NOT today. That's on Sept. 16th every year.
It's largely celebrated only in South Mexico, mostly in the state where an important act of colonial resistance took place. Here in Middle Mexico (Los Angeles, SoCal, extending from San Diego up to about Fresno), we celebrate the 4th of July after the 5th of May (lit., Cinco de Mayo) in much the same way. But they're not the same, and no one cares.
The Avian (Eagle) Bird People?
In the ongoing fight to resist European colonial occupation and exploitation, it's important to remember a "free and sovereign state" called Puebla in the United States of Mexico (Mexico's official name, Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is celebrating today. Is it the arrival of Buddhism? No, most Mexicans have no idea that la Dharma arrived in California, the Southwest, and Mexico in ancient times long before Christianity, Catholicism, or Columbus' aftermath the Conquistadors.
"Mexico" [a, b] is officially called the United Mexican States [c] and is a country in NORTH America, not south, not even central. But to distinguish it from its two other parts (the USA and Canada), it sometimes gets referred to as Mesoamerica.
It borders the USA to the north, Guatemala and Belize to the southeast, while having maritime boundaries with the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Caribbean Sea to the southeast, and the Gulf of Mexico (which would seem to be part of the Atlantic Ocean) to the east.
Racism/colorism in Mexico?
Where did Mexico's racist "caste (casta) system" come from? Spain
Mexico covers 761,610 square miles (1,972,550 km2) [12] and is now the thirteenth-largest country in the world by land area, having had a giant portion of its land occupied and stolen by the USA.
With a population exceeding 130 million, Mexico is the tenth-most populous country in the world (possibly the largest country if its annexed land and population were restored) and is home to the largest number of native Spanish speakers [1].
Its religion would likely be Buddhism (due to the influence of early Buddhist missionaries from Afghanistan and China because the West Coast from BC to Mexico is the mysterious land Chinese Buddhist explorers found, wrote about, and named fUSAng), Indigenous shamanism (animism, polytheism), or Native American spirituality were it not for colonial imposition of imperial Roman Catholicism, which rode in on the back of the Virgin Mary and her local appearance as La Virgen de Guadalupe). The Buddhism that thrives there today is a recent arrival, likely unaware of earlier missionary work.
AI, what is Cinco de Mayo? - Let me explain, Gringo.
The Mexica speak Nahuatl
Mexico City is the capital and largest city, which ranks among the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. (Los Angeles, a Mexican pueblo and city for most of its history, is similarly large -- a megalopolis on par with its Asian twin Bangkok in Buddhist Thailand).
Mexico is also the northwesternmost country in Latin America.
The human presence in Mexico dates back to at least 8,000 BC. Mesoamerica, a great cradle of civilization, was home to numerous advanced societies, including the:
Aztec Mexica goddess: Queen Cali
Olmecs,
Maya,
Zapotecs,
Teotihuacan civilization,
Purépecha.
Spanish colonization overthrew and enslaved the dominant Aztec Empire (from Aztlan, possibly Atlantis or Great Tartary), establishing the Southwestern European colony of "New Spain" (full of soldiers and priests from the Iberian Peninsula) with its capital at Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City).
Mexico became a major center of the transatlantic economy, fueled by the massive mining of silver that changed the world economy and the forced labor of Indigenous peoples and enslaved Africans [descendants of Afro-Caribbeans, Olmec-Africans, Black skinned indigenous peoples of the Americas and/or Polynesia?]
Who's the current imperial power around here?
The 1810–1821 Mexican War of Independence ended colonial Spanish rule and led to the creation of the First Mexican Empire, which quickly collapsed into the short-lived First Mexican Republic. In 1848, the new USA (an extension of British Empire) stole nearly half the territory of Mexico during what the U.S. calls the "Mexican–American War." More
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