what ancient civilizations were in mexico
By Kimberly Munro Fri, Mar 18, 2011. The first installment of our Ancient Peru series relates what archaeology has revealed about its first cities and civilizations. The expansive, culturally rich civilizations that existed in the Americas at the time of European contact came as a great surprise to the early Spanish explorers. Most notable were the Aztec empire in Central Mexico and the Incan empire in Peru, both of which controlled great expanses of land and millions of people.