Essay about Ancient Civilizations

​Many of the cultures that we have today have evolved from past events. Such as language it was something that became known throughout the years. Some of the languages that came from that were English, Spanish, German, and Latin to name a few. These languages were derived more past civilizations. One important civilization that is known for having great success is the Mayan civilization. The Mayan civilization is known for many things like they fully developed written language, art, architecture, math and some other factors. Historians have said that they don’t know an exact date of when this civilization rose up but they do mention that it flourished for about 2000 years. Although staring in 250 AD it is said that it was the start of their high point and it continued until the arrival of the Spanish in 1524. The Maya area covers southern Mexico and northwestern Central America. According to Sharer the area is divided into three regions: the Pacific coastal plain to the south, the highlands in the center, and the lowlands to the north. Even though these three regions were under the same civilization they all practiced different religious rituals. Religion plays a big role in every civilization. Some civilizations tend to praise more than one god and they always mention that what they have is thanks to their god. When they see things going wrong they often say that their god is punishing them because they did something that the god/s did not like. This tends to be the same

A very long time ago, there were many ancient civilizations, three of them were called the Olmecs, Aztecs and Mayans. These were ancient civilizations that, throughout history, had many accomplishments. Focusing in on some of these achievements, a lot of the advancements made by these civilizations were in religion, economy, and technology.

In history we the people have found to realize that the Maya, Aztec, and Inca culture was one of the most incredible findings of their accomplishments. The Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations were really smart in topics of engineering, writing, agriculture and astronomy. Also all three had their beliefs, and good with agriculture. All three cultures used great technologies in their agriculture like slash and burn, terrace farming. They all hunted for religion, they had a huge belief with the people spread throughout each region. They all had a lot of interest in the use of chocolate in the region, and cultivation. They all were pretty much the same just different beliefs.

The Maya were a people from Middle America, which includes modern Guatemala, Southern Mexico, and Northern Belize (Editors). The Maya civilization was considered to be “one of the most dominant indigenous societies of Mesoamerica,” (Maya). “The Maya excelled at agriculture, pottery, hieroglyph writing, calendar-making, and mathematics, and left behind an astonishing amount of impressive architecture and symbolic artwork,” (Maya). They also gave mankind the modern calendar (Jarus, Maya). The Mayans were a very advanced people, but one of the most important things in the Mayan culture was their religion/god worshipping rituals.

The Aztec and Mayan civilizations were two important, early civilizations that settled in Mesoamerica. The Mayan and Aztecs were two civilizations that lived in two different time periods, but they shared many physical and mental characteristics of one another. The Aztec and Mayan civilizations were different but they were more similar. The Aztecs and Mayans were more similar in their location, religion, writing system, government, social structure, gender roles, technology, and sporting activities.

So, as stated before in this essay, the Incas and Mayans had quite a few things in common but they were much more different than similar. Although both civilizations failed, at one point they flourished greatly. They were intelligent and paved the way for things liken mathematics, architecture,

Geography had a tremendous impact on early civilizations, the topography of the different regions played a key role in their development and formation. This statement by Fernand Braudel “ Geography is the stage in which humanity’s endless dramas are played out” (Getz et al., Exchanges, 26) is a very moving and telling description. The terrain, whether it is natural or man made is not the end all, be all. It does however affect the stage a great deal. Mountainous areas act as blockades, which keep the societies independent, plains open up the area, and rivers enable everything to move around freely. 2

and living in one area for many years, and so it was after a few years

There has recently been discoveries regarding the fates of ancient societies. These discoveries reveal that great cultures like the Mayans, ancient Mesopotamians, and the Anasazi of the American Southwest

The Maya were known for their agriculture, trade, science and religion. They had a complex writing system and developed a calendar from observing the earths movements around the sun. One can’t say that just one

According to Aditia Rinaldi “Every end should be followed by great new beginning”. The ending of the Toltec and Chavin civilizations marked the new beginnings of the Aztec and Incan cultures. The cultures of former civilizations in Mesoamerica developed technology that aided in the creation of the Aztec and Incan civilizations. The culture of these civilizations was also impacted by their location. The Aztecs were built on cities next to lakes and plentiful water sources while the Incans were founded on mountainous, rough soil. The soil type determined the number of crops that could be grown and trade patterns. Another important aspect of Incan and Aztec culture was social class structure. The class structure of the Aztecs started with monarchs/religious leaders and ended on slaves with warriors, craftsmen, and traders located in the middle. The Incan hierarchy was based on the lower class (poor families) working for the upper class (monarch and government). Both class structures had a majority of low class poor workers. The cultures of both Incan and Aztec empire were greatly affected by civilizations before them, geographic location, and social class structure.

Even though each civilization was different they have something in common learning to survive with what they have. Aztecs though they are an older civilizations they were one of the fierce group in the days. Like

What Mayan writing seems to represent is a sacred language used only by the elite, initiated, and known only by them. The language of the Mayan was identical with that of the Yucatan Indians, given the fact that writing was identical. The Maya kept records on large stone monuments called stelae. They used the Steele to record important dates and to take note of great events in the lives of their rulers.(Price 91)They also used the stelae to recount the positions of the “heavenly bodies”_ particularly the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter.(Miller)

Hieroglyphic a complex system of writing based on drawing and pictures [Carolyn & Charles, 25]. One of the main purpose of mayans writing were to keep documents and records of amount of food and sources available. If weren’t the writing we would possibly have a way shorter knowledge about the Mayan civilization because, many information that we know about their civilization came from their own records[Sharep, Chapter 11].The mayans had emblems (glyph writing) of maya cities so the travelers could know where they were.[Carolyn & Charles, 114]. With the writing system the Mayas developed a calendar system which helped them to know the special religious date and also know when they should plant the fields. [History.com, online]

The Aztecs civilization and the Mayan civilization where the most important civilizations from the new world that amazed many of the Europeans that came to conquer this wonderful rich land. The Europeans where amazed with the Aztec and Mayan culture, their ways of life, their geographical surroundings and their technology. The Europeans and historians today find that the Aztecs and the Mayans where similar in some ways of life like their culture, their technology, their religious events and at the same time they had their differences in their cultures.