Maya Empire

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 ancient Maya once occupied a vast geographic area in Central America. Their civilization inhabited an area that encompasses Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and parts of the states of Chiapas and Tabasco, as well as Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. "From the third to the ninth century, Maya civilization produced awe-inspiring temples and pyramids, highly accurate calendars, mathematics and hieroglyphics, and a complex social and political order" ("Collapse..." 1). Urban centers were important to the Maya during the Classic period; they offered the Mayans a central place to practice religion.

The Maya civilization was one of the most dominant indigenous societies of Mesoamerica. The growth of the great Mayan civilization is as much a mystery as its disappearance. The Maya Empire, centered in the tropical lowlands of what is now Guatemala, reached the peak of its power and influence around the sixth century A.D (http://www.history.com/topics/maya#). As a youth growing up in Belize Central America, I was very much intrigued by the Mayan civilization as we would regularly take educational field trips to the massive stone temples of Xunantunich and Altun Ha. Both Mayan ruins were no more than 50 miles away from my childhood home. Most of what we know about the Maya comes from what remains of their architecture and art, including stone carvings and inscriptions on their buildings and monuments. The Maya were deeply religious, and worshiped various gods related to nature, including the gods of the sun, the moon, rain and corn.

Much of Mayan history is a mystery, but we do know that the Mayan civilization was founded in 2600 BC, in what is now known as Mexico. The Mayan empire was an advanced and powerful civilization, until the Spanish Conquest in 1522 BCE. The Spanish explorer Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba discovered the peninsula of Yucatan in 1517. The Mayan Empire was overthrown by the Spanish after 900 forceful fights. Before the Spanish conquest in 1519, the Mayan empire was one of the strongest there was. Despite negative criticism from the European explorers, modern day historians believe that the Maya was a thriving empire, that gained strength and unity.

At the end of the first millennium A.D., the lowland Maya empires disintegrated after 750 years of prominence (Handout 1). Warfare, the growing population, resource depletion, and climatic fluctuations contributed to the downfall of the Classical lowland empires (Schele and Freidel 321). 500 years later, the scattered Maya that remained would again face a crisis as the Spanish conquistadores invaded Yucatan, conquered, and began to rule. Though the Spanish conquest of the Maya brought a new religion and diseases that decimated the population, the collapse of Classical Maya civilization was the greatest crisis in Maya history. It marked the end of the great Classical empires whose knowledge and artistic achievements surpassed all

The ancient Mayan civilization was highly advanced for its time. It was responsible for many advances in astronomy, written language, and agriculture. The Mayans also had a very developed system of social hierarchy. They were considered the most advanced civilization in the New World for the way they were able to use the surrounding geography to their advantage. By analyzing the environment of the Mayan world and its effect on the economic, social, and political aspects of this mighty culture, the reader can conclude that the ancient Mayans were today’s equivalent of a major world power.

The Mayan Civilization at its height was one of the greatest civilization to ever reign on the planet. Their advances in astronomy and mathematics well in advance has helped present civilizations to prosper. But one of the great questions is what happened to the Mayans? Why did they collapse? What caused them to collapse? It is a question that had gone unanswered for decades until some of the worlds great historians and scientist finally concluded to three reasons why the Mayan Civilization collapsed. The Mayans Collapse was fast and occurred due to Deforestation and Climate Change, Overpopulation, and Internal and Exterior Rivalry.

Achievement Masters The Classic Mayan Civilization dominated lower Mexico and upper Central America to create a vast amount of achievements. The Mayans developed and mastered the practices of architecture and astronomy. These practices of Mayan architecture and astronomy can relate to today's advanced practices of theses subjects and to Mexican history. The Classic Mayan Civilization lasted from 250 CE to 900 CE which was the height of its civilization.

Around 2000 B.C, small farming villages started to appear across Central America (“Maya Civilization”). This was the start of the Maya civilization. There were other civilizations in the area, like the Aztec, who were in Mexico, and the Inca, who were in the Peru area of South America. The Maya were a greater civilization than the Aztec or the Inca because their achievements in astronomy, math, language, architecture, and engineering. These achievements in those areas set them apart from the Aztec and the Inca.

What causes a civilization to die out? Some cultures die out from war, rebellion, or foreign invasion. Others slowly disintegrate as people stray from the rule of the civilization. However, for the Ancient Maya civilization, the collapse was from a combination of environmental factors and hostility, both foreign and domestic. In Jared Diamond’s book, Collapse, he mentions his idea of the five main factors that cause civilization collapse. He states that all civilizations collapse because of either climate change, hostile neighbors, the collapse of alliances and essential trading partners, environmental problems, or failure to adapt. The ancient Maya civilization followed this pattern. The three most instrumental factors in the decline and collapse of the Mayans are Climate Change, Environmental Problems, and Hostility. However, to be able to prove this, we have to set up a bit of background for the Mayans.

The Maya civilization was one of the Mesoamerican cultures that were developed by Maya people. It was highly noted for its hieroglyphic script. This was one of the best writing systems of the pre-Columbian Americas. The Maya community consists majorly of the indigenous people of Mexico and Central America. The Aztec empire was flourished between 1345 and 1521 CE and was spreading within the northern Mesoamerica. The Aztec warriors through their power were able to dominate the neighboring states, and through that, they made it possible to transfer their ideas as well as religion to many parts of Mexico. The art and architecture of the Aztec civilization were the best ranked in the continent and therefore preferable to many due to the design and techniques that were used by the architects. The Aztec territory was best documents within the states and consisted majorly of best archaeological details, native books as well as information from the Spanish conquerors. This study paper aims to describe the Maya civilization.

“The Maya (MAY yuh) were an American Indian people who developed a magnificent civilization in Mesoamerica, a region of Mexico and Central America.”, (Early Peoples The Maya 4) Compared to other civilizations like the Olmecs, Incas, Toltec, Mixtec, Zapotec and Aztecs, the Mayans time period was the longest, it started around 1800 B.C and ended around A.D 900. There is no definite answer as is in why their civilization collapsed but there is theories and along those theories scientist believe it could have been very serious droughts. Since the only way the mayans can grow food was through farming the droughts made growing food a problem and since the mayans did have a enormous population eventually they starting to die off. Soon enough they migrated but the little population that started to grow the spanish conqueror

Warfare was prevalent in the Maya world. Military campaigns were launched for a variety of reasons, including the control of trade routes and tribute, raids to capture enemies for religious rituals, up to the annihilation of an enemy state. Little is known about Maya military organization, logistics, or training. Warfare is depicted in Maya art, and tales of battle are mentioned in hieroglyphic inscriptions. Unfortunately, the inscriptions do not provide information upon the causes of war, or the form it took. (5)

The Mayan civilization society was very complex and intelligent; rising to become very influential to people in different areas and much of their influence is still felt today. Relics indicate they were very skilled in mathematics, education, astronomy and astrology, agriculture, architecture, and politics. They originated in the Yucatan area of present day Mexico between 250 and 900 A.D.

The immense Mayan empire, now in the present day Guatemala tropical lowlands, was once a vast empire that had its highest point of power and impact close the sixth century AD. Some of the accomplishments made by the Mayans were in cultivation, earthenware and stoneware, hieroglyphic writing, the production of the calendar, and mathematics. This culture also impacted later civilizations by handing down exquisite architecture and figurative artwork (“Maya” 2017). The Maya stayed in one central location for security from invaders in the Yucatan Peninsula. Within this were three individual areas of northern Maya lowlands, southern lowlands, and southern highlands (“Maya” 2017). The organization of the empire included individually ruled city states, with no sovereign power overlooking the entire realm. Architecture