The Maya Geographical Setting

​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

Each Maya City governed the area surrounding it; some large cities each controlled one or more of the smaller cities. If the leader died his younger brother or son would succeed the ruler. This led generations of a single family to rule for hundreds of years. In the Andes, the Incas, kept their power by providing entertainments and giving luxurious gifts to the people. The people paid taxes in return for these gifts. The Inca emperor married his sister and his generals were normally related to him. This ensured a certain loyalty from them to the emperor. The Aztecs held power through land ownership.

Throughout time, there are many instances of early civilizations accomplishing breathtaking feats that we find awe worthy even today. These cultures helped shape humanity as a whole, and paved the way for people everywhere. Of these early cultures, one of the most remarkable was undoubtedly the Mayans. The Mayans lived in Mesoamerica, around Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize. They were an isolated group of people that thrived on farming and raised crops such as Maize, Beans, and Chili Peppers. They also Fished often and hunted Deer and other woodland creatures.

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 of Mesoamerica, along with the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru, made up the high civilizations of the American Indians at the time of the Spanish conquest. Both the Aztecs and the Incas were late civilizations, between 1300-1533 AD, but the Maya of the Yucatan and Guatemala exhibited a cultural continuity spanning more than 2,000 years, 1000 BC-AD 1542. Many aspects of this culture continue yet today. The Ancient Maya in their time had actually refined writing.

The Mayan civilization existed in central america from to 250-900 CE. The Mayans were located in Mesoamerica which is mondern day Central America which includes southern Mexico , Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. In the western hemisphere, no early culture was more remarkable than the Maya. The Mayans were extremetly a pre industrial society that had many achievements. Those achievements include a developed calendar, a unique number system, and most importantly their trade networks.

The maya live over 2,300 years ago and farmed hunted and many amazing things. Tikal was a large maya city. They did human sacrifices for their gods they captured the humans from other city state they had war with. They learned how to clear thick brush and cut down trees and burned dead brush to make fields for farming the ash from the fire made great nutrients for the ground. They grew corn and squash and many other plants. Tikal was one of the largest Maya cities there was 60,000 people who lives there. They wrote on Stone slates that was their paper. What is now Chiapas Mexico a beautiful Maya City Was found by a Explorer named Palenque. All had different choices that people lived it was like a pyramid graph it had the rich on top and

The Maya lived in what is now Central America and Mexico. There were two kinds of land - highlands and lowlands. The highlands are in what is now in Guatemala. They had a cool and dry climate. The lowlands are now in Guatemala, Belize, and the Yucatan peninsula.

The ancient Maya were a group of American Indian peoples who lived in Southern Mexico. Their descendants, the modern Maya,live in the same regions today.

The Classical Maya was lost to the archaeological records until the last 200 years due to it’s abandonment. When the Mayans left there great cities, thick vines and jungles overtook the great monuments they once built. But in the last 200 years, in depth research has lead to breakthroughs into what the Classic Maya was like. The earliest Mayans were agriculturalist, growing crops such as corn (maize), beans, squash and cassava. The Mayans also invented a very accurate calendar, a math code using 0’s, constructed buildings still intact today, and a writing system that took decades to decode. The Mayans were situated in one geographical block covering all of the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico), modern-day Guatemala, Belize, parts of the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas, and the western part of Honduras and El Salvador. Due to their location on the

The Mayan civilization lived on a very flat peninsula in Yucatan that was a very droughtful place. The geography of a civilization

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.

All remnants of the distant past are romantic, but ancient Maya civilization has a special fascination. It is a "lost" civilization, whose secrets lie deep in the mysterious tropical forest. The style of Maya architecture and sculpture seems alien and bizarre.

Mesoamerica is the area in which the ancient Maya had lived, and is the area where modern Mayans are still reside. According to Coe, the Mayan geographic can range from Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Yucatan Peninsula, and the Mexican States of Chiapas and Tabasco (1966:17). Yet these areas are not limited to just Mayan. Many structural architecture remains today has proven the complexity of the Mayan culture in Mesoamerica.