Why Did The Rise And Fall Of The Mayan Society

The Mayans were hardworking people who lived in Mesoamerica. A thousand years ago before the spanish arrived, the maya built a great civilization. What many seem to question is what was so remarkable about what this group did.The four criterias scale, genius, physical effort and significance will be examined to see which was actually remarkable. People today argue over which Mayan achievement was the greatest - the trade network, numbers, calendars, and city-buildings , however true to say is that the building cities was the achievement that set the group off to great contributions.

What happened to the Mayan civilization before it mysteriously collapsed is still a mystery, but heart-stopping achievements were made. Throughout 3000 years the Native tribe of the Maya inhabited México, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras until the Spanish arrived. They were so secluded from anyone else, that they could not learn information from other tribes and they came up with all ideas themselves.(BGE) Trade routes, the creation of beautiful cities, establishing the number system and developing three calendars we all breathtaking achievements accomplished by the Mayan culture. Using scale, effort, genius, and significance four achievements will be argued about which was the most remarkable. Obviously the development

In the early 8th century, the Maya city-state of Tikal were known to eclipse all rivals, becoming the most populous polity in the Americas. As many as 62,000 Maya nobles, artisans, and others squeezed into Tikal’s crowded residential districts in what is now Guatemala. During the century that followed, however, Tikal fell on hard times. Its building boom collapsed, its artists ceased to carve hieroglyphic inscriptions and paint murals, population plummeted, and its kings vanished. The author in this article argues that Tikal was not alone to suffer such horrific disintegration. Because elsewhere 324,000-square-kilometer area spanning southeastern Mexico and upper Central America dozens of other city-states also crumbled between 695 and 1050

The collapse of the Mayan Empire is one of history’s greatest mysteries. It was one of the most advanced and developed civilizations of its time period, reining during the Pre-Classic period and into the Classic and Post-Classic Periods (2000 B.C. – 900 A.D.). The territory stretched from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, down to modern day El Salvador in Central America. Its achievements were monumental for the era, being the first empire communicating with the use of a written language having over 800 symbols and producing the first 365 day calendar. They maintained an in-depth understanding of astrological cycles that would assist in planning harvesting cycles and predicting solar eclipses. The Mayan’s

In author Jared Diamonds essay: “The Last Americans: Environmental Collapse and the end of civilization,” he discusses the events that led to the ruining of ancient civilizations like the Mayans, due to the “ cultural attitudes of those in power,” and their inability to understand and find solutions for their environmental problems. Diamonds essay begins by describing a conventional Mayan society and their native habitat which was mainly composed of limestone and other porous sediments which created numerous difficulties for the Mayans especially as they were plagued with erratic weather changes that alternated between dry seasons

Ever since the collapse of the once powerful Maya civilization, people have been trying to find out what caused it. Authors of the article, "“Climate and the Collapse of Maya Civilization”", which include Gerald Haug, Detlef Günther, Larry Peterson, Daniel Sigman, Konrad Hughen, and Beat Aeschlimann propose a theory that the Mayans collapsed because of an extended dry period between 760 and 910 A.D.

In addition, Cecil explains that a group of University of Florida scientists concluded that the time period of the Maya collapse, approximately 900 A.D., represented the driest time in the Mayan region for a 7,000 year period. This conclusion offered a theory that there was exceptional drought precisely at the time of the decimation of the Mayan civilization (Cecil, 2011).

The early Mayan civilization had lowly beginnings. They rose to remarkable heights in a seemingly inhospitable land. As Maya scholar Arthur Demarest said “Such a civilization, had no business there.” The Mayans had to battle with torrential rain in the rainy season, and when the weather turned hot, it scorched the land and their water supplies would plummet. They were always faced with floods or drought. They were probably forced here due to overcrowding from other tribes. But nonetheless they began to conquer these threats as they learned advanced farming techniques to make the shallow earth fertile. They burned and cleared jungle to make room for their agriculture, particularly maize. They then began the process of crop rotation, long before anyone else. As the Mayan civilization began its steady uprising they began to redouble their efforts, they started composting, cultivating, they built irrigation systems and began to terrace the landscape to make farming more efficient and prevent erosion. They dammed rivers and flooded swamplands and marshes to create rich farmland. They instituted transport systems to move fertile silt and mud from lowlands to higher enclosed gardens and farms and created man made lakes and ponds that they used to fish and systems of corrals held wild game. They maximized their talents and squeezed out enough nourishment to support their population which had risen to several million people.

The Mayans’ method of agriculture, slash-and-burn, could only support a certain range of the population. It was such a dilemma to Mayans that in order to increase population, they need more food, and in order to produce more, they have to deforest and increase labor force as they did not have “animal-powered transport or plows” (Diamond, 165). This is the cause of overpopulation and environmental retrograding. As one of the most developed ancient civilizations, Mayans should have noticed these crucial issues, but before the Mayans solved these problems, the following drought mentioned above might have brought an end to

Evidence shows that lack of rain turned into droughts. These droughts corresponded with the time of the Mayans collapse (860-910 AD). I believe that the collapse of the Mayans happened slowly rather than quickly. Many of the Mayans farmed, so if the climate changed and crops were bad then it would force them to starve or abandon what they have spent centuries building. This could also explain why their are Mayan ancestors that are scattered in the world today, because they fled.

Massive temples hidden in the jungles of the Yucatan, mysterious stone stelas, and cryptic calendars eluding to advanced knowledge of the stars and mathematics are just some of the artifacts originating from the “Classic Maya” period (200 CE-900 CE). However, these popular items should not be the only defining characteristics of a society that dominated the Mesoamerican region for nearly a millennia. Dynastic lines, similar to those found in European houses, were important elements during this period in places like Palenque, Tikal, and Calakmul. Additionally, the Maya experienced violent and consistent warfare between localized powers and the backbone of their society, agriculture, suffered through several multi-year droughts. These factors

Maya civilization disappeared of the drought. The water for drinking and agriculture simple ran out.

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.

Known for its complex writing system, the Maya had existed from the Neolithic Era to the Classical Period. Composed of city states that ran through Central and South America, even after its collapse parts of it culture continues on today. Descendants of the Maya speak some of the original languages, and continue to live in Mexico and Belize; yet none of them live in the ruins of its previous society. Its original civilization was abandoned around early 900 CE, and what caused them to abandon their empire has been a mystery for a long time. As more clues are found possible causes start to be seen. As of today, there are many theories from scientists and historians on what could have caused the fall of the Maya at 900 CE, and that some of

The imbalancing between the Mayan population and the effective magnitude of their agriculture suggest the situation of the Mayan people in the availability to their long term survival. The Mayans showed increasement in their population expeditiously which resulted in higher demand for food for the people to consume. Consequently, in order for the Mayans to manage the increasing population, the Mayans turned to use their accessible land over to cultivation. (Drew 139) With this in mind, the author, David Drew, asked an intrigued question of how much food the land could produced for the Mayans? (138) By all means, the question David Drew issued, could not be possible to thoroughly answer, because of the finite evidence and data of the Mayan population