Period between Prehistory and 900 CE: Maya Civilization

Period Between Prehistory And 900 CE

Maya Civilization Between This period

In the early centuries , most North American peoples were beginning to develop complex societies. Further south, the peoples of Mexico and Central America were entering into the full flower of civilization. A prime example of this cultural flowering were the Maya, who built an extraordinary civilization.

Creating City States=>

The homeland of the Maya stretched from southern Mexico into northern Central America. This area includes a highland region and a lowland region.

The period from A.D. 250 to 900 is known as the Classic Period of Maya civilization. During this time, the Maya built spectacular cities. Maya cities featured pyramids, temples, palaces, and elaborate stone carvings dedicated to the gods and to important rulers. Tens of thousands of people lived in residential areas surrounding the city centre, which included in the activity. In addition to temples and pyramids, each Maya Kings and Cities featured a ball court. In this stone-sided playing field, the Maya played a game that had religious and political significance. The Maya believed the playing of this game would maintain the cycles of the sun and moon and bring life-giving rains.

Agriculture and Trade support cities=>

Although the Maya city-states were independent of each other, they were linked through alliances and trade. Cities exchanged their local products such as salt, flint, feathers, shells, and honey. They also traded craft goods like cotton textiles and jade ornaments. In agriculture particularly the growing of maize, beans provided the basis for Maya life. Maya civilization farmers expert in slash and burn farming. This method involves farmers clearing the land by burning existing vegetation and planting crops in the ashes.

Religion Shapes Maya Life=>

Religion influenced most aspects of Maya life. The Maya believed in many gods. There were gods of corn, of death, of rain, and of war. Gods could be good or evil. Gods also were associated with the four directions and with different colours: white for north, black for west, yellow for south, red for east, and green in the centre. The Maya believed that each day was a living god whose behaviour could be predicted with the help of a system of calendars.

The Maya people's worshiped their gods in various ways. They prayed and made offerings of food, flowers. They also pierced and cut their bodies and offered their blood, believing that this would nourish the gods. Sometimes the Maya even carried out human sacrifice of their enemies.

Maths and Religion=>

Maya's people beliefs in the development of calendar, astronomy and mathematics. The Maya developed a 260-day religious calendar, which consisted of thirteen 20-day months. A second 365-day solar calendar consisted of eighteen 20-day months, with a separate period of 5 days at the end.The calendar helped identify the best times to plant crops, attack enemies, and crown new rulers.The Maya based their calendar on careful observation of the planets, sun, and moon. Highly skilled Maya astronomers and mathematicians calculated the solar year at 365.2420 days. This is only .0002 of a day short of the figure generally accepted today!

By Writing Preserves History=>

The Maya also developed the most advanced writing system in the ancient Americas. The Maya used their writing system to record important historical events, carving their glyphs in stone or recording them in a bark-paper book known as a codex. Only three of these ancient books have survived.

Mysterious Maya Decline=>

The remarkable history of the Maya ended in mystery. In the late 800s, the Maya suddenly abandoned many of their cities. The high civilization of Maya cities like Tikal and Copán disappeared. By the 700s, warfare had broken out among the various Maya city states. Increased population growth and over-farming may have damaged the environment, and this led to food shortages, and disease. By the time the Spanish arrived in the early 1500s, the Maya were divided into small, weak city-states.