maya empire

The Maya civilization was one of the most important indigenous societies of Mesoamerica.  The Maya were
in the Yucatan Peninsula and modern-day Guatemala; Belize and parts of the Mexican
states  of   Tabasco and Chiapas and the western part of Honduras and El Salvador. That means  that the
Maya empire were secure from invasion by other Mesoamerican peoples.

Chichén Itza Palenque Yaxchilán

geographical Lagartero Lazapa

advantages
•The tropical rain forest of the lowlands, stretching from northwestern Honduras, through
the Petén region of Guatemala and into Belize and the Chiapas. This became the heart of Classic
Maya civilization}
Arain forest seems like a greenhouse, providing warmth, sunlight, and water, and
Tikal
producing an enormous variety of plants. This environment gave to Mayas
variety of fruits and animals to hunt.
Uaxactun Bonampak
•The Rivers in the highland: the rivers starts in the mountains and flows towards the Pacific Ocean on the west
coast, and towards the Gulf of Mexico in the southern Petén lowlands. These rivers were used as passageways for
canoes to travel from one city to another.

• The Soil: The best soils are found in the southern highland valleys where volcanic eruptions have enriched
the earth. The spring-like climate and fertile valleys made this a popular place to settle, despite the threat of

Piedras Negras  (Guatemala)
volcanoes. Today, this area supports the largest Maya population
Kaminaljuyú
Economy
The Maya were agricultural, growing food such as corn (maize), beans, squash and cassava (manioc).The
second form of the agriculture was raising animals.
10 Maya Cities
they paid withother things such as salt, cloth, honey, fruit, and domestic animals to the Mayan
government.
The Mayas used a farming technique called milpa, also known as slash and burn farming. They cleaned
Positive
Excellent use of resources
positive and negative consequences Negative
The slash and burn technique meant that the
the land by cutting down and burning all of the land and trees in the spring before the summer rains. They also used the feathers from the turkeys and OF ENVIROMENT MANAGEMENT plants or CROPS would only be fertile for a few
Then they would plant their trees by digging sticks into the ground and planting the seeds in the holes. ducks for clothes.
years.
That mean that the cultive they maid would only be useful for a some years. In addition to this type of they also used the method of terracing; which
farming, they also used the method of terracing; what they do was building stone walls to level the land consisted building stone walls to level out the
in mountainous areas.} land in mountainous areas.
The Mayans worshiping the cacao tree- they referred to chocolate as the “food of gods”. they dried them,
roasted them, removed the part that they could no eat, and grounded them into a paste by which this
procedure is used until today. Sometimes they combined this paste with water to create a nutritious drink
which may have been the most common Mayan method of consuming chocolate.
Social STructure
The Mayan family all lived together. The men do farming and hunting, while the women would cook. The children helped out their mothers with the chores and only went to school if they came from a noble family.
Maya territory was divided into multiple states in which most had their own central government and were ruled as a state system, with the king as the most powerful. Some states were independent while others were rule
by larger governments, but each state was connected together through political alliances, similar ideologies, and rituals.

REligion
The Maya were very religious, and believe in a lot of gods related to
nature, including the gods of the sun, the moon, rain and corn. architecture
The meaning of a given text has to be interpreted from a triple
There were many different Gods that the Mayan people believe in and
combination of images:
all gods had a good and bad side.

 Pictographs that represent real objects or actions;

The various Mayan leaders also took on the role as pastor or preacher
symbols (glyphs) that symbolically refer to objects or actions (and
to the people and were the only ones besides the priest who could
which can also indicate adjectives, prepositions, plurals, and
make contact with all the different Gods the Maya alsdisplayed more cultural characteristics like pyramid building, city
numbers); and
Izamna, who was the fire and earth God

The Mayan people were also big believers of the afterlife; believing construction and the inscribing of stone things.
Phonetic glyphs which represent sounds (for example a vowel or a
that the people never died but instead continued on a dangerous
consonant and a vowel together) Excavations of Maya sites have plazas, castles, pyramids, as well as a place for playing
journey in the other world. They believed in a heaven
It is more or less possible that only a small group of the Maya could read, the famous Maya ball game ulama, all ritually and politically significant to Maya
.The Mayan people also thought that everyone had an animal spirit.
possibly only the king and queens and priests. women of such status culture.
Kukulan
were with the possibility from learning to read and write.it.

architecture
civilization’s system of government
At the top of Maya society were the kings, or “kuhul ajaw” (holy not so gREat of maya civilization
GREat of maya civilization
Writing : Hieroglyphic writing system of the Maya
lords), who was related to gods. • Slash and burn for agriculture
• Human sacrifices to be please with god
Agricultural system : They uses of chocolate and corn. They have four society levels: the nobility (Almehenob'), the
• They had slaves during wars and as a social punishment
Architectural system:: Pyramids priesthood (Ah'kinob'), the common people (Ah'chembal uinieol'), • The nobility was the only one in the society to be educate and learn writing because it was
Stone tools The ancient Maya shaped their world with stone• tools.
Numeric system and calendar system: Mayan were good mathematics. They have the number zero, using 20 as
and the slaves (Pencat'ob') considered sacred.

their base. Below shows their numbering system which only uses three symbols. The King's power was hereditary
it was a civiilzation bacause:
The have cities even more states
• The Mayas has religion, they believed in gods
• They had a government and social structure
Source of information:
History.com. (2019). “Maya”. Retrieved from:https://www.history.com › topics › ancient-america. [Consulted: September 19, 2019].
Nancy Ruddell , Sheila Singhal, Frank Corcoran, Ian Dyck, Stephen Alsford . (1995) Canadian Museum of History. “Civilizacion maya”.
Retrieved from:https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/maya/mmc01eng.html- [Consulted: September 19, 2019].
Google site. (2011)"Ancient Mayan Civilization". Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/ancientmayancivilization/ancient-mayan-
economics. [Consulted: September 19, 2019].

Hieroglyphic writing system of the Maya
Google site. (2011)"Ancient Mayan Civilization". Retrieved from: https://sites.google.com/site/ancientmayancivilization/mayan-family-life
[Consulted: September 19, 2019].
Google site. (2011)"Ancient Mayan Civilization". Retrieved from: https://sites.google.com/site/ancientmayancivilization/mayan-religion
[Consulted: September 19, 2019].
Ancient Maya History One of the Greatest Civilizations in History (August 13, 2018). Retrieved from:
https://ancientmayacivilization.wordpress.com/. [Consulted: September 19, 2019].