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CXC Caribbean History Project

School Based Assessment (S.B.A)

(Year 2023)

Name of Candidate: Kevalee Grinage

School: Edward P. Yorke High School

Centered Number:

Candidate Number:

Mr. Adonis McDonald

September 28, 2023

Title: The Maya Civilization

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The Maya Civilization

Kevalee Grinage

Edward P. Yorke High School

Caribbean History

School Based Assessment

Mr. Adonis Mcdonald

28th September 2023

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Table of Content

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………….3

Research Question…………………………………………………………….…………………..4

Rationale…………………………………………………………………………………………..5

Historical Review…………………………………………………………………………………6

● To collect information about the strength and weakness of the culture.

● To examine the factors that they contributed to our culture.

● The timeline of their characteristics and challenges they used to proceed in their living .

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………...8

Reference………………………………………………………………………………………….9
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Introduction

The Maya people of Belize have played an important role in making Belize what it is today. The

Maya people and their civilization is one of the building blocks in our Belizean History. Their

knowledge and craftsmanship is recognized all over the world and even gave Belize and other

countries throughout Mexico, Guatemala and Belize recognition. Their political way of life and

even some practices are still evident throughout Belize and other countries. Their craftsmanship

and their political/ hierarchy system are still evident in the Mayan ruins scattered throughout

Belize. They faced many challenges but the thing that made a major decline in their population

was the arrival of the Europeans. The Europeans tried to forcefully apply or impose their way of

living in the Maya civilization. They surely attempted to subjugate the Maya polities several

times. The Maya people refused whilst some of them obliged to their rules. The ones that didn’t

want to live like that were horrifically killed or placed in imprisonment whilst other Maya people

simply migrated. Their disappearance still perplexes even the most achieving researchers

throughout the world. The Maya civilization is still evident in Belize, mostly the Southern part of

Belize. This research that is conducted will emphasize on their disappearance and their way of

living in present Belize.

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Research Question

● How did the European arrival significantly impacted the maya civilization,and how

did the maya people respond to the sabotage of their culture?

 Rationale

● To collect information about the strength and weakness of the culture.

● To examine the factors that they contributed to our culture.

● The timeline of their characteristics and challenges they used to proceed in their living .
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Historical Review

To collect information about the strength and weakness of the culture.

The Mayans were intelligent people who learned many different things on their own. Let's

classify them as an amount of independent people. Since the Maya invented their own

mathematical concept, and also developed a written language which archaeologists call

hieroglyphs. These concepts help them to document different events that occurred in their

culture. This helped them to fluently communicate with each other to work together and get their

way through collaborating with each other. However one of the Mayan most horrible weaknesses

they faced was drought. Keep in mind that the mayan were farmers , who independently grew

their own crops and plantation to feed themselves , with the long term drought that destroyed

their crop was a slight vision of starvation. This drought swept all of the Maya kingdoms into

history. Continuously , whenever the maya faced their struggle they had a symbol of strength

which is labeled , The jaguar. The jaguar symbolizes strength, ferocity, and courage. Worshiping

animals was quite traditional in their culture; they have regarded animals as fellow members of a

wider society, and in their religion animals enjoy the status of spiritual beings.

To examine the factors that they contributed to our culture.

They may be known for their different inventions, such as scientific achievements in various

areas, such as astronomy, agriculture, engineering and communications. Many different

choreography and ways of doing things were inherited from the mayans. However they are also

known for creating elaborate ceremonial architecture, such as pyramids, temples, palaces, and
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observatories that are still used today , and still amaze many that visit our country. The mayan

knew how to predict their time and used astrological cycles to protect and monetize their

planting and harvesting and developed two calendars that are as precise as those we use today.

The timeline of their characteristics and challenges they used to proceed in their living .

The Maya were Mesoamericans who inhabited the Yucatan peninsula around the 2000 BCE.

They evolved a civilization which was based on the cultivation of maize. In the second century

CE they were producing surplus on plots they called ‘milpas’ around the 1500 BCE , and their

migration from Belize took place during the tenth century. Many of their characteristics and

challenges were vigilant when it came to overpopulation, environmental degradation, warfare,

shifting trade routes and extended drought as mentioned. In this time they mayan were people

who worked together to build their nation , whichever challenges they faced were dealt with

together with the help of their 166 gods they had , since these mayan had a god for each

interaction , it helped them to get through many situations. During times when the mayan

wouldn't cooperate with their peers or not find himself being respectful to their gods they can

find themselves suffering or being executed. They lived by rules and regulations which are quite

inherited in the life we live today.

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Conclusion

The Mayan were independent and determined and had a quite unique diversity. They cherish

their achievements just as others do. They Mayan loved chocolate that is used today to make

different unique and amazing drinks in Belize. Without the Maya there wouldn't have been so

much knowledge to living. These people were generous people that put work into their living

society.
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Reference

Douglas J. Kennett 19 July 2022 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31522-x

https://maya.nmai.si.edu/maya#:~:text=Two%20thousand%20years%20ago%2C

%20the,complex%20and%20accurate%20calendar%20system.