The Mayans: Notable Groups / Civilizations

The Mayans (All Facts) 

• Developed urban centers in Mexico around 200 BCE

  • Society in which initially, a number of villages in the Teotihuacan Valley merged into one with a total population of about 50K

• By 350, it flowered all over Honduras, Guatemala, and southern Mexico, having produced the most advanced urban civilization in the Americas up to that point

The Mayans (Politics and Government)

• There was no one single dominant power among them

• They lived in city-states, at peace with one another and freely exchanging commerce and ideas

• While political control was in the hands of the high priests, they did not have political ambitions and their armies never went to war with each other, but rather reserved their resources for colonial campaigns against subject tribes

• Its various states were governed by kings who bore the title of “great sun” who were backed by a political and religious elite

The Mayans (Architecture)

• Built enormous pyramid complexes in Guatemala

• In El Mirador, they constructed the Tigre and Danta pyramids

• Known for their cities that had serene temples, pyramids, and obelisks including 

  • Copan

  • Tikal 

  • Chichen Itza 

  • Quirigua 

• It is in forests where they built great religious complexes whose stone pyramids, ziggurats, and towers rival those of ancient Egypt

The Mayans (Food and Drink) 

• Outside their cities in the surrounding farmland and countryside, they cultivated 

  • Corn

  • Tobacco

  • Cocoa

  • Fruit

  • Bees

The Mayans (Products)

• Outside their cities in the surrounding farmland and countryside, they cultivated 

  • Cotton

The Mayans (Economy and Work)

• They had to clear dense and inhospitable rain forests to farm and then once cleared, the land became barren after only one or two harvests

The Mayans (Timekeeping / Calendar)

• Worked out through skilled astronomical observation and mathematics

• They recorded time by erecting a dated monument every 20 years