yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Ancient Maya 101 | National Geographic


2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

The Maya, they're considered one of the most advanced civilizations to have existed in the Americas before the Spanish conquest. But who exactly were the ancient Maya people, and what led to the collapse of their civilization?

As early as 1800 BC, the Maya had begun settling and established villages in what is today Mexico and Central America. Maya civilization peaked from 250 to 900 AD, during what archaeologists call the classic period. More than 40 cities flourished throughout the region, with populations as large as 50,000. The Maya built magnificent urban centers consisting of stone structures, including pyramid temples that were central to Maya religious practices.

In addition to these impressive city structures, agriculture played a key role in Maya civilization. Corn was one of the predominant crops. The Mayan creation story tells of major gods, the basis of Mayan religion, who created humans out of yellow and white corn.

The Maya also made significant advancements in mathematics and astronomy. They invented the concept of zero, and they developed an accurate calendar system used to guide the Maya agricultural cycles. The calendar was based on observations of the Sun and sky over thousands of years. The Maya also developed the only known system of writing in Mesoamerica: hieroglyphs.

In fact, much of what we know about ancient Maya civilization comes from deciphering hieroglyphic characters inscribed in pottery, stone slabs, and other ruins discovered at ancient sites. Hieroglyphs have revealed that despite the Maya's ingenuity and agrarian lifestyle, conflict was prevalent among some Maya city-states as they battled for control of the region throughout much of the classic period.

The city-state of Tikal, located in modern-day Guatemala, reigned as the closest thing to an empire in Maya history. But for a period of roughly 130 years, the Tikal people were overtaken through force and diplomacy by the Connell, a rival kingdom. Toward the end of the classic period, around 900 AD, most Maya cities had collapsed. Among the theories are warfare, a volcanic eruption, and perhaps, most likely, drought. However, archaeologists still debate why, as new evidence continues to emerge.

Despite the decline of ancient Maya civilization, the Maya people have by no means disappeared. More than 7 million Maya are estimated to be alive today in their indigenous homelands and around the world. While they participate in modern global life, they continue to follow agricultural and ceremonial practices of their ancestors.

More Articles

View All
The "Most Money Raised" game
One of those stupid games sometimes people play is just how much money can I raise. What’s the stupid prize? If you play the “raids as much as you can” game often, you lose control of your company. So, like, when you confront the challenges, suddenly you…
Mean of sum and difference of random variables | Random variables | AP Statistics | Khan Academy
Let’s say that I have a random variable X, which is equal to the number of dogs that I see in a day. Random variable Y is equal to the number of cats that I see in a day. Let’s say I also know what the mean of each of these random variables are, the expec…
Impostor Syndrome: What Is Your Worth?
Hi there. We’ve been looking for you. Yes, you. We know everything about you: how you’ve pretended to know things you have no idea about, how you’ve slept through years of your education, how you’ve received awards that you never deserved, and how you’ve …
He Hears Music in the Quietest Place on Earth—Can You? | Short Film Showcase
I like to say that silence is the think tank of the soul. Listening is something different. Listening means taking all sounds in with equal value. So instead of listening for a sound, I simply listen to the place. Today it’s the echo of the whole river br…
15 Things You Should Spend Money On
Let’s imagine for a moment that you just got your first paycheck. It’s pretty exciting, isn’t it? Now you’ve got enough money to do whatever you want. But hold on a minute, that’s a dangerous mentality to live by. In fact, it’s even more concerning if you…
The 5 Step Process for Getting What You Want From Life
Like I say, you can have practically anything you want in life, but you can’t have everything you want in life. So that means you have to prioritize what are the things you’re going after. That has to do with the earlier part of, you know, know what you’r…