Mayan Civilization

About a hundred years after the collapse of the Great Zimbabwe civilizations I mentioned in the last post, another empire was snuffed out on the other side of the globe. The Mayan Empire, which had withstood the test of time for over three thousand years, was destroyed in 1550's by Spanish greed. However, the Mayan peoples still live on today, integrated into the societies of numerous South American countries.

The Mayans began as an agricultural people that shared a common language in 2000 BCE. These people would come to occupy the land from southern Mexico to Western Honduras. They began with basic agricultural techniques to grow corn, beans, and cacao and raised domesticated dogs, turkeys, and ducks. They soon advanced to crop rotation and terracing and worshipped agricultural gods in villages run by chieftains. Even in this relatively primitive living arrangement, they had developed rudimentary astronomy as part of their religion. It was not long before the chiefs and nobles began constructing larger towns and monuments like pyramids. These larger towns held thousands of people, making the Mayan civilizations one of the most populous empires of the ancient world. They began developing the areas around their cities, turning them into stone urban centers, complete with palaces, water reservoirs, causeways, and covered with a limestone stucco, providing a uniform look in all settlements.

As time went on, society became more complex. The system of chiefs had developed into an entire social class of kings and nobles, who also doubled as priests during religious ceremonies. Each city was run by a king and his nobles and each city competed with each other and developed economically. Warfare was a part of Mayan life, but it was relegated into a ceremonial affair, waged on a much smaller scale than many of the empires around that time. The battles were mostly just raids by groups of nobles that did no real damage, other than some destruction to temples and the attempted kidnapping and sacrifice of rival rulers.

The people were divided into classes which included: Kings, Nobles, Merchants, Priests, Craftsmen, Farmers, and Slaves. These people believed in a polytheistic religion that required sacrifices. They also developed complex mathematics, astronomy, calendars, the concept of the number zero, and recorded their history on stone, pottery, and paper.

This society eventually began to deteriorate, as with all societies, and it began to breathe it's last when the Mayans abandoned the lowlands due to unknown reasons around late 800 CE. As of now, science has narrowed the cause to extended drought, disease, or warfare. Pretty much the standard we-don't-know-for-sure answer. This led to a weakening of Mayan society, economically, scientifically, and religiously. During this time, the Mayan civilization retreated into the Yucatan peninsula and focused their efforts their.

They rebuilt their civilization and began to flourish again until the Spanish arrived in 1511 CE. The Spanish Conquistadors and the colonists that followed soon began eradicating the Mayans through war, slavery, and disease, leading to total conquest of the area in 1697 CE. The Mayan civilization was no more, but remnants of it still survive in the hearts of many of its people, some of which have descendants still living in their homelands.

Oh, and by the way, nothing is going to happen in 2012.

Find out more at:
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576077_3/Maya_Civilization.html