Mayans

The Mayans made both an alphabet and a Calendar so we could keep track of when the world is going to end or start. The Mayan calendar ends 2012. Some of us are generation X, some are Y. When Generation "Z" is over, the world will end. 2012.

Mayan Culture extended from Nicaragua into the Yucatan of Mexico. Their empire was in Central America. The Mayans never had an empire like the Incas or Aztecs. Instead they organized into city states like the ancient Greeks. Many archaeologists believe that the Mayans were at their peak from 300 AD to 900 AD. These dates, however, remain controversial.

hi i like food :)

The Mayans practiced early forms of water management. Since underground water was located over 500 feet deep, they depended mainly on rainwater for their agricultural needs. During the time of year that rain fell, it would fill swampy areas called bajos. The Mayans would dig tranches and canals to flow water from the bajos to the crops for use. Due to the rockiness of the soil, this was a very labor intensive process.

The Mayan farmers also would heap mud in the swampy areas to make raised farming beds right in the water. This decreased the amount of water that needed to be transferred to the plants, as the ground moisture was already high.

Cisterns were also built to collect rainwater and to store water collected from natural wells that were found in some areas of the Yukatan.

There is no evidence that they did. However apparently the soft tissue of the foreskin did serve as a convenient place for piercing in order to collect the blood required in religious ceremony.

An integral part of South America's landscape.

This university website has a map detailing the names and locations of Mayan cities in south America.

http://wsu.edu/~dee/CIVAMRCA/MAYACITY.HTM

yes they did but there are some people that are believed to be related too them

go to this web site http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/listmayansms1.HTML

yeah right the mayans only have some retarted temple in Belize dat goes all da way to guatamala and Peru

lol well not retarted

They were usually sacrificed because the game was played to determine which men were stronger.

I believe that the Mayan civilization was the most advanced because they had a fully developed written language based on syllables.

It is ahp ú (it is one word)

five on each team

they used wood for chichen itza

Yes They Did...

I'm so smart so ummm the Mayan skills were very good at planets and astronomy!

They used runners

what the heck's a runner?

Runners are, well, runners! The tribe chiefs told the runners a message and then ran to tell the other chief the message!

It helped because the lower class people, such as peasants, knew that other people had priority over them and could kind of control them sorta

Relatively speaking, the conquest of the once mighty Aztec Empire in Mexico by the Spanish did not take very long. It began in early 1519 and ended in late 1521. It was not easy, however, mostly because the Spanish did not present a unified front to the Aztecs. The Spanish fought each other almost as much as they did with the Aztecs. This infighting jeopardized the expedition and almost led to its ruin. Spanish involvement in Mexico began in February of 1519 when the Spanish governor of Cuba, Diego Velasquez, authorized Hernan Cortez to led a reconnaissance force into Mexico to investigate rumors of a wealthy civilization in central Mexico. Although Velasquez changed his mind about Cortez and later ordered him to remain in Cuba, Cortez ignored these orders and departed with a small army of 400 soldiers and 100 sailors. He landed at Vera Cruz, gained control of the city, and sent a letter to the King of Spain, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, in which Cortez solicited the support of the king. At this point, Cortez burned his ships to prevent the possibility of a mutiny. Without ships, the soldiers had to conquer Mexico if they ever wanted to return home. Soon afterwards, Cortez and his army discovered the Tlaxcalan people. After two weeks of fighting, the Tlaxcalans surrendered and joined Cortez in his campaign against the Aztecs. After defeating the Aztecs at Choula, the Spanish and their Tlaxcalan allies came to Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital. They were initially greeted by the Aztec Emperor, Moctezuma II, who thought that Cortez was the Aztec god Quetzacoatl. Quetzacoatl was prophesied to arrive the same year Cortez did, and Moctezuma II thought Cortez's pale skin, armor, and advanced technology were signs of his deity. Hoping to appease Cortez, Moctezuma gave the Spaniards lavish gifts of gold and jewels. Nevertheless, Cortez and his men captured the Aztec Emperor and held him for ransom. They had believed that this would prevent any attempt at revolt among the Aztecs. Those beliefs proved unfounded, however, because the Aztecs came to view Moctezuma as a traitor. When the Spanish brought him out to talk to the people, they threw stones at him. He died of those injuries a few days later. Before the death of Moctezuma, however, Cortez had to deal with a Spanish army sent by Velasquez to arrest Cortez for his disobedience. He left 200 men in Tenochtitlan and went to meet the other Spanish army. Cortez and his men entered the other army's camp at night and captured their leader. Most of the rest of the men were more than willing to join Cortez because of the immense wealth he promised them. When Cortez returned to the Aztec capital, however, he found the city in revolt. When an attempt to get Moctezuma to appease the people failed, Cortez was forced to flee from the city. The Spanish left Tenochtitlan on the night of June 30, 1520. By the time they arrived at Tlaxcala, they had lost half of their men. Soon, however, the Spanish were able to regroup and they conquered the Aztec cities one by one until they finally regained control of Tenochtitlan on August 13, 1521. 40,000 Aztecs died during the siege of Tenochtitlan alone and many more died of disease and famine all over the country afterwards. The fall of Tenochtitlan marks the collapse of the Aztec Empire and the beginning of Spanish control in Mexico.

The modern world slowly intrudes into Mayan Villages.

The houses consist of one room. They are made of sticks. They are now covered with tarps rather than thatch.

Water is brought by hand carried buckets.

Electricity comes to the small homes as one light bulb in the center of the one room house.

A small fire for cooking constantly burns keeping the house smoky all the time. It also keeps the house free of insects making jungle living possible.

Some new houses are being built with a concrete floor. They have two rooms. The kitchen with its eternal smoky flame no longer in the sleeping area.

In many villages many of the men are gone a good part of the year working as migrant laborers and performing any other task they can find. They return home for the local harvest and to renew family ties.

The children are learning the same information as any other student in the government schools.

As you can see, the Maya are adding outside things one at a time. One lightbulb to their houses.

On the other hand, the ordinary Maya Indian does not have much money. We have no idea what they would do if they could afford it.

The Mayans have several competing creation myths but it all comes down to the gods creating the Earth, then the mountains trees and such. They then want worshippers and try several times to create them - first of mud, then wood then of corn meal. The first two species were unsuccessful and were destroyed or turned into monkeys (opinions vary). The corn meal folks work out.

The Olmec had died out long before European settlement.

they do random stuff because they feel like it

The Maya built a lot of pyramids and tall temples. They even knew how to make rubber in the 1500's! The Mayans were skilled road builders. They were able to create one of the most advanced road systems of their time.

Mayans were also one of the first civilizations to develop a writing system called codex. They used their codex to record information in books made from the bark of fig trees. They developed a mathematical system based on the number 20. They were among the first people to use the number zero.

They were able to build a solar, and religious calendar.