The Mysteries of the Mayan Civilization
Deep within the jungles of Mexico and Guatemala extending toward the ridge of Yucatán Peninsula [Yucatan] are situated famous temples and palaces of the ancient Mayan civilization. While Europe was shrouded in medieval darkness, this innovative people made the astronomical maps of the sky, has developed the only true and original writing system in America, mastered mathematics and amazingly accurate calendar. Without the benefits provided by metal tools, no draft animals and even without wheel, the Maya built large cities that still amaze with its architectural precision and diversity. Their legacy of stone, which has survived the centuries, continues to live in places such as Palenque, Tikal, Tulum, Chichén Itzá, Copán and Uxmal, and among the seven million descendants of the Maya civilization
They Were Fantastic
The Maya are probably the best known of all the cultures of classical civilization that developed in the area that we call Mesoamerica. They appeared on the Yucatán Peninsula around 2600 BC and they reach peak around 250 AD in present-day Mexico, Guatemala, northern Belize and western Honduras. Building on the inherited inventions, knowledge and ideas of earlier civilizations such as the Olmec, they are remembered because of their rich and decorative ceremonial architecture, including temple pyramids, palaces and an observatory built entirely without the use of metal tools. They were skilled farmers, paving the large areas of tropical forest and built sizeable underground reservoirs for rainwater in areas where there were not enough surface water. They knew about skills of knitting, were good potters and cleared the ways through jungles and swamps, encouraging the development of trade and exchange of craft products to remote nations and tribes.
Around the year 300 BC, the Maya adopted a hierarchical system of government with kings and nobles. Civilization is then developed in detail structured kingdoms during the Classic period, which lasted from 200 to 900 AD. Their society consisted of many independent states, each of which had a village where the inhabitants are mainly engaged in agriculture but also urban center built around ceremonial centers. Mayan civilization begins to crumble around 900 AD when - for reasons that to this day remain a mystery - the Mayans from the south abandoned their cities. When the Maya from the north assimilated into society Toltecs around 1200 AD, their dynasty was practically gone, although some peripheral centers continued to thrive until the arrival of the Spanish conquistador in early sixteenth century.
Ups And Downs
History of Maya can characterize as a cycle of ups and downs: city-states rise to fame and then decaying only to be replaced with new, even bigger. It could also be characteristic of the history of continuity and change, guided by religion that remains in the foundation of their culture. Those who still follow the ancient Mayan traditions, such as the belief in the influence of the cosmos on the lives of the country and the need to show respect for the gods through rituals is expressed through modern blend of Christianity and the Mayan religion.
