History Simplified: Maya

The Maya were not a united class of people that were very city-sate like, similar to the Greeks. The difference between the Greeks and the Mayans were that the Mayans had a sprt of alliance and friendship that made it one group. What was most important to making this friendship is the fact that they had a common language. This language united the people and gave them all something sso they could bond and barter. Another bonding factor would be the fact they had all the same or very similar religion. this religion all had minor human scarifice and calendars. The calendar is what the Maya are most famous for with the calendar suddenly ending at 2012 causing many people to believe that would be the end of the world. It most likely will not though and despite the fact that the Maya were great and very smart even coming up with the number 0. It still had a physical side with great hunters and a couple of great warriors that made the Maya a nation to be feared and even more known a nation of smarts.

The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Preclassic period (c. 2000 BC to 250 AD), many Mayan cities reached their highest state development during the Classic period (c. 250 AD to 900 AD), and continued throughout the Postclassic period until the arrival of the Spanish. At its peak, it was one of the most densely populated and culturally dynamic societies in the world.

The Maya civilization shares many features with other Mesoamerican civilizations due to the high degree of interaction and cultural diffusion that characterized the region. Advances such as writing, epigraphy, and the calendar did not originate with the Maya; however, their civilization fully developed them. Maya influence can be detected as far as central Mexico, more than 1000 km (625 miles) from the Maya area. Many outside influences are found in Maya art and architecture, which are thought to result from trade and cultural exchange rather than direct external conquest. The Maya peoples never disappeared, neither at the time of the Classic period decline nor with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores and the subsequent Spanish colonization of the Americas. Today, the Maya and their descendants form sizable populations throughout the Maya area and maintain a distinctive set of traditions and beliefs that are the result of the merger of pre-Columbian and post-Conquest ideologies (and structured by the almost total adoption of Roman Catholicism). Many Mayan languages continue to be spoken as primary languages today; the Rabinal Achí, a play written in the Achi' language, was declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2005.

By: Scott McLovin

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