There were many great civilizations that flourished in Mesoamerica, including the Olmecs, Teotihuacans, Toltecs, Tepanecs, Moche, and the Chimu, but there were three main civilizations that stood out among all of them. They were the Maya, Aztecs, and the Incas. All three civilizations flourished during relatively different time periods and locations. Though they all had unique achievements, inventions, and discoveries, I think that the most advanced Mesoamerican civilization was the Mayan civilization, which lasted approximately 3,500 years, from about 2,000 B.C.E. to about 1500 C.E. Many of the greatest achievements of the Maya date from the Classic Period (about 300 to 900 C.E.). Hundreds of years laters, their ideas and practices continued …show more content…
The Maya were influenced by other civilizations, particularly the Olmec. The Olmec lived in the jungle areas on the eastern coast of Mexico. The Maya adapted and developed ideas they had learned from the Olmec. For example, the Maya adapted the Olmec writing system and they refined Olmec building techniques. Mayan society during the Classic period was composed of numerous independent states. Even at the height of their empire, the Maya were not one unified nation, because they lived in many city-states with separate governments. The common Mayan culture was what united all these city-states together. For example, their social structure, religious beliefs, and style of life were all very similar to one …show more content…
The ruler was known as the halach uinic, a Mayan word that means “true man.” With the assistance of his advisors, he controlled the state and determined when and where to go to war. After the ruler were the nobles and priests. The only members of Mayan society that could read and write were in this layer. The nobles served as officials, and collected taxes, supplies, and labor for long-term projects such as the construction of a new building. Priests led rituals, offered sacrifices to the gods, and predicted the future. After the nobles and priests came the merchants and artisans, who carried out trade and crafts. Merchants traveled by sea, river, and nicely-constructed roads to trade with other city-states. Mayan artisans made a lot of different types of objects. After the merchants and artisans were peasants, who worked hard on the land growing crops such as maize, squash, and beans. At the bottom of Mayan society were the slaves. They performed physical labor for their owners, and they were generally not treated
They were militaristic people, always ready to wage war on neighboring regions to earn and demand respect. The emperor, being a powerful king, was the one who would declare war. When Aztecs went to war it was to capture prisoners and pay tribute to their gods. Many young Aztec boys believed becoming a warrior was a glorified position and would enlist with great pride. Aztec warriors lived by the sword, and died for it. Capturing a prisoner was part of the initiation of becoming a warrior. The more prisoners the warriors caught, the more they were rewarded with land, and social rank. Similarly, Maya warriors could also move upward in rank and class through service in the military. The difference between the Aztec and the Maya military was that the Aztec military was led by their powerful emperor, whereas each Maya city-state had their own military which was led by a military leader, the halach uinic. The military leader not only controlled the city-states government but also had religious control over them. Maya city-states would fight one other for destruction of rival states, for dominance and to capture prisoners for sacrificing. The capturing of high-ranking officials were considered a priority and sacrificed immediately as supreme offerings to the gods, whereas commoners were forced into slavery, publicly humiliated, and weren 't sacrificed until one was needed. The Aztecs and the Mayas both
The Mayan, Inca, and Aztec civilizations each originated from Latin America. The Mayans lived in southern and central Mexico, other Mayans lived in Central America in the present day countries of Belize, Guatemala, and ancient Honduras. The Incas lived along the long coastal strip, and in the high peaks and deep fertile valleys of the Andes Mountains, and along the edges of the tropical forest to the east; this would be the country of Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina in present days. The Aztecs were from Aztlan located in both north and northwest Mexico.
The Mayans were great road builders just like the Inca. Since the Aztec had no iron or bronze to make weapons they instead used obsidian and chart. Government and technology always play part of each and every
The ancient Mayans were a very well developed society with a very accurate calendar, skilled architects, artisans, extensive traders and hunters. They are known to have developed medicine and astronomy as well. All of this was developed while the Europeans were still in the Dark Ages.
The Maya didn’t discover metallurgy until late in the Classic period and used it only to produce jewelry and decorations for the elite. Artists and their numerous assistants cut and filled the stones used for palaces, pyramids, and housing, aided only by levers and stone tools. Each wave of construction represented the mobilization of thousands of laborers.
The Maya religion required a highly complicated method of worship that demanded bloodletting and sacrificial rituals that were often fulfilled by the kings and queens. These efforts were necessary because it was believed to "feed" the gods. It was the sacred duty and responsibility of the ruler to often feed the gods with their own blood. The believed their rulers had the power to pass in and out body to the spirit world and acted as messengers to the celestial world.[109]
Each Maya City governed it's surrounding area and some large cities each controlled one or more smaller cities. A Maya City ruler would be succeeded by his younger brother or son. This led generations of a single family to rule for hundreds of years. Inca leaders kept their power by giving entertainment and luxurious goods as gifts to the people. The citizens paid taxes in return for these gifts. In the Inca culture, the emperor married his sister and his generals would be his relatives. The Inca rulers were allowed to govern independently. The Aztec power was held together by land ownership. A few families shared a piece of land and part of the land was given to the state as a tax.
North of the progressing Maya, in the area of modern day Tabasco, Mexico, the Olmec culture was advancing. The presence of these Olmecs would have a profound impact on Maya society and culture. The early Maya began trading and interacting with the more advanced Olmec over a prolonged period. This contact altered the Maya way of life in almost every aspect.
In the Central America, most notably the Yucatan Peninsula, are the Maya, a group of people whose polytheistic religion and advanced civilization once flourished (Houston, 43). The Maya reached their peak during the Classic Period from around CE 250 to the ninth century CE when the civilization fell and dispersed (Sharer, 1). Although much has been lost, the gods and goddesses and the religious practices of the Classic Maya give insight into their lives and reveal what was important to this society.
Near 1800 B.C, the Maya people found settlement within Teotihuacan territory and quickly became known as one of the most dominant indigenous societies within Mesoamerica. Best known for their agricultural skills, pottery work, hieroglyphic writing, mathematics and of course calender making this civilization. However, the Maya were the regional groups of Olmec heritage who were the first major Mesoamerican civilization.(Grahm, Liz. 2014) In 1500 B.C, the Olmecs began the effective cultivation of the crops of corn, beans, chili peppers and cotton, along which they established fine arts and the use of symbols to record history. Due to the Olmecs innovative talents at the time, they were also able to branch off and establish other cities.
In the fertile valleys or high plateaus the Mayas, Incas, and Aztecs built communities and villages practicing sedentary lifestyles. They had for the most part “permanent, intensive agriculture.” (Lane and Restall 2012) This allowed them to produce complex foods that benefitted the villages because it made them possible but it also resulted in social stratification. “Agricultural activities of the majority allowed a minority to live and work as artisans, merchants, warriors, nobles and royalty – permitting the development of writing, metallurgy, bureaucracy, and other features of high civilization.” More specifically, the Mayans were able to create the most complete of the three Mesoamerican writing systems, “one that was still used in the early sixteenth century.” (Lane and Restall 2012) They were also able to expand, but their expansion would also be their demise. Because they were so large -- filled with regional kingdoms and empires -- the Spanish were easily able to conquer
The Mayan civilization was located in southeastern Mexico on the Yucatan Peninsula. One of the first American civilizations, it lasted from about 1000 B.C.-1542 A.D. Their civilization flourished during the Sixth Century. They built many temples and over forty cities. The Mayan population consisted of almost fifteen million people who were all living in one of the many cities. The Mayan people were extremely religious and believed in multiple gods which meant they were polytheistic. Their most commonly worshiped god was the Maize God, or god of corn, as corn was the most grown and most relied on crop. The Mayans grew all of their own food so they needed to have useful farming methods. The one they used most often was the slash and burn method, which involved cutting down trees and burning them to make the soil fertil which was necessary to grow crops. This method worked for many years, but soon started to backfire. The Mayans were ahead of their time, but that did not prevent their mysterious decline which occurred between the years 800 A.D.-900 A.D. Although it is not known exactly why the powerful empire fell, but there are various probable theories. The mysterious decline of the Mayans may have been caused by
The Mayans lived in Southern Mexico and Central America in their capital, Tikal, which is in present day Guatemala. The Mayans were known for their engineering, one structure they were famous for is their pyramid temple in Tikal (Document 1). This pyramid was the tallest structure in the Americas up until the 20th century and is still standing today. The government must have been strong and well organized in order to carry out such a large task. The Mayan religion had multiple gods and this pyramid was most likely devoted to one or used as a place for sacrifices. Another accomplishment of the Mayans was the creation of their calendar. An extra document that would be useful is one that explains how the calendar was created. The Mayans must have studied astronomy and math to a great length. Similar to the Ancient Egyptians, they wrote with symbols and pictures known as glyphs that were used in the calendar. These glyphs were gods, such as Zotz (Document 2). The use of glyphs is an acknowledgement of a writing system, which is another accomplishment.
Thus, the Al Holpop remained the central governing body of the Mayan political structure, and sometimes this was quite literal; in city-states where a king was inept for the job or had died with no heirs, the Al holpop would take his spot, and govern the city-state directly. But the Al Holpop had more than just legislative control over the city-state, they were also in charge of the lower tiers of the Mayan political structure. Namely they oversaw, with the halach’s approval, the appointment of
Maya civilization was based mainly on agriculture and religion. Maya every day life revolved around an innumerable number of earth Gods. The most important God was chief, ruler of all Gods. The Mayans prayed to these God’s particularly about their crops. For example, they prayed to the Rain God to nourish their crops. They practiced their religion during ceremonies conducted by priests. They also practiced confession and even fasted before important ceremonies (Gann and Thompson 1931 118-138). The Mayans also b...